The Tombstone Traverse (OR)

 

Although I’d done many ski tours at Tombstone Pass, it’s always been confined to Cone Peak and South Peak, and some tree skiing in the Echo Basin area. It’s not that there is a lack of good ski lines on the other peaks, they're just a bit more effort to get to. The desire to explore the range further only entered my mind when a buddy, Adam, had mentioned the idea of doing a traverse across its length, on the north side of Hwy 20. As I looked into the idea a bit more and sketched it out in CalTopo, it looked like it would provide some good adventure but still be a fairly reasonable day tour, although a full one. The variation I was considering would top out on five of the main summits – Iron Mountain, Cone Peak, South Peak, Echo Mountain, and North Peak. Although the route could be extended further east along the range, I felt the shorter version would target the main attractions and be a better choice for a first attempt. It would also be a good recon mission, leaving the longer variation for a future date. With a plan drawn up, I proposed it to a few folks and was able to convince three others, Lucy, Audrey, and Markus. With the weather looking promising for a Sunday tour, we set that as the target day.

The morning of the tour we met up in Springfield at 5:30am – a little earlier than our typical departure, but due to the unknowns, it was necessary. We quickly loaded into two cars (we would need to set a shuttle) and made our way up to the Pass. After dropping off a car at Lost Prairie, we drove up the road to Tombstone Pass sno-park, where we’d start the tour. Once we finished sorting gear and doing a quick beacon check, we started down the road toward the Iron Mountain trailhead, which would lead us up its west aspect.

A chilly start to the day

The skin along Hwy 20 was a bit of a drag but went by pretty quickly. Once we reached the trailhead, we headed into the woods and started following the tracks of previous adventures. With the recent snow, the tracks faded in and out, and I was often just leading us up the mountain using the path of least resistance. For the most part skinning was pretty straightforward, but it did get a bit icy and steep as we reached the upper portion of the mountain. For the final 200’ to the summit we found it easier to just shoulder our skis and boot up to the obvious high point. At the summit of Iron Mountain we were treated to amazing views, with Mount Jefferson being the dominant landmark. The summer lookout platform was visible but not very usable due to the stack of snow on top of it. It did provide a good summit photo op, which we took advantage of before looking for a ski line down the east face of the mountain.

Road skinning

The crew, starting the climb.

High spirits early on!
(photo by Lucy Barton)

Partway up Iron Mountain's west face
(photo by Lucy Barton)

Audrey closes in on the summit of Iron Mountain
(photo by Lucy Barton)

First summit - Iron Mountain

A view from the top
(photo by Audrey Squires)

Looking east toward the rest of the traverse. Mount Jefferson way off in the background.

Heading east to find our drop-in point

Since I’d seen the line on previous tours, from the summit of Cone Peak, I’d had a reasonable idea of what to expect – Basically, a steep narrow clearing between trees that looked short and sweet. As we peered down the line it looked good, with the only unknown being how deep the new storm snow was over the recent sun crust. Using standard avalanche terrain protocol, we dropped in one at a time and regathered at safety zones as we made our way down the hill, using radios for communication. The slope started off fairly steep (~40 degrees) and eventually mellowed out as we descended a few hundred feet. The snow was a bit of a mixed bag, with a few icy patches underneath a thin snow covering, and a few deeper spots with fluffy dry powder. We did kick off some very small surface slides, but nothing that was too concerning.

Audrey drops in from the top of Iron Mountain 

Steep up top

Markus finds some soft snow

Lucy, lower down.

Kickin' up dust

The bottom half of the line

The author, nearing the bottom.
(photo by Markus Allgaier)

Audrey finishes up the line down Iron Mountain

Once we had reached the bottom of the run, we reapplied our skins and headed back up to the ridge that headed over towards Cone Peak. The skinning in this stretch was a bit challenging in spots and definitely slowed our pace; in fact, at the rate we were traveling, I was a bit concerned we’d run out of daylight by the end of the traverse. Eventually, we made our way onto the south face of Cone Peak, where we were able to improve our speed a bit. The sun had been baking the slope for an hour or so, but luckily there was only a thin layer of storm snow that had softened on top of the older sun crust. Since the slope felt stable, from an avalanche standpoint, we continued up the south face toward the summit. Along the way we came across another skier, who had just started his turns down the mountain. At the summit of Cone Peak we ate a quick snack, transitioned over to descent mode and discussed options for making our way towards South Peak.

The east face of Iron Moutain, taken on another tour.

Heading toward the next objective, Cone Peak.

Sidehilling

Heading up Cone Peak as the clouds move in
(photo by Lucy Barton)

Nearing the summit of Cone Peak

Second summit - Cone Peak
(photo by Lucy Barton)

Echo Mountain and South Peak

Based on snow conditions and the terrain leading toward the saddle between the two peaks, we decided to ski down the northeast side of Cone Peak, which held some nice dry snow. I dropped in first and did a ski cut to see if I could get any reaction. After cutting across the slope I made my first few turns, which were a little challenging, due to being both steep and slick. Once I was at a safety zone, the others dropped in one at a time, joining me below a small cliff band. The snow was really nice on the lower half of the slope and I was really tempted to drop a couple hundred more feet for some additional turns. Unfortunately, we were on a tight schedule and we needed to keep moving.

The author drops down the northeast face of Cone Peak
(photo by Markus Allgaier)

Lucy, stoked on the stash of soft snow!

Markus grabs a few turns while the getting is good

The next section of the traverse, between Cone Peak and South Peak, was certainly more straightforward and went much faster. There were a couple of congested bits, but all and all it was a pretty straight shot along a wide-open ridge. As we closed in on the summit of South Peak, we had to navigate through some thin coverage but nothing that required us to remove our skis. From the summit we transitioned quickly and continued our journey toward Echo Mountain. The descent down South Peak to the saddle was actually pretty fun, with low angle terrain and soft snow, which allowed us to open it up a bit.

The ridge up to South Peak

An easy bit between Cone and South peaks

Third summit - South Peak

Audrey enjoying some mellow bits

Markus and Lucy 

The climb up the ridge to Echo went by really quickly, with Lucy leading the pack and setting an aggressive pace. The southwest face looked like it would be a really fun ski, although the snow coverage was a little thin, and once again we were in a hurry – definitely an objective for a future tour. Now at the summit of Echo, the clouds rolled in, preventing us from seeing the ridge that we’d be following next. This was somewhat unfortunate since I had been most concerned about this section of the traverse, due to the potential for large cornices and rugged terrain.

Heading up Echo Mountain
(photo by Lucy Barton)

A nice looking slope for a future tour

Forth summit - Echo Mountain

Even with the limited visibility, we were undeterred and continued toward our final summit, North Peak. Almost immediately we were confronted with both cornices and a stand of thick trees. We soon discovered that it was faster to shoulder our skis for a short bit before the ridge opened up again. Halfway between Echo Mountain and North Peak was a lesser summit with a rock outcropping. After a quick evaluation, we decided the best approach would be to drop down a bit and wrap around its western flank. Along with low visibility, the cloud cover had also dramatically cooled the temperatures down and the snow surface had begun to refreeze. This, along with the thin coverage, convinced all of us but Markus to throw our skis on our packs and boot around the cliff band. On the other side of the lesser peak the skin became a bit easier and we started making good progress once again. Before long I was making the last few switchbacks up toward the summit of North Peak. Before long, the others showed up and we took in the view for a few minutes before dropping in for our last descent of the day.

One of the few bits where we had to shoulder skis
(photo by Lucy Barton)

Opening up once again
(photo by Markus Allgaier)

Looking for a line around the lesser summit between Echo Mountain and North Peak
(photo by Audrey Squires)

Booting around the lesser summit
(photo by Lucy Barton)

More thickets

Fifth (and final) summit - North Peak

The open glades below us looked very inviting – well-spaced trees and a slope angle of around 35 degrees. Unfortunately, the refreeze had happened on this slope as well and although it wasn’t quite breakable crust, it was a little grabby. Although, I was just glad that we wouldn’t have to worry as much about wet slides. As long as you kept up your speed and didn’t turn too sharply, it was pretty good. We leapfrogged our way down and the lower we went the worse the surface crust became, especially in the shaded sections.

The author prepares to drop down the south face of North Peak
(photo by Markus Allgaier)

Markus dropping in
(photo by Lucy Barton)

The author
(photo by Markus Allgaier)

The author rounds a corner and drops into the next section of glades
(photo by Markus Allgaier)

Markus heads down for some more turns

Markus

Lucy

Audrey
(photo by Lucy Barton)

Reaching the flats

At the bottom of the slope we entered the woods and the snow softened substantially. We were all pretty happy about this, as skiing breakable crust a couple miles back to the car would have been soul-crushing, especially at the end of a fairly long day. Since I had skied the Echo Basin a few weeks prior, I was in familiar territory and was able to lead us out of it without too much trouble. Before long, we reached the road that connected the basin trailhead to Hwy 20. Unfortunately, I knew that this road had lots of blowdown, which was a major pain on our last tour. I tried to paint a rosy picture but also let the rest of the team know what we were up against. The silver lining was that we knew we’d have enough daylight, which would make it a bit easier.

Sure enough, the road did its best to kill our spirits, but luckily we’re a tough bunch and were able to take it in stride. When we finally reached Hwy 20 it settled in that we had just completed the Tombstone Traverse. I was pretty stoked that we’d finished it with minimal issues. In fact, we had great weather, countless laughs, and we even had a few fun ski descents. Back at the car we celebrated with a beer and hugs, feeling a sense of accomplishment – all in all, a pretty good way to spend a Sunday!

A small creek crossing on the road section

A lot of this one the way out
(photo by Lucy Barton)

Conclusion – the Tombstone Traverse did not disappoint. Although I had an idea of how it would go, you never know when you do a mission that doesn’t have any documented accounts. I’m really glad that Adam had put the thought in my head and that I was able to convince a crew to tick it off the list. This one is definitely worth repeating and even extending. It was also a great way to do some recon on all the line options in the Tombstone Pass area. As Markus stated, I’d give it a near perfect 5 out of 7 stars – this must be a German thing…

The tracks from our tour: