Cameron Pass 10-27-28

[Killclimbz]

Since Powder Mountain has been trumping all lately I had to try for some powder turns somewhere. We chose Cameron Pass. It turned out to be a good choice. About 30" on the ground. The Pass got 18" at the start of this storm and it snowed fairly hard all weekend. Good conditions were had.

Mandatory Big Horn shot.

Skinning...

Happy dude.

Start of a good thing.

More pow.

More good turns on the second day.

And a happy dog.

I was very pleased with how the weekend went.

 

[Tony Crocker]

I had to look Cameron Pass up on a map. Does it stay open all winter?

 

[Killclimbz]

It does. Highway 14 is the main route for people from Fort Collins to drive to Steamboat and vice a versa. It's a slow long drive up 14 from Fort Collins. Takes an hour to get to the top of the pass from the mouth of the canyon. Lots of rock fall along the road side too. The drive goes right through a good portion of the High Park fire burn zone too. There are signs a few miles from the top of the pass that say "No plowing between 7pm and 5am", so there is that you would have to deal with if traveling at night in a snowstorm.

 

[EMSC]

=D>

Very, Very nice... Especially considering Loveland only got 9" from the storm. I've always wondered why a ski area never happened somewhere on Cameron considering the OK sized populations of Loveland and Ft Collins so close by. Especially back in the 60's, etc... Cameron would have been a much more accessible to northern front range skiers pre- I-70.

Anyway, nicely done.

 

[Killclimbz]

Well if the Forest Service was down to allow it, I think the vertical may have given some pause. From the top of the South Diamond where we at to the parking lot is decent vertical, but not overwhelming. Areas like Montgomery Pass are pretty short. Not to mention it would just be a hell of an effort to get a ski area in around there. I think most of the desirable terrain for that sort of operation is a good ways off the main road.

Hard to say though. It does seem like it would be a decent spot for a Mom N Pop area to exist.

 

[EMSC]

if the Forest Service was down to allow it,

Obviously not in today's world, but I would have thought an ~Eldora sized place would have made an appearance up there at some point. Say maybe 1400 verts or something with 3-4 lift zones I could see up there. No idea why it seems no one ever tried back when skiing started to boom in the 60's or 70's. (heck look at small Snowy Range up the road outside of Laramie).

 

[TRam]

This was my old stomping grounds. It looks great. I think they get a good amount of snow there but have never found a reilable snowtel site there. I would guess around 350-400inchs as it is simalar to berthoud pass, and the north park valley is to its west with Buff pass area about 40-50 miles away, it seems to do well with storms coming from the northwest across the wyo desert.
This area is highly avi prone and some lives have been lost up there, this was probably a good time to go.
The area to on the south/west side has some wild terrian and a good 3k drop if I remember. It takes a bit to walk in but I think you can use sleds over there. It drains down to the bottom and you have to skin out to hwy 14. I wish they would have made a resort there it would be great for the resisdents of Fort Collins/CSU/Loveland/Greeely/Cheyenne. Snowy range is weak compared to whats up at Cameron