June 6, 2004, Back of Alpental below 3000 feet.

What can I say, I'm Alped out.  A friend of mine, Chris, who made a first descent on the Backside of Hoodlies Hollow at Alpental helped guide me to some skiing that was to be done below the 3000 foot level!  Being that I've hiked and skied Alpental and Nash enough this year I decided to take up on another of my friend's adventures.  Starting from the Denny Creek trailhead we hiked about 1.5 miles more so jogged.  At this point we crossed the second bridge that crosses the creek a second time.  Once we crossed we made a sharp right and hike along a more primitive trail that goes up the left side of the Creek.  We hike about a quarter mile and we look to our right, and there it is, some skiing that's still to be had below the 3000 foot level which is directly behind Hoodlies Hollow.  We crossed the creek using logs and rocks to get across.  Once on the other side we hiked up about 300 vertical on loose dirt and shale rock right up to the snow.  We hike up around 200 vertical feet before we hit a gap in the snow my.  Due to time restraints we decided that we'd stop here.  Our guess is that the snow goes up at least a thousand feet but with a few carries to get across the bear patches.  I was content with skiing the one section we hiked up 10 times.  Chris didn't bring his skis because he had to get back to town, but I mangaed to get over an hour of skiing in, yo yoing up and down.  The run was long enough to make 30 linked turns.  Bring rock skis if your so inclined to check this area out.  I basically skied the same line 10 times.  By the 6th time I had gotten all the debris and rocks out of the way and was linking turns on some of the most debris filled snow I've ever skied.  We figured there'd be snow here due to all the snow that slides from higher up the mountain and just piles up during the whole winter.  The chute is about 20-40 feet wide with moderate sun cups and the debris.  Figure on about 45-55 minutes from the trailhead to reach the snow.  I know this might not sound like most epic skiing but it sure beats skiing the same thing all the time.  I figure some cruddy snow skiing is good for you. ;) ;)
Donnelly