Email this article

High Points of Winter

Colorado Mountain Passes

story and photos by Dan Steaves

". . . most anyone can find blissful, high-altitude euphoria on the passes."

Are you searching for those million-dollar powder turns, and I don't mean the ones associated with high-priced lift tickets or heli skiing? Then look no further than right off the highway - the Million Dollar Highway! Easy access to high-altitude backcountry terrain is your ticket here.

A long stretch of Colorado's San Juan Scenic Byway runs along U.S. Highway 550, from Durango to Ouray. The mountainous part of this stretch, from Cascade to Ouray, is generally referred to as The Million Dollar Highway. The drive offers a big taste of mountain driving: hairpin turns, big drop-offs, no guardrails, incredible mountain scenery and three big mountain passes: Coal Bank - 10,660 feet, Molas - 10,910 feet, Red Mountain - 11,018 feet. These passes allow for quick, no-hassle access to backcountry terrain for a variety of winter recreation.

The terrain on Coal Bank, Molas, and Red Mountain passes - and nearly everywhere in between for that matter - provide enough to satisfy a wide range of winter outdoor enthusiasts. From little tykes on an outing with mom and dad, to beginning backcountry skiers, to extreme steep and deep powder snobs, most anyone can find blissful, high-altitude euphoria on the passes. Since backcountry travelers can gain altitude so easily from the passes, skinning or hiking up a little and skiing a lot is commonplace. Throw in the possibility of hitch hiking your shuttle, and then you are sure to make out like bandits on the Million Dollar Highway.

If what you're looking for is an easy, nonthreatening way to experience the mountains in winter, then head to Molas Pass. From the top of the pass, the Andrews Lake area is a great place to tromp around and practice safe winter traveling skills. There are many low-angle slopes to hike around on in boots, snowshoes or skis, practice avalanche beacon skills and digging snow pits.

If you are after a quickie tree run, then set your sights on Coal Bank Pass. The skin (or boot pack) up the slopes is easy, and the runs are fun and laced with little cliffs (5 footers to 15 footers).

Red Mountain Pass is a great place for beginning backcountry skiers and experts alike; McMillan Peak is a great place to take your first backcountry turns, while across the pass on Trico Peak and in Commodore Basin are some big, committing, bold lines for the seasoned experts.

The "goods," however, are not just limited to Coal Bank, Molas, and Red Mountain passes. They simply provide a great starting point for a backcountry adventure since they are so high up in altitude. With a little homework, or some topo map savvy, one can quickly realize that starting your adventure from the top of one of the passes, and ending it far down the pass can really add up the vert. God bless those crazed, fortune-seeking gold and silver miners!

The original project of the Million Dollar Highway started off as a toll road in the 1880s by a Russian immigrant named Otto Mears. The goal was to connect Ouray to Ironton for access to lucrative mining districts on and around what is now Red Mountain Pass. Various legends have it that "it costs a million dollars a mile to build," or that it "contains a million dollars in gold ore in the fill dirt," to an individual stating that "you couldn't pay me a million dollars to go over that again," referring to the stretch of U.S. 550 just south of Ouray. This exciting section has big drop offs, no guardrails, and the paint is merely inches from the edge of a LONG way down to the Uncompahgre River. Whichever legend holds true, the road was finished in the early 1920s, connecting Durango and Ouray.

Since the Million Dollar Highway provides easy backcountry access, and you are - for the most part - always relatively close to the road, it's easy to be lulled into a false sense of security. Remember, you are in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado, some of the most avalanche prone terrain in the world. If you plan on venturing onto slopes steeper than 30 degrees, this can be risky business, with the high price being losing your life. If you are traveling through steep terrain, be knowledgeable of avalanche safety, and know how to use a beacon, shovel, and probe pole. Even though multitudes of snow fans strike it rich on the pristine slopes of the San Juans, every year a handful of people die in Colorado because of avalanches.

Dan Steaves is the author of many novel turns on the slopes of the San Juans. He's prepping for a new chapter and drooling at the prospects.