October 25, 2009, Heliotrope Ridge

AJDingo and I ventured out from Bellingham early sunday morning and were on the trail to Heliotrope ridge by 10AM. We were at a steady pace but we realized our steady pace was just as fast as last month when we basically ran up the trail with out any problems! Once on the Hogsback we noticed a couple of skiers down below on the other ridge contemplating their wrong turn and seeing they can cross the valley. It looked like they tried but then turned around realizing the wrong turn cost them a few hours of hiking and probably no turns. We also passed a father and son on their way down from their turns, the father at 25 months and son getting his first TAY! Congrats man and many more to come!
We basically B-lined it to the start of the snow line, the hike over all of the rocks was not too bad except for the high winds that tried to nock us off. The snow was falling pretty hard and the visibility was getting worse and worse, so we nipped int he butt and started on the glacier. It was very difficult without crampons and we only got up a little ways before I slipped and started sliding towards AJ. I self-arrested and also slid into AJ the point where we decided it wasn't worth getting hurt so we booted up, clicked in and started what we do best, ski!
The turns were great, mix of wind blown patches and regular 3 inches of fluff in places, it felt good. Once back down at the rock line, we celebrated my first TAY with wolf howls into the valley below! The down climb was no joke though, very slick from all the fresh snow that had been falling, it took us almost as much time to get down as it did to get up. 6 hours from car to car, Samuel Adam's Oktoberfest to officially celebrate my first TAY and locking in october turns! From what I could tell by the weather tracking, it looked like several inches of snow got dumped on the ridge that night so it will be a nice powder fest for the next couple days leading into a good November! Cheers everyone!