May 7-9, The Mystery and Dirty D
5/15/10
2914
5
These past few weekends kept dealing bad hands with respect to weather, so when this weekend's forecast looked okay, we ducked out of work early and started hiking from the Dungeness TR at about 5pm. With only a few frustrating detours, and a quick, nasty thunderstorm, we reached the meadow in upper Royal by nightfall.
The next morning we were moving by roughly 6am (Brian forgot his watch, so did I) and climbed over Deception Col and skied into Deception Basin. The route up Mystery Glacier to the top was straightforward, and we skied Mystery in good, if slightly overcooked, corn. We skied about halfway down the Glacier before skinning back to the Top of Hal Foss. The ski down Hal Foss was nothing short of remarkable where, despite the corn on the SE side of Mystery, the N side of HF was perfect packed powder. So Good.
After reveling in our day thus far, we skinned back to the Deception Col and skied back down to camp in a mixture of awesome powder/corn. It didn't make sense. There was no manky transition between the two, just perfect packed pow to perfect corn.
At camp we rested and hunkered down for the forecast thunderstorm, which quickly dropped a half inch of snow and retreated.
The next morning we had a slightly later start and climbed the NE Couloir of Deception to the summit ridge. We skied the windbuff down the ridge to the entrance of the couloir. The top 400' was perfectly smooth, edgeable corn, then like the day before, it immediately transitioned to awesome packed powder. Steep, sweet, May powder. Sweet, sweet, steep May powder.
Despite the endless lines available, we broke down camp to head back to reality. Awesome weekend.
Interesting side note: at our 5400' there was roughly 10' of snowpack! See the link for more pictures.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2582068&id=10704841&l=4091f63418
The next morning we were moving by roughly 6am (Brian forgot his watch, so did I) and climbed over Deception Col and skied into Deception Basin. The route up Mystery Glacier to the top was straightforward, and we skied Mystery in good, if slightly overcooked, corn. We skied about halfway down the Glacier before skinning back to the Top of Hal Foss. The ski down Hal Foss was nothing short of remarkable where, despite the corn on the SE side of Mystery, the N side of HF was perfect packed powder. So Good.
After reveling in our day thus far, we skinned back to the Deception Col and skied back down to camp in a mixture of awesome powder/corn. It didn't make sense. There was no manky transition between the two, just perfect packed pow to perfect corn.
At camp we rested and hunkered down for the forecast thunderstorm, which quickly dropped a half inch of snow and retreated.
The next morning we had a slightly later start and climbed the NE Couloir of Deception to the summit ridge. We skied the windbuff down the ridge to the entrance of the couloir. The top 400' was perfectly smooth, edgeable corn, then like the day before, it immediately transitioned to awesome packed powder. Steep, sweet, May powder. Sweet, sweet, steep May powder.
Despite the endless lines available, we broke down camp to head back to reality. Awesome weekend.
Interesting side note: at our 5400' there was roughly 10' of snowpack! See the link for more pictures.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2582068&id=10704841&l=4091f63418
Nice - We thought about doing the same trip this year but haven't organized - perfect days eh?
Nothing short of an epic weekend trip: stunning terrain, peaceful solitude, great weather and snow.
It was amazing how good the snow was for the duration of the trip, regardless of aspect and elevation. Hard to beat powder with a side of corn!
Sidenote: whiskey and a campfire combat sudden afternoon spring snow storms very effectively ;)
It was amazing how good the snow was for the duration of the trip, regardless of aspect and elevation. Hard to beat powder with a side of corn!
Sidenote: whiskey and a campfire combat sudden afternoon spring snow storms very effectively ;)
Right on.
awesome! We got weathered out of a Royal Basin trip last weekend. Glad someone got the goods! Amazing stuff and great photos.
Great TR and pics! Thanks for the inspiration. I've wanted to ski that area for a while; maybe I'll make it this year.
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