January 15, 2006, The Phantom

My first post...I've read many a post and felt it was high time I added my own trip report. Today Mrs. Doober and I went for a walk up the Phantom, an 11AM start, finding the last slot to tuck our car in the Alpental lot. A good slog up through the forest, used a few old boot and ski tracks here and there. We took off the skins at around 5000' during a break in the snowfall. Fantastic thigh deep fluff for about 1000', then back into the woods to pick our way down through the creek beds and as yet unburied little trees. During our descent, we dug a pit around 4200', found a very easy shear about 2-1/2' down in the new snow, and were able to find a safe line the whole way down. It still could use another 5' or so to fill in some holes and cover some trees, but by far the best skiing and touring of the last 2 years!