February 8, 2006, Kaleetan Peak

We should have done this tour yesterday . . . or Monday . . . or Sunday. It would have been epic. However, heavy rain to at least 6,300 ft. on Tuesday night combined with early morning freezing temps made for some ultra-firm crust on all aspects this morning. We found a recent skin track going up to the China Bowl Chute gap and saved a little energy, then dropped over the back side where we found a few reasonable turns on crust that supported our weight. Traversed over to Melakwa Lake through really heavy crust that fortunately had been melted due to S. exposure; didn't have to put the skins back on until past Upper Melakwa.

The skinning up Kaleetna was a bit of a headache due to the firm nature of the snow - very little grip, and the ski crampons were (DOH!) safely on the shelf of my gear room at home . . . we ended up booting the final 200 vf. of the peak. The weather had cleared remarkably by the time we got to the top, and good views of some insane lines down from Bryant were had.

A few good turns were had down the S. facing ridge (maybe 400 vf), but as we turned into the E. facing bowl down to Melakwa Pass, the crust turned to sketchy boilerplate with VERY little grip . . . I took a little ride when I went down on my hip and accelerated rapidly, launching off a small rock band and managing to stop when I landed hard enough to dent the crust. Not elegant.

Skiing down to Chair Peak Lake and then to Snow Lake was heinous (no, HEINOUS) - mostly accomplished by traverses linked by huge jump turns. No skating was possible on Snow Lake due to the crust situation, so we put skins on again and did it the slow way.

Someone had put in a skin track a day or so ago up from Snow Lake which we gratefully followed, to be rewarded with more crust skiing under Chair Peak (this time, traverses followed by kick turns)! Some of the worst skiing either of us has experienced, to be sure . . . recommend you stay away until it snows again.