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rock howard mastiff 2-1-2013

2/1/13
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Posted by alecapone on 2/1/13 11:49pm
http://www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboarding/trip_reports/index.php?topic=15743.0

Thanks Andy Dappen and gang! Pretty much sums up our day yesterday. Conditions were differant but similar. Our route mirrored theirs.

Ben, Kyle, Kololo and I had easy skinning from the hwy on crusty and variable snow. Once I  the alpine conditions varied from wind scoured west slopes, thin pow on crust on north, and loaded east slopes.  Only signs of instability where solar and small.

Weather and travel was perfect for this tour yesterday. All descents where on good snow and fun.. minus the last.
A little nasty coming down from merit lake in the dark. But ben styled us down to just west of the summer th.

Hitchhiking was near impossible as usuall, and ben jogged most of the way back to retrieve our chariot.



Saw your tracks off Mastiff today and didn't see an uptrack.  Said, "hmm did they do the traverse!"  Nice work.

i finally got through sorting my photos... it always takes me longer when most of them are scenic shots.  i have an easier time picking out my favorite action photos, but when i'm shooting people skinning through big mountains under great light, i have a hard time culling any of them out!  most of our downhill was in the shade, so not to many riding shots here.

kyle skinning through the mank down low.  this is when you start to wonder what the exit will be like.


scott shows off his new pack.


nearing the top of rock, we still had not decided on a concrete plan.


kololo was very insistent that we do the whole traverse, and who were we to disobey?


howard looked inviting, anyway.


we did a short traverse on the north side of rock before climbing back to the ridge for a nice chalky pow run down to crescent lake.




heading up howard.




kololo chasing kyle down to canan lake




why did i think that climbing mastiff would be the last climb of the day?


"don't go that way"


heading down to lost lake in fading daylight.


we made it up to the ridge above merrit lake by sundown.  i wish i'd gotten some photos of the downhill split-skiing that was involved, but the fading light and uncertainty in the route had me focused more on my gps and trying to find the summer trail.  i get nervous about getting cliffed out and stuck when it's dark and i'm in unfamiliar terrain.  although as we worked our way down to the lake, i did pause for a moment to think back to my bay area days and chuckle... at least the "merrit" we were approaching was not the disgusting cesspool of an algae infested goose toilet that bears that name in downtown oakland.

after much traversing, we gained the summer trail, but soon decided on a more direct descent that would take us to the road rather than the trailhead.  the snow got worse and the alder thicker as we descended.  it was more of a bushwhack than a ride. 


by the end, only kololo was having fun.


but we made it out to the road before 8pm, with only a little skin missing.


i made it most of the way back to the rock trailhead before anyone bothered to stop and give me a ride, but getting a lift for that last little bit sure was nice.  sadly our later than expected exit cost me my chance to see dr. john at jazz alley that night, but fortunately my gf was a great sport and sold our tickets outside the venue.  $35 each for one set of music is pretty ridiculous anyway.

Wonderful trip report, looks like you defiantly had some skin in the game.  Skiing in the dark through brush, and breakable crust is a contact sport!

Sick, sick, sick.

Hmm...was Kyle using the new (for 2013/14) K2 Kwicker system on that tour?  Am I even allowed to ask that?!

author=Mtnbound link=topic=27303.msg115270#msg115270 date=1360214322]
Hmm...was Kyle using the new (for 2013/14) K2 Kwicker system on that tour?


very astute observation there!  i'll withhold my opinion on the interface i haven't ridden and let kyle speak on it.  though i think he's out riding wasatch pow today...

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rock-howard-mastiff-2-1-2013
alecapone
2013-02-02 07:49:59