Crystal Peak East Slopes

Crystal peak is known as a relatively straightforward line in the Tenmile Range, south of Breckenridge.

First Attempt

In Spring of 2020 we decided to give it a shot, and skinned into the main basin. Fresh snow from the earlier in the week had gotten warm and then frozen, creating a styrofoamy crust that was impossible to ski while frozen. Unfortunately temperatures remained low, due to cloud cover and a cold front. We approached in to the lower lake a couple miles in, but ended up bailing while attempting to pizza-ski the breakable crust back to the car.

Second Attempt

May of 2022. This time the mountain had experienced a pretty good freeze-thaw cycle, and it was a gorgeous bluebird day. We arrived at the lower trailhead, and began hiking the 2 miles in to where the snow began. Once we decided it was continuous enough to transition to skinning we dropped our packs and threw our skis on.

Snow was patchy until we got above tree line, where the valley opens up and you have a view of Crystal Peak and Father Dyer. We continued up the basin following the summer trail onto the north side of the valley.

We climbed up the East face of Crystal Peak to the summit, with views of Pacific Peak to the South.

At the summit we enjoyed the views and prepared for our descent.

The skiing was great. We took videos for most of the downhill. Check out the video below!