Turns All Year #22 (August '25) - Isabelle Glacier + Queen's Way

8/5 - Isabelle Glacier/Queen's Way

Between work trips, a wedding in VT, and squeezing in adventures where I can, summer has flown by! We're already in August, school starts in just a few weeks, and you know what that means - time for another ski adventure. I was able to line up one of my rest days after a weekend work trip with Anna, and we planned to ski wherever had snow. We wanted to plan for early August this year to avoid our mistake last year - we waited until late August to ski Andrews Glacier, at which point it had developed a large black ice section which made skiing the whole face unreasonable.

Anna found some good beta via Alltrails on Isabelle Glacier in the Indian Peaks, and it looked like the snow was bountiful for the skiing. We agreed on the plan, and luckily she was able to snag a last minute Long Lake parking res to save us the extra hiking from Brainard. Thank you Anna!!!

The day was forecasted to be bluebird and windy, with temps at Brainard around 75 degrees. Rusty from the summer ski break, I threw every layer I could think of in a bag (just in case) but ended up wearing shorts and a sun hoodie for the majority of the day. Anna and I met up around 5am at her place in Boulder and she drove us via Lee Hill to Brainard. We hadn't seen each other since our June day at A Basin (hot dogs!) and it was lovely to catch up and hear about her & Bill's Iceland bikepacking adventures.

As we exited Ward and entered the rec area, the sun lit up the sky a brilliant orange. It felt a bit like a premonition of a good day. We were the third car in the Long Lake lot at around 6am. We clicked boots into skis, strapped those skis onto our packs, and were off.

Anna pointing toward our objective and leading the charge!

The first half of the hike flew by - an easy, mostly flat 2.5 miles to Lake Isabelle. Although we are past peak wildflower season in the IP, we were still treated to sights of Indian Paintbrush, Mountain Bluebells, Alpine Buttercup, and Columbines. Somewhere between Lake Isabelle and the next smaller lake we lost the trail, foolishly following cairns across talus. On the way back we would find a much easier trail and chide our past selves for missing the turnoff, but we were clearly not the first to make this mistake. Using Peakfinder, we ID'ed Navajo and Apache peaks in the distance making up the cirque, and admired a set of perfect turns down the Navajo snowfield. Dear anon skier, if you're out there, nice work!

Talus hopping with skis on our backs. Lots of scratches followed by apologies to our skis.

The sun hid behind a tenacious wall of grey cloud, and we felt a mix of gratitude for the cooler air on the hike up and trepidation about the snow being too firm to ski. Luckily it broke through as we neared the glacier, and rapidly softened the snow to what felt like great corn. Visions of slushy turns entered my head as we transitioned to snow travel gear - me in ski boots + crampons, Anna in ski boots + microspikes (turns out they fit on ski boots, good to know!). Though it didn't look too impressive during the hike, as we got closer and the full glacier came into view we realized that we would have a legit ski run!

In addition to the glacier, we noted that the couloir that looked quite narrow from afar was actually less steep than the headwall and wide enough to reasonably climb/ski. Anna's boots+microspikes situation didn't inspire confidence and we decided that I would climb the couloir solo with her keeping me in view and ready with the Garmin. Later we would learn that this couloir is known as Queen's Way, a popular IP route that can even be skied from the summit of Apache in the right conditions.

Full view of the glacier, with Queen's Way trending up and looker's left.

Not wanting to waste too much of Anna's time, I shortened my poles and set about switchbacking my way up the couloir. The snow was the perfect firmness - supportive of my full body weight, yet soft enough to kick steps in. The large suncups, runnels, and interspersed rocks were a different story - but that was a problem for future me. As I climbed higher I suddenly realized how alone I was in the couloir. There were a few birds near the top for company, but otherwise I only had the sound of my heavy breathing and kicking of steps. Through the monotony, I had to remind myself to stay mentally sharp - one misstep could lead to a 1,000 foot uncontrolled slide with plenty of rocks along the way, and I didn't have an ice axe to self arrest. In addition the wind had picked up significantly - a few gusts almost knocked me off my feet, catching my skis like a sail.

Finally I reached the top of the snow, and luckily the angle eased off to make for an easy transition. The birds greeted me with screeches and I mouthed a silent apology for intruding. After a fluid intake+outtake and some sugar, I transitioned - careful not to let any of my gear slide down the couloir. I tapped my poles, let out a loud whoop to let Anna know I was good, and started skiing.

View from the top

Unfortunately, we were wrong about the corn snow. The huge suncups proved quite difficult, and between those and avoiding the rocks I had to make one turn at a time. It was not my most graceful skiing. However, it was in a beautiful setting with the bright blue glacial lake below and the towering rock walls all around. Skiing a couloir in August, who can complain!?

Near the bottom of the couloir Anna returned into view and I was able to link together a few turns (i.e. save face). I made my way down to where she was and we skied the rest of the glacier together. We decided to stop short of the blue lake to avoid a steep snow climb out, and made our way back onto the spit of talus. High fives were exchanged and a quick transition completed before we headed back down the trail. Even in August, it feels damn good to take ski boots off.

Me lookin back at it. Yeww!

Anna stylin' down the glacier

 

It was around noon thirty now, and hikers were filing up the trail. We got the usual mix of awed looks, comments on how crazy we were, and the one skier local who said "oh nice, I'll add it to my list for next year!" We noticed that these hikers did not look equipped to be hopping talus, and our suspicions were confirmed when we found the actual trail which sidestepped all the talus bs. We admired the twin towers that guard the peak of Shoshone, and mused about skiing the beautiful South facing couloir between them in a colder month (we couldn't find anything online about skiing this - if anyone knows otherwise please let me know!).

We reached Isabelle Lake under a bluebird sky and torching sun. I told Anna how Rachel had encouraged us to take the plunge in Bob Lake after Skyscraper last month, and it didn't take much convincing before we had thrown our packs down and were wading into the lake. The frigid water felt incredible on tired legs and my sweaty mug, and we even convinced some passing hikers to plunge as well! Loving this new ski -> dip tradition.

We made quick work of the rest of the hike, stopping only to let uphill hikers know that no, they were not close, and their 3 year old would probably not make it to the lake if they were crying a quarter mile from the TH (we didn't say this last part. But Anna pointed out how awesome it is that families bring their young kids into nature even though it presents significant challenges and I couldn't help but agree!)

We reached the parking lot and felt a bit like celebrities with other groups gawking at our skis and asking questions. My watch reported my elevation gain for the day at 4,996' (definitely inflated) so I dropped my pack and run up the trail to make up the last few feet. Happy with the even 5k, I changed into Tevas and a clean tanktop and we were on our way out. We stopped in Ward for cold sodas and local entertainment (wild mountain men smoking weed and playing chess, and roving dogs that seemed closer to wolves) before calling it a day. Let's see what September has in store!