February 18-20, 2006, Jove Peak

After waffling back and forth between multiple destinations, our crew of six decided on a hunt for week-old powder on the north side of Jove Peak.  We loaded up on layers and fuel, as the overnight lows for Saturday were forecast at 3-4 degrees Fahrenheit and Sunday only slightly warmer.  We left the Smith Brook Road pull-out around 10:30 in bright sunshine and occasional chilly breezes -- the norm for the day.

The road in was pretty beat up, with a hard frozen crust making for easy skinning (despite complaining hip flexors, unused to the weight in the pack).  We cut the hairpin and climbed up the steep boilerplate above to reach the upper road and worked our way around to the saddle between the end of Union Peak and Nason Ridge (Rainy Pass, as I recall).  Snow conditions changed from boilerplate to 1-2" dense windslab over sugar snow as we crossed the pass on the East-facing slopes.  Working our way through the trees toward the south slope of Jove, we encountered wind slab in the open areas and some lightly crusted loose powder in the trees, alternating with hard-frozen, tree-bomb zones.  As we climbed into the head of the valley, the conditions became powdery in the open (on the low-angle, South-facing aspect) with the same crusted sugar snow and tree-bombs in the trees.
     
The night was cold, but all slept warmly and we moved out of camp around 10:30 for a leisurely tour up Jove Peak.  Along the West ridge of Jove the snow was heavily wind-effected.  Hard slabs made for tricky skinning and a shovel shear showed a clean fracture about 6 inches down on the 4th or 5th tap from the elbow.  We cut a cornice farther up, directly down onto the south-face, which failed to release anything, though a 500 pound wad of snow tumbling down the hill is always fun to watch.  The North slope held the same wind slab we'd found on the west ridge, so we skied our cornice-tested South aspect, finding very skiable conditions on the open, upper half and nice corn on the lower half, which promptly turned to breakable crust when we went for a second lap.

Another chilly night, with salami and scotch and a small fire to help it pass.  We skied out Monday morning under overcast skies and the first of the returning snow flakes.  A welcome sight and a great weekend, if not the turn-fest we had hoped for...  Good company goes a long way and bluebird days never hurt. ;D