May 22, 2009, Alpy Again
5/22/09
2212
3
Awwww Mom, do we have to eat cream of wheat for breakfast, AGAIN?
Afraid so, son. That's all we got in the cupboard right now.
The snow has made some strides towards cornitude since a week ago, but is still pretty gooey on slopes that the sun gets to well and that weren't part of groomed area. My plan this time was to hit the visually-appealing-at-least bowls of the Alpy BC and ski down various of them til things got fugly. Ascended via Nash, which was probably a mistake, slow going trying to not slide out mush on the steeper moguled areas (on the plus side, scored a lifetime-best meltout swag item). Still woulda been faster with the 1-2 skin in those conditions, I think.
Did not ascend upper Nash, stopped at the small knoll just above the Lo Traverse transition and ropeline gully. Angled skiers left into Sharon, was pretty good because of the more northish angle, stopping in gut of Sharon Bowl then skinned to Piss Pass. Dropped in to gut of Stokes Bowl until it got the aforementioned fugly, but the top 600' or so were very nice. So nice it needed lapped twice more. And so much for work by noon, as breakfast became brunch. Saw 3 skiers and 2 climbers(?) in Thumbtack Basin across the way. Also saw a few slow spontaneous slides off the cornices of the Alpy BC ridgeline but no big ones.
Was a little concerned that Stokes all the way would be too soft for comfort, particularly on that ramp section that falls off to who knows what, so reversed the traverse back over to ropeline gully then Lower I, thinking the ski runs would be better when soft than the BC would. Ropeline gully fun. After some traversing skiers right, Lower I area skied much better than I would have expected. Just cutting across the top of lower I mainline had induced a slow, slow hisser, and this was not the first of these that had lumped up the slope, but on skiers right the snow was less inclined to do that.
Best surprise was that snow on Sessel had a nice firm base! That might have been the closest to most peoples definition of quality spring snow than I had encountered anywhere on the mountain. Might be worth another trip up there ...
Afraid so, son. That's all we got in the cupboard right now.
The snow has made some strides towards cornitude since a week ago, but is still pretty gooey on slopes that the sun gets to well and that weren't part of groomed area. My plan this time was to hit the visually-appealing-at-least bowls of the Alpy BC and ski down various of them til things got fugly. Ascended via Nash, which was probably a mistake, slow going trying to not slide out mush on the steeper moguled areas (on the plus side, scored a lifetime-best meltout swag item). Still woulda been faster with the 1-2 skin in those conditions, I think.
Did not ascend upper Nash, stopped at the small knoll just above the Lo Traverse transition and ropeline gully. Angled skiers left into Sharon, was pretty good because of the more northish angle, stopping in gut of Sharon Bowl then skinned to Piss Pass. Dropped in to gut of Stokes Bowl until it got the aforementioned fugly, but the top 600' or so were very nice. So nice it needed lapped twice more. And so much for work by noon, as breakfast became brunch. Saw 3 skiers and 2 climbers(?) in Thumbtack Basin across the way. Also saw a few slow spontaneous slides off the cornices of the Alpy BC ridgeline but no big ones.
Was a little concerned that Stokes all the way would be too soft for comfort, particularly on that ramp section that falls off to who knows what, so reversed the traverse back over to ropeline gully then Lower I, thinking the ski runs would be better when soft than the BC would. Ropeline gully fun. After some traversing skiers right, Lower I area skied much better than I would have expected. Just cutting across the top of lower I mainline had induced a slow, slow hisser, and this was not the first of these that had lumped up the slope, but on skiers right the snow was less inclined to do that.
Best surprise was that snow on Sessel had a nice firm base! That might have been the closest to most peoples definition of quality spring snow than I had encountered anywhere on the mountain. Might be worth another trip up there ...
Yes, but what about the meltout swag? ;)
author=gravitymk link=topic=13406.msg55837#msg55837 date=1243087910]
Yes, but what about the meltout swag? ;)
Nice pair Oakley goggles, lens intact and in fine shape. EMP-style metallic lens, that *bling* look that only a snowboarder would wear ;)
My partner was up on Thursday with her friend, they came upon a pair of skies lookers left of lower Nash in the tree's... Probably the result of a double eject. She said it looked like evidence of an alien abduction.
Reply to this TR
Please login first: