July 11, 2009, Coleman Pinnacle

Arriving at the gate parking lot Brenda and I were disappointed to see the lack of snow around the Bagley Lake basin. Our preferred route over Hermans Saddle and down to Iceberg Lake was out. We carried our skis up to Artist Pt then out to the saddle south of Table Mtn. Pretty sad. Usually we do a quick ski from here and start skinning at the creek below, but this year at the bottom we had to cross a couple rock and dirt strips before reaching continuous snow. It was surprising to see that there is no snow between Iceberg Lake and Ptarmagin Ridge along the west side of Table Mtn.
From this pt the snow is still continuous on the rideg, but dirt and rock is reaching higher than we'd like. There is one spot just before the pinnacle that I think might require a short carry within a few days. Spotted a herd of around 20 goats working their way over Lasiocarpa Ridge. We had a great ski on excellent snow from the high pt west of the pinnacle. Only saw one other person out there all day. Beautiful day even with the bony conditions.