Next day found about 8 new inches of snow on the ground and broken clouds and sun, with intermittent snow squalls rolling through. Someone had gotten in some early morning turns and had put down a nice skin track for us to follow up the initial climb above the sno-park.
| Matt truckin' up thru the burn in fresh snow from overnight |
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We crossed the plateau behind the knob and followed a line that took us into a big basin we had seen the day before. Older skin tracks were still barely discernable in the new snow, but they were soon lost as we ascended higher up the basin. We finally broke into a giant basin where the day's work was going to be done.
| Setting a track on the way up the big shot of the day |
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We decided upon a North-facing aspect of the ridge that offered a bit of tree protection for the skin up. We set a tight track in this band of trees and topped out just above them at about 8400 feet. Dug a pit up here and while things weren't hair-trigger, they were a bit more ticklish than the shears I was used to seeing in the Cascades.
After giving the slope a couple of bouncy ski-cuts across the top, I started on down the pitch. Had to clear my throat of snow a couple of times, but mostly the whoops were audible! Matt and Jon came on down as well and we agreed that it some of the best turning of the year so far.
| Jon digs in on lap #1 |
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| Matt crankin' it |
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Our plan was to give this shot a lap or two, and then find another pitch to play on, but we agreed that having the skin track set there already was going to make circuits a piece of cake - so we tracked back up for round #2.
| Matt getting ready for the second lap - stops to check out the fairly stunning backdrop |
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A grand total of four laps ensued, each better than the last. We ran out of superlatives long before we ran out of fresh snow to ski!
| Prepping the instrument prior to lap 3. You can see lap 2 tracks spilling down the hill below |
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| Matt sending up some smoke signals... for his pleasure |
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| Some choice turns on lap 3 (Jon Carney photo) |
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| The result of our sculpting as of lap #3 |
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| Trekking up to the upper col prior to lap #4 |
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| Jon (in shadow lower-center) on his way up to the col |
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| Jon gettin' in deep on the last lap |
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| I think our work is done here! |
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We skiied the couple of benches below that basin in some fabulous conditions on the way back to the lower pitch. At one point Jon skiied ahead, flying across a slight flat to carry some speed. With the sun behind him, he said he could see the shadow of the giant plume he was trailing behind as he looked ahead.
| Looking back at the basin where we spent our day (Jon Carney photo) |
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We managed to find our intended line of the day before without the monumental bushwhack. We crested the knob above the sno-park, and skiied the burn back to the skin track in some of the deepest snow of the day.
| Jon throwin down some tele-turns on the lower pitch |
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The forecast was for some much colder air to swing in on the night, so
we were hoping for some nice clear skies in the morning, and some
excellent visibility to finish out the weekend. Fortunately the
forecast was wrong....