June 25, 2006, Old Snowy/Packwood Glacier

Cass has been talking about getting back to the Goat Rocks for a while now.  Given the weather and reports of a shrinking snowpack, and despite group attrition due to logistical problems, we decided this was the weekend to make the trip south.

After camping at Chambers Lake, we started from Snowgrass Flats trailhead at 6am.  We found continuous snow in the trees starting at 5350' and skinned from that point.  Reaching treeline before 10am, we discovered less snow than we expected on the Old Snowy - Ives ridge:



With our decision where to ski in some regard now made for us, we continued to a bench at 7200' above the continuous portions of the Packwood Glacier. 



The snow was brilliant!  Firm, but with easily managed suncups and runnels.  Making matters more enjoyable was the terrain: open and sweeping, but marked by prominent features.  It's a beautiful basin.

Skiing back was less eventful.  By early afternoon snow on the western aspects had been sufficiently cooked and was slow and soggy.  Nonetheless, we earned 3300' ski time for 4700' of climbing.  It was a lovely day.

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