December 10-11, 2011, Colchuck Lake Environs

In case anyone else's blind optimism is leading them to think that somewhere around Colchuck Lake might yield good skiing... don't bother. We skinned up the road, which was completely covered, then skinned most of the way up the summer trail. Coverage is around a foot give or take. The path is well beat in by the multitude of alpinists who have been going that way. Good for lack of trail breaking, but it's not exactly a nice skin track. We booted the last 1.5 miles to the lake as it seemed less frustrating (we also booted back down the upper 2 miles as the forest around the summer trail was not really skiable). Once at Colchuck Lake we found between 6 inches and two feet (at most) of coverage. Most of it was either an inch of sun crust overlying faceted crap, or wind scoured, or debris. The only thing that looked remotely skiable was the Colchuck Glacier, but the boulder/alder field below the moraine is in very poor condition. We enjoyed a nice night out with the full moon, but unfortunately the ski season is not quite in yet.