June 26-27, 2009, Hidden Lake Peak

Decided that the Friday-Saturday window would make for some prime skiing and I wasn't disappointed. Came in Friday evening and was hiking at 5pm. Made good time on the trail. I opted to follow the trail all the way up to the start of the long traverse. Threw on the ski boots and traversed under Hidden Lake Peak. Kick stepped in a diagonal basically following the tracks laid down by Silas Wild (I think, who I met today who was back for round two) earlier that day. Camped on a small shoulder at 6400ft. Great sunset though the temp got down to about 30 degrees. Following morning waited for things to soften and made my way up to the ridge and then scrambled to the true peak. Skied down at about 1pm (skiing would have been a little better earlier) and found really enjoyable snow till about 6000ft. Traversed high side until the top of the major drainage. One short carry and then skied the drainage all the way down to about 4600ft. The lower stretch had copious amounts of avy debris but better than hiking down. I would imagine this would be enjoyable skiing for another few weeks at least.