November 4, 2011, Colchuck Glacier

Chris and I had some very nice cold* skiing on Friday on the permanent snowfield between Dragontail and Colchuck Peaks.  It was so cold in fact that my still camera with AA batteries wouldn't work until we were done skiing and back at the lake.  I did get some video though and here it is:  http://vimeo.com/31636325  .  Chris is a tele'er but just bought his first AT setup and these were his first locked down turns ever.  Caught on tape!

We left Wenatchee at 4:15am and had the trailhead to ourselves at 5:30am.  We started our first run around 10am and went back around for a second run of the top section at 11:00.  Done skiing at noon and back at the car at 4:00.  With the second lap at the upper, our skied vert was about 2100'.  10-1/2 hr round trip would be shorter if you could ski to the lake.  The down-hill boulder hopping between the bottom of the snow and Colchuck is challenging** with 1" of new snow (it wasn't bad going up). 

The snow was pretty good, not great. Up high, there was about 2" of fresh on top of last year's surface.  Check out the video for an honest assessment of the conditions.  You could hear it, but it felt fine.  We met a solitary climber near the bottom of the skiing and he had the balls to tell us it looked like *gasp!* Survival Skiing.  I told him he was nuts and he didn't know what blower powder looked like.  He wasn't buying my crap and just told us to be careful.

*by "cold", I mean my waterbottle froze and my camera batteries quit working.
**by "challenging" I mean we welcomed the alder for bush belays and we both cursed, fell, strained, sweated, and developed a temporary bad attitude.  That section was nasty.