Ptarmigan Ridge Weekend, Saturday, Sept.13/08

 Although Ptarmigan Ridge is my location of choice for late summer and autumn turns, this last weekend had a number of "firsts" for me. They included bc skiing with a snowboarder (also, his first fall boarding trip), meeting a bunch of new TAY faces, skiing several new slopes and staying in a different section of Camp Kiser under a full moon. Last September, my son,Gabe, and I spent a wonderful weekend on the Ridge, when we had the slopes to ourselves http://www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboarding/trip_reports/index.php?topic=7756.0  This year the word must have got out, because we meet eight other turns all year snow enthusiasts. Compared to the multitude of hikers on the trail this might not seem like a big number, but skiing company is a rare occasion for me in the fall.

  Telemack and his wife were supposed to join us Saturday morning, but they had to leave Artist Point due to a medical emergency as we were arriving. We did meet Rod, a fellow Canadian streaker, at his bivy site below the Coleman Pinnacle. He had just returned from a early morning run on the Sholes Glacier. Our paths did not cross again, although we did see him from our campsite the next morning as he dropped down the snowfield below the C.P. After setting up our campsite (complete with a "refrigerator" and running water) on the east side of Camp Kiser (Photo 1) we only had a 5 minute walk to the snowfield visible to the south from the Ptarmigan Ridge trail. The slope that looked kind of daunting from the distance, presented a quite mellow angle once we were on it. Lordhedgie arrived just after Gabe and I had dropped down to the narrow section. As he noted in his TR, the sun cups were rather obvious, but not a deterrent to our enjoyment. Photo 2 shows Gabe and Dustin in the throat section.

  The next slope of the day was also a first-timer for us. A broad slope south-east of our campsite (that can be seen from the Artist Point parking lot) provided a smoother surface, so I ran it twice. (Photo 3). After watching a couple brave?? individuals splashing among the ice flows on the tarn below our ridge, we hiked back to our campsite with a 1,000vf of turns completed on the day. We had million dollar views as the sun set and the full moon rose.Sunday's TR to follow.