Home > Trip Reports > April 5, 2015, Mesahchie Gl. Hwy20 Madness

April 5, 2015, Mesahchie Gl. Hwy20 Madness

4/5/15
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Posted by Mofro on 4/6/15 9:55am
Z and I had a beautiful day of redemption on the Mesahchie Glacier on Sunday, a tour we attempted last year but were thwarted by white out fog 500 ft above Easy Pass on Ragged Ridge.  A couple of feet of snow at the pullout, but continuous snow for skinning/skiing the trail starts maybe a mile up @4100ft, and we encountered a solid supportive crust and easy travel all of the way to Easy Pass. After 3 great days of powder skiing around Alpental, Chinook Pass, and the Xtal BC, the lack of ski penetration or evidence of recent snowfall had us questioning our choice to bring the fat boards out again.   The traverse along Ragged Ridge did not soften in the filtered sun and the potential to slide a loooong way into some nasty terrain below was present, so we switched over to easier booting. It may have been doable with the skinnier skis and ski crampons but there was enough wind up high to counteract the sun and keep the surface smooth and hard as a cue ball.

We reached the col @7500ft just before 2pm with big gorgeous views of the Mesahchie Glacier and then were rewarded with an amazing 2,000ft of continuous boot deep powder. Fat ski redemption. The ski was so good that we skinned back up the glacier to the col and dropped it again.










This tour is usually described as a loop, but the lack of low elevation snow pack made for what looked to be an uninviting lengthy bushwhack out the standard route over Mesahchie Pass and back down to hwy20 so we opted to climb up again and return via the scratchy/sketchy traverse of Ragged Ridge to Easy Pass. We topped out the last time at 5:30 and made it back at the car by 7pm. 
author=Mofro link=topic=34061.msg140590#msg140590 date=1428368123]






Dig this one a lot. Yeehaw!

Any pics of Mt. Hardy? Thanks
Looks nice.

Beautiful Pictures and turns guys!

That there looks fun.

author=gorp link=topic=34061.msg140592#msg140592 date=1428368872]
Any pics of Mt. Hardy? Thanks
Looks nice.


Hmm, maybe one. I think this is Mt Hardy looking back from below Easy Pass.


The snowpack on the south side of Hardy was not looking very hearty.

Such a rad mission. Strong work guys!

Hey folks, did this tour yesterday...

One of our cars was broken into at the pullout near the Kitling Creek approach/descent...

>:( >:( >:( >:(

The bastards broke the sunroof and stole three compact disks.  Watch out!!


right on pal, way to get z on good snow. he must be way less grouchy.

Oh boy oh boy oh boy!  Can't wait to get up there.

I went to the map, to find where you were, fantastic looking turns, thanks for the great photos!

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april-5-2015-mesahchie-gl-hwy20-madness
Mofro
2015-04-06 16:55:23