March 26, Powder on the swath

With a pleasant forecast and decent stability predicted Emma and I decided to try to tick something off my bucket list. I have been drooling over the Swath every time I drive over the pass and today was finally the day to make it happen. We were expecting heavy snow and maybe some corn if we were lucky.

We left the Triple Pines Lodge at about 6:45 and were on the skin track by 7:30. The road is plowed to the church camp. The road was frozen in the morning but on the way out had thawed into a deep muddy mess, if anyone heads that way 4x4 may be advised.

The skin up was pleasant although the road has a number of short bare patches that will test how much you care for your skins. The sun hid behind the clouds most of the morning which we hoped would preserve the dusting of soft stuff over the icy crust. As we skinned higher the powder got deeper and drier although still with a bit of a crust in wind scoured areas. We topped out at around 2:00. There are a number of large cornices that are ready to go if we get a few more warm days so don't forget to look up!

We dropped in and it was dreamy boot top pow. We were expecting the snow to have glopped up after being hit with the sun but boy were we pleasantly surprised. Occasionally there were some sections where we would hit the crust but just move a few feet left or right and the powder was there. About 3/4th of the way back to the logging road the sun finally took its toll and the snow started to slush up. When this happened we just found the wind scoured areas that had been ice in the morning and harvested the corn.

The ski down the road was good ol' wet and slushy cascade concrete. We were back at the car by 4:00. It was an amazing day and an amazing ski. I would highly recommend people get out there while the snow is soft.

A short video of the day: https://youtu.be/U8yCP6zD69E