June 8, 2014, Winthrop Glacier, Big R

On Sunday June 8th, four friends and I clicked in on Columbia Crest. After skittering down through the spicier parts of the upper Emmons, we decided to point 'em straight down the Winthrop Arm when the climbing trail veered skiers right.  The terrain is simply huge, and the fall-line skiing is continuous for about 4,000 feet. The exit is the steepest and most exciting part, now requiring a little hop over a continuous bergschund-esque crevasse. The flats above Schurman are crevassing up fast, one party pioneered the route a week before us but in one week their exit strategy was no longer available to us. Given the crummy weather I think the meltback has slowed considerably, but if you want to ski this route I'd do it in the next couple weeks before the final flats become a hopeless maze.





Our line off the bottom of the arm is on the right side of this picture, hopping over the little crevasse.



Bonus photos: If anyone out there has caught the Sky's disease (I believe it's called SkiSickness?), there is a sweet, almost continuous line through the Russell Cliffs off Curtis Ridge:



And finally a sun halo because those are purdy