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The Terrain Park comprises the most accessible snow covered hillsides in Rocky Mountain National Park that offer tree-protected skiing and steeper terrain for downhill sliding. Numerous uphill and downhill routes weave their way around the east ridge of Hallett Peak and the complex Glacial Knobs that sit at the base of the biggest canyons in the park: Glacier Gorge, Loch Vale, Chaos Canyon, and the Tyndall Gorge.
terrain park skiing
The mid-winter skiing in the Terrain Park is typically the best in Rocky Mountain National Park when the winds are howling and a protected, snow covered location is desired. This area offers short pitches of steeper skiing (35-50 degree) on relatively well-anchored slopes with one of the deeper snowpacks in the Front Range.
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Length: Approx. 500' vertical runs in the trees from 10.2K to 9.5k - Bear Lk.)
Avg. Angles: 30 to 50 degrees
Steepest Angle: Numerous small cliffs and big vertical boulders.
Technicality: Deep powder skiing in mid-winter with overall less avi danger than the alpine zones.
Avg Tour Length: These 500' avg. vertical within a 1 mile loop can be done in 30 minutes each and a slower skier could do one run in 1 hr. from the parking lot. A quicker group could easily do a half-dozen different runs in a day for a 3k total.
Typical Avi Danger: Some D1- D2 sloughs during and after storms. Soft slab potential in new, wind affected upper layers are the most common hazards and from the approach trail above Dream Lk., large areas have been remotely triggered as soft slabs. Cliffs and trees make for deadly terrain traps in this area so proceed with caution when Avi Danger is CONSIDERABLE or higher.
The snowpack in these treeline elevation, lee loaded slopes is typically some of the deepest (3-6 m) in RMNP and as this area is littered with huge boulders, it takes a fair bit of snow to adequately cover this terrain.
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The start of the east ridge of Hallett at right and the northeast shoulder of Otis Peak at far left.
Fresh powder on "the Leftist" - Nymph Lake below.
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An overview of the Terrain Park with common ski descents in RED, summertime trails in GREEN, common skinning tracks in YELLOW, and streams in BLUE. Runs #1-7 are in the central Terrain Park with #1 being "The Leftist" and #5 being the Haiyaha Creek run, aka "Mario Gully". Runs #8-9 descend off the north face of the east ridge of Hallett Peak down to the west end of Dream Lake. #10 are the numerous open and lower angle runs above Lake Haiyaha below the north face of Otis Peak. #12-14 include the Otis Redding (13) and Otis Couloirs (12). Run #11 descends the "Hourglass Couloir" on the east face of Otis Peak which is an unsupported slope in the mid-40's with significant avalanche potential for much of the season.
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Approaching the Terrain Park is typically done from the Bear Lk. trailhead but other variations can start from the Glacier Gorge with loops that return to Bear Lake where a quick ski down a trail returns one back to the car.
There is much exploring to do in this complicated terrain that was shaped by glaciers and where five steep-sided valley drainages all intersect.
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(Click on photos to enlarge)
 
(LEFT) Skiing "The Rollover" (#2 above) off the Lake Haiyaha trail with the steeper, north facing Dome Two, (#3 run) in RED. Both of these runs typically has a weaker snowpack and unsupported slopes that combine to give them a higher avalanche danger in mid-winter.
(RIGHT) At the top of the "The Leftist", #1 run on Dream Dome looking south towards the north-facing couloirs that drop into Haiyaha Creek (runs #6-7).
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(Click on photos below to enlarge)
 
Above (LEFT) Landing a short drop in "The Leftist", the skiers left-most run in the Terrain Park and (RIGHT) looking down the central chute of "The Leftist" in typical mid-winter storm conditions.
 
(LEFT) A view of the Haiyaha Trail as it traverses the east face of the terminus of the East Ridge of Hallett Peak, otherwise known as the Dream Dome. The far-right blue run is the furthest right yellow line in the following photo that has an "interesting exit" and is prone to soft-slab avalanches in it's middle and upper sections.
(RIGHT) Hucking a small ice cliff on "The Rollover" in high-stability snowpack conditions.
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Another view from Nymph Lake of the Terrain Park with the commonly done descents in green and more aggressive and avalanche-potential ski runs in yellow. The ice and mixed climbing area "Olympic Games" is in red which combined with some powder skiing could make for a great multi-sport day in RMNP. Run #1 is "The Leftist", with #2 being the gully just south and the yellow run between being "The Rollover".
 
(LEFT) Plowing powder in the middle of the Chaos Creek aka "Mario Gully".
(RIGHT) Checking-out the fresh tracks and second ski ski group above the Otis Couloir, a very wind loaded and affected slope that is visible from many vantages just below the east face of Otis Peak.
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Rob Coppolillo ski cutting the Otis Redding Couloir to prepare it for some high-angle turning.
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Contact ClimbingLife Guides for more information about guided ski descents and backcountry skiing in the majestic Rocky Mountain National Park at:
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or call 970.744.4898
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