June 10, 2006, Steamboat Prow, MRNP

Trying to pick the best weather day this weekend was a bit tough.  We decided on Saturday and it worked out OK, despite variable conditions.

We left the White River Campground just before 9:00.  The sun was out and the views were great, with some cloud cover.  As we headed up the Interglacier, ypu could see the weather building.  Between 7 and 8k feet, it really closed in.  It started to graupel and then turned to wet snow.  For a couple hundred feet around 9k feet, my board strapped to my pack was buzzing.  The last time I heard that sound was in an electrical storm on a high ridge.  It was making me nervous but I figured we were well below several high points around us and it soon stopped.  When we reached the ridge a little ways short of the top of the prow, the wind was blasting over from the Emmons side and it was snowing pretty hard.  As we reached the top, it started to lighten up and then the sun came out.

After having a short lunch break in the sun and enjoying the views, we headed down.  The snow was great for skiers and just about perfect for a boarder.  The squall had dropped about an inch of new snow on top of a smooth soft base.  It didn't start to get really grabby until the bottom of the Interglacier.  Normally my snowboard seems to suffer from sticky snow more than my skiing companions.  This time I seemed to be less affected than they were.  I was on a new board and for the first wax, I had mixed in a liberal amount of graphite.  I am assuming it had more to do with the wax than the board, but it was very enjoyable to just have fun riding instead of constantly trying to keep from pitching forward.

With a few carries we were able to ski within a couple of miles of the trailhead.  Just about the perfect trip.

I have always wondered why skiers ski instead of board.  As you can see from the last photo here, it must be related to their intelligence level and the inability to identify transitions. ;D