May 17, Colchuck Peak

Left Seattle area today at 5:45 AM with my friend Pat and made our way up to the Lake Stuart TH at 8:50. The skies were sunny the air was crisp with a light snow line ~4,500'. 'Carried our skis/ boots up to the base of Colchuck Glacier and made the saddle (8,000') between Dragontail and Colchuck at 2:00PM. We scrambled up Colchuck Peak and were back down to the saddle at 3:00PM. The weather was turning for the worse as visibility was dropping and frequent snow showers kept us cooled off. The skiing from the saddle started out with an inch or so of new over a frozen base. As we made our way down the snow turned to boilerplate and was especially fun where we had to traverse over some frozen sluff lines and debris zones. Lower down on Colchuck Glacier (~6,500') the snow improved to buttery corn and we were able to finish out the 2,500' ski with some really nice conditions! All in all a great day: 10 hrs of total trip time; 6,100 vf; 2,500' vf skiing; 10+ miles.
Other photos at: http://community.webshots.com/user/steve_taber