1-17-09 Southeast face Mt. McLoughin corn

We started from the PCT trailhead off of Hwy 140 with a zoo of 300 cub scouts.  It took about a minute of skinning until we didn't see anyone until 8 hours later.  Around 5 feet of snow at the parking lot that was frozen, and some surface hoar in favorable locations.  A chilly morning, but we kept moving and 2 hours later we emerged from the trees.  Put the heel lifters into granny gear and went up.  It became steep enough to warrant boot packing to obtain the ridgeline.  The snow on the SE facing aspects hadn't warmed up, so we opted out on climbing to the summit since that is the aspect we would have skied.  The wind was quite active, which is my guess as to why the snow stayed hard since the temps were warm, in the upper 30's to mid 40's and possibly higher in the sun down low.  An absolutely glorious bluebird day with views of Shasta and most of the Southern and central Oregon Volcanoes.  We tossed some rocks down the north side hoping to see some softer snow, but only observed bulletproof ice.  The SW aspects however were a different story.  A smooth, soft, perfect corn run  of 1500' and we submerged back into the trees.  Having decided to try a different way back (our route in probably wasn't the most direct) we were able to stick to relatively open areas and skied for the most part out to the trailhead and our beer.   A hefty slog for what you get, but well worth it.  Saw 2 other tracks probably from Friday, but otherwise no signs of humans.

Pray for snow to breakdown this massive H-bomb. No don't pray burn you skis, do your snowdance, sacrifice your mother-in-law, and sell your soul to the Devil.