My goal was to ride the entire Cooney Lake / Horsehead Pass loop. The loop route is approximately 23 miles long with 5000ft of climbing. I had ridden to Cooney Lake in years past and had ridden to Horsehead Pass but I'd never done the whole route. This was my plan. As the weekend came closer the forecast called for snow as low as 5500 ft. I was sure that as in years past we'd be able to do the ride. I arrived at the trail head campground Friday evening. Art, Lisa, Mire, Anthony, Roger, and others were gathered around a fire to keep warm in the freezing cold air on the mountainside. We discussed the possibility of snow on the trail and figured we'd just go out and see how the trail was. We could always turn around. Mire, Anthony, and Roger had ridden Uno Peak that day and slogged through 6 inches of snow and 16 miles. Not a good sign.

The next morning Ethan and Jason Shewuck took off a bit early. Randy, Mike, Maarten, Lisa Polec, and I we were off by 10am. The cool air made it easy to ride. It was an absolutely beautiful morning. As we climbed the views of the surrounding peaks peaked through breaks in the trees. At about mile 4 we started to see snow. The snow went from small patches to a blanket that covered the landscape. Luckily a few mt. bikers had gone before us and broke trail. We continued upward. The snow was dry and actually pretty easy to ride in. After 2 hours Mike and I reached Cooney Lake. Randy and others soon followed. The lake was incredible. White snow covered landscape, brilliant orange larch trees, granite, and a frozen lake below a ring of ridge lines. Boy there was a lot of snow and....it was freezing cold! I quickly put on all my extra clothing and put foot warmers in my shoes. Determined to stay warm while we waited for the others to arrive and make a decision on whether or not we were going to continue the climb up Angel's Staircase and Horsehead Pass.

Pretty soon most of our group was arriving as well as other BBTC riders Jim Lion, Paul Andrews, Marshall, and Jason Klecker. We discussed whether or not to proceed with the loop. There was an overwhelming "No way!" Look at all that snow. I vacillated. Looking at the dark clouds that could bring bad weather. The unknown trail conditions, the giant white climb up Angel's Staircase. Should I stay or should I go. Roger was still game to go. So was Jim Neff. Russ was on the fence. I pooled everyone together to take stalk of our survival gear. Did we have enough emergency supplies to survive if we got caught out there over night. Other BBTCers gave us their extra food, a space blanket, and other items. I wondered if I was crazy to embark on this winter riding adventure.....but then it seemed like such a perfect ending to a great season of mt. climbing in the snow and mt. biking. Ok, I'm in.

We took off up the snow covered trail following Jim's tracks and an unknown solitary mt bike track. It was pretty much hike-a-bike right from the start. There were short sections where we rode but the snow was deep and the trail only had two riders on it before us. We topped the small ridge around the lake and caught up with Jim Neff. Then we really started climbing up Angel's Staircase. A snow covered hike-a-bike trail that steeply climbed 800ft to the saddle of a ridge. About half way up Jeff called up and asked if he could join us. Seeing that we had decided to give it a go he decided to jump on board. So we were now a group of five.

It was a tough climb in the snow up Angel's Staircase because we had to push our bikes up the whole way with the resistance from the snow. Jim reached the top first and then I topped out shortly behind him. Russ and Roger quickly followed. Jeff hurried to catch up with us. We couldn't believe the view. It was incredible. What an amazing place to be. On a snow covered ridge with our mt. bikes ready to continue on an epic adventure. There was no hesitation now. We were committed. How many times to you get to ride an epic in the snow? Our fear was that there wouldn't be a defined trail down the other side of the staircase and through the valley but that solitary set of mt. bike tracks continued and mapped out the trail for us. We partly rode and walked our bikes down the back side. The only mishap was a rocky crash by Jim Neff who had rim brakes that seemed to be intermitant at times.

It was incredible. We descended and then skirted along the edge of a ridge across a rock field. Attempting ride when we could and walk when we couldn't. We then dropped down to the valley and the trail was clear. We rode through the wide open valley of snow covered grasses, pines, and brilliant orange larch trees.

We made good time since we got a late start and had to make sure we made it back to camp by dark. We came to the junction to Boiling Lake and then began climbing again. The air was thin and it didn't take much to get us breathing hard. We arrived at Boiling Lake and looked up at our last climb to Horsehead Pass. A quick break for photos, food, and water and we were off. Climbing steeply up the ridge. It was mostly hike-a-bike. Jim Neff did a great job of riding quite a bit of it. It was rocky in places and hard to gage where the rocks were under the snow. We quickly left the lake valley, climbing steeply up to the pass. We crossed through a gate near the top and then finally we were at the top of Horsehead Pass. Wheeehooo!! We made it! What a great feeling. It was also a relief because the weather had started to change. It was actually starting to snow a little and the skies were getting darker. We didn't have a whole lot of daylight left. We took a short break to put on more clothes and take a couple of group photos and then it was a mad dash down the trail to beat the sunset back to camp.

The trail down from Horsehead Pass is technical and even more exciting because of the fading light and fatigue. We made great time down the trail. It felt good to be going down hill after all that climbing. The pay off for all that hard work. Before we knew it we arrived at camp which completely surprised us. I said "Were here". Roger said "Where?". I said in camp. Somehow we missed the trail junction and suddenly arrived at our destination with only a short time before it would be completely dark. Just in the nic of time.

I have to say this is probably one of my all time favorite rides. Great group, good pace, and definitely challenging conditions. Who would have thought we'd be riding almost the entire loop in the snow.

Thanks Roger for leading a great ride!

Link to Roger's photos: http://rodo.shacknet.nu/pix/2005_10_08/