June 28, 2009, Sourdough Chutes, MRNP

RonJ, MadDog, Snoslut, Marco, Snoseeker, and myself (Kit) headed up to take advantage of the long-overdue road opening at Sunrise this past Sunday. If they wait a little longer, they could just leave it closed all year and start in with Paradise. No doubt they have their reasons, but it might be nice if they offered an explanation to the ski community and did a little brainstorming to find a solution.

On to the skiing...after a short hike up the lamentably bare ridge above the lodge, I down-climbed 50 feet to the snow with RonJ, Marco, and Snoseeker, taking an excellent run down the nicely-pitched back side on a couple inches of softened corn. We booted back up to join the rest of the group, then listened to a little history from Ron about the cabins that formerly occupied the meadow where the Sunrise lodge is now situated, the outlines of which can still be seen in the grass. Snoslut added his own revelation that these cabins must undoubtedly have been used to house the slaves that mine the salt deposited so profusely around the Park in the winter...could this be why Sunrise is closed so long? Utterly befuddled by the mystery of the salt, the group walked along the ridge top to Huckleberry Chute, where we enjoyed another excellent but squishier (no, not that kind, Ron) run down to the base of the valley. We noticed quite a few tracks from Saturday, and took advantage of the boot pack installed for our convenience to ascend the ridge. Back at the parking lot, we were met by Zap and Jill, now back for a short while from their continuing adventures. A fine day that proved far better than the forecast and morning rain along I-90 led me to expect, validating the truism that you don't know until you go. Marco again showed us all up with his fine form, and Ron regaled us with a few stories from his vast library. Just another day in Paradise...or Sunrise. Ron will undoubtedly add his own pictures, but here are a couple from the day.