January 4, 2004, Arrowhead

Part of the group that I joined at Fairy Meadows hut last year met near the eastern railroad tunnel Sunday morning for a frigid tour to Arrowhead.  It was 2 degrees as we left the cars at 9am.  Two skiers were already departing for the trailhead as we were putting on everything we had in our packs.  Our group had 7 skiers. A car with 2 more skiers arrived as we were leaving the cars and they also were heading for Arrowhead. Not a wilderness experience.  We passed the cut-off to Jim Hill and no one had broken trail since the last storm cycle.  As we meandered up the logging road to the first clearcut we could see tracks from the past day.  The climbing route was in the shade until the last 500vf so temperatures were cold and the powder very light.  Our group broke trail from the last glade to the summit in 2 feet of powder.  The summit was clear, sunny, windless and views for miles.  It felt great to enjoy lunch at the summit with the sun shimmering the powder crystals in the air. Our first descent thru the trees into the glades was knee to waist deep powder.  A few folks were choking on the cold smoke.  

Although there were 11 skiers on the mountain there was plenty of terrain available.  The snowpack was solid and we skied freely the steepest lines.  We skied to the lower glades and returned to the upper glades for our last run. The sun was starting to set as we skied the upper glades and threaded our way to the logging road. As we reached the road we coud see the moon above the alpenglow along the ridges running along Hwy. 2.  As we passed the cutoff for Jim Hill, I noticed the trail was still untracked - plenty of untracked powder awaits a strong group willing to break trail.  The thermometer in the car read 1 degree. No wonder the GPS, cameras and water bottles all froze today.  Zap