January 25, Mazama Ridge and Paradise Valley

Tempted by the recent snow, and running away from work and responsibilities, Jake (Blackdog) and I met at Longmire to get acquainted and wait for the gate.  It opened right at 11, as the message stated, so we paid for our coffee and headed on up.

Our first objective was to head up into Edith Basin towards Golden Gate.  Occasional blue skies created a need for sunscreen, and very little wind had us shedding coats quickly.  We saw several natural avalanches coming down into the basin, mostly on the south and west facing slopes, some very obviously started from tree bombs.  Based on that (and the "considerable" rating, we opted to stay on mellow slopes. 

We dug a pit on a south facing 35 degree slope about 5 feet deep.  If I remember right, an isolated shovel column failed relatively cleanly at 12" deep on a very thin rain crust layer after about 10 taps from the elbow.  The lower layers didn't fail or slide.  A full RB test failed on the same layer with one knee bend. 

We skied lower angle stuff down to the creek with no problems at all.  It was so great to finally be in powder!  Met up with Gary Vogt who was lapping some west facing slopes through the trees down to 4th Crossing.  We parted company at the top of the ridge, headed a little farther out and then made our own fresh tracks cruising gracefully through the trees, down to the road.  The time caught up to us, and we decided to head back toward the parking lot. 

But (and this is the biggest stress on my marriage) there was just too danged many untracked slopes!  Right before the parking lot we had to strip em and rip em one more time down into the valley.  An hour later we said goodbye to miles of still untracked slopes, and headed back down to civilization.  Thanks for the trip Jake!  Another friendly, strong, young AT skier I can add to my list of "young guys who help me back to the car" ;)

A few pictures http://picasaweb.google.com/Rustyknees/2010MountainTrips#