Abrams North Face Ski

Date: 04/18/2026
Partner: Brock Stashick
Start: Crystal Lake - Highway 550 (just south of Ironton)
End: Poughkeepsie Gulch - Alpine Loop
Distance: 6.1m
Elevation Gain: 3400ft
Elevation Drop: 4160ft
Duration: 8hrs 45min (could be done faster - Brock coming from sea level - Alex with tweaked back - navigation mistake)
GPX

Fun Fact: Locals refer to this line as "The Howler"

Although just shy of 13,000ft, Abrams is the most distinctive and promient peak from the town of Ouray. I have stared at this mountain for years hoping to ski the steep north face.

Despite being a low snow year we decided to give it a go after a rare 5 inches of new snow the previous day.

Our day was bluebird and windless with moderately chilly temps.

We opted for a hitchhike shuttle and drove to Crystal Lake on Highway 550.

The approach below treeline was navigational and requiring mild bushwhacking. Once above treeline we opted to ascend the drier north ridge route with some steeper scrambling near the summit.

Although it was only 3200ft of gain, it took us close to 5 hours to summit. The terrain (especially below treeline) was slow going and we were also dragging a bit.

The views on the summit were amazing, Sneffels range to the west, Cimarrons to the north and the ridge to Brown mountain to the south.

Skiing the steep and exposed north face (with little to no beta) was navigationally challenging. We made our way down pitch by pitch finding channels through the cliffs. We were in awe of being on this iconic face.

Midway down the terrain eased and we were able to focus more on the skiing vs. the navigation.

After a few sections of glory the terrain steepened and constricted into what would be that last steep pitch. However upon closer inspection our line cliffed out.

Despite having rope and technical gear we could not find any features we were confortable anchoring from and opted to exit the main line and desend on skiers left.

The descent to the road was an adventure all of it's own. Steep rocky pitches through trees on variable snow in combination with gully downclimbs over ice. We were stoked for a snow bridge across the creek.

Once we reached the road, we walked up a bit to get better inspection of the last pitch we didn't get to ski. Yep... it definitely didn't go and it wasn't due to being a low snow year. There must be an alternate entrance into the line.

The 40 minute walk down the Poughkeepsie Shelf Road back to 550 was pleasant and easy. Maybe bring trail runners next time.

Brock immediately got a ride back to the truck parked at Crystal Lake. Red Mountain Pass is definitely hitchhiker friendly.

Back at the house I studied the map a little closer and found a skier's right entrace to the bottom pitch. I included it in the GPX file of this report.

Abrams north face has an incredible feel of big mountain adventure skiing. Definitely planning on coming back next year and figuring out that skier's right entrance to the lower pitch.