2-2-12, thunder mt

Alpine lakes, alpine start... 12:01 Leyland and I went up to Thunder mt. Hoping to beat any warming and take advantage of some cool flow, early hours, and west facing giving us til around noon before seeing the sun. Plus, it was gonna be another banger of a day.



Thunder Bowl, South West









Our original plan of climbing Thunder via the southwest slopes was halted by a sketchy exposed section that was sporting a nice wind slab was becoming more then isolated. we where a mere 200' or less, but called it good and had a great ride down in the early morning light.

climbing with thunder in the distance


great snow for the down


The snow was great, it it was still pretty cold, so we debated some options, and decided to reclimb most of our skin track until we where unhappy with the temps. On the way up we spotted a cool little couloir that had a chance of gaining us the ridge. The snoe was a little more confidence inspiring, but it was still sporting some pockets of wind slabs ont eh sides, and eventually, turned to not so great snow above a constriction that I would end up down climbing for about 20'.... Leyland and his young knees did a small safe air. We gained the ridge and basked in outstanding views of the upper Icicle and other near by areas.

skinning with our first run in the background.



booting up the angry man.


the  crux, that Leyland Tele'd!!



The Angry Man...(pay no attention to the gnar in the background)




the rest of the couloir rode great, minus a small slab that i set off and ran some distance, but was easy to manage. we could have rode cold powder in the shade for most fo teh run, but opted for some sunshine hot pow. still rippen..



Looking back up
first line, southwest slopes of thunder


Angry Man


Skiing without out skins from glacier lake all the way to 3,500 feet down suprise creek was almost ubelivably still mostly fun powder that not got sticky, excpet for in the flat sunny areas around the lakes.

Made it home in time to keep my girl happy, though I did sleep through an entire speaking engagement at the U-dub.

Ok, the Gnar behind then man.... Surprise surprise.....