June 14, Hurricane Hill road open

I had some work planned in PA for Monday and Nick had never skied the Hurricane Ridge area, so we met up to see what we could find. The drive out through the rain would have been a lot more depressing without the faith engendered from reading the TR from a week earlier by overthhills. Driving up through the fog, I was thinking it was good that I'd worn my fluorescent flagger shirt so I'd be visible---but at ~4000' we popped out into bright sunshine and, at the top, another wonderful sight---the road was open all the way to the trailhead, saving us about 2 miles of walking on pavement each way.

We kept assuring each other that we'd find good snow, despite the quizzical looks of the tourists returning form the top, all of whom told us there wasn't enough snow to ski on. Our faith was rewarded by a bowl full of great soft corn, with an easy entrance through the cornices right by the bench at the top of the trail. Just past the east side of the melting-out tarn we found a path to more glades to drop through; maybe 700 vf total. We were pleasantly surprised by the lack of pollen and the small rocks that we were half expecting just from looking at the terrain and apparent thinness of the snow cover.

Not a lot of vertical for each climb, but still a great yo-yo spot that only costs you a 1-1/2 mile walk with great views.

Pics at http://picasaweb.google.com/jeffs1950/HurricaneHill#