Jan 9, 2011, Lundin Peak

Didn't get the earliest start thanks to bumper to bumper traffic the last few miles to the pass. At 10:00 the skin track into Commonwealth Basin was well packed up to the turn off to Red Mt. Still fairly crunchy under the 5" of fresh so we continued up into the basin below Lundin.

At 4500' we dug a quick pit before venturing into the big gully coming off the summit. Here we found 18" of unconsolidated snow well bonded to about a foot of wet, transforming, slightly granular snow that was virtually glued to the rain crust. Couldn't get any sheers, the fresh stuff just disintegrated and we couldn't get any sort of shear at the rain crust. As we were working GF came up behind us from Red Mt where the top 6' was sluffing to much for his comfort. Breaking trail was grueling as by the time we crested out of the big gully at 5100' the powder was 24" deep. After much effort we crested the ridge at 5800' at about 2:30.

The turns down were epic! Face shots in nearly every turn. Stopping just a the entrance to the big gully we decided we need just a bit more time in the white room and skinned about half way back to the ridge. More face shots all the way down the gully!