They tried to kick blocks of snow from the cornice, hoping a tumbling chunk might trigger an avalanche. “All we were getting were crumbles. We just couldn’t get a big enough block to go,” said Bryan Wickenhauser, a champion ski mountaineering racer from Gunnison. “So yeah, there was some hesitancy. But we were all committed. No one was going the other way.”

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Going into the backcountry appeals to many. (Snowmass/Facebook)

Recent efforts by ski and snowboard resorts and towns to penalize those who go illegally under the ropes reached fruition when Snowmass issued fines to four skiers who went into a closed area.

At the halfway mark, the 2013-2014 winter season has been nothing if not out-of-the-ordinary – some would say even quirky.