Red Mountain

Red Mountain 

Lake, Velocity Basin

Last week more of the snow had melted and the lake was starting to form with only one large patch of ice on the right side. Lots of spring flowers had started to bloom and this was the first sunny day after almost a month of rain.
Just to the north of Red Mountain the late afternoon sun illuminated the mountain. I believe this is Red Mountain #2. Red Mountain #3 and Red Mountain #1 are also nearby. Can you tell they were named by a committee?

Velocity Basin

An 8 shot panorama of Velocity Basin. The first time we were here, July 2, we had to plow through  snow to get here and the entire basin was filled with snow. In this shot some of the snow has melted and the lake is starting to thaw. Lake Como which is on top of the pass is still frozen over and the snow is too deep to get there on the jeep trail from Animas Forks.

Velocity Basin Snow

Velocity Basin  July 24, 2011

Velocity Basin  June 26, 2012

Got a late start getting to the mountains of Colorado this year and missed the snow. Not only was the snow pack less this year but it started melting much earlier. The above photos show the difference between the snow at Velocity Basin now and the end of July last year. The snow in the high country always makes for more dramatic photographs.
Velocity Basin was where the world record ski run of around 130 miles an hour was set several years ago. It is supposedly where Red Bull built and repaired after avalanches the pipe for Shaun White to practice in.

Velocity Basin

While on the top of Corkscrew Pass we saw this north facing basin which still had a lot of snow. The next day I found a jeep trail that went there but at the time it was too windy to get any reflections in the small lake. The next morning just before sunrise the lake was calm and made an interesting reflection. In the snow at the top of the upper photo you could see tracks in the snow. Later we found out that the basin is called Velocity Basin and in the spring was used as an extreme ski area. It would be extreme to me to hike up to the peak carrying your skis then to ski the almost vertical slope. Just hiking through the snow to the top when you are starting at well over 10,000 feet would be a challenge.