Nov 26, trough, longs peak, rmnp

The Trough had always been included in the "To Do" list when I lived in Boulder.  Especially after I heard a friend tell tale of a 3,000 vf descent.  It had only ever lasted on the list because it did not cleanly deposit one for a true summit ski.  I'd seen skiing off the Southwest summit area.  What if a ski of the South and West slopes could yield a top to bottom?  But a hearty sole it would take to complete these lines.  To complicate the matter, as many Front Range classics experience, the hurricane Jet Stream wrecks havoc on usually one, or both, of the faces.  Consequently, the run was seldom "in shape" to make a full descent possible.  Early spring perhaps in a great year, well, maybe.  I pondered and waited, and many others on the to-do list fell.

I never would have thought about skiing it early season, very inventive and looks like nice turns!  2” of wind blown powder (into nice drifts) on the CD is pretty fine no matter how you slice it. 

ive read a tr from march of 2003 when some people skiied off the south east side of the summit(the end of the keyhole route) but that was just after an epic storm which dumped 6'+ ,,,the south and west side probally would be possible iwith an immideate a 60m+ rap,or two off the summit block,, the real treat of longs is the north face, which is definatly on my list, but did not come into shape last year,, i did ski a large portion of the notch couloir, 55dg multiple raps, over the disconcerting sheer void of the east face, wasent able to ski the very end due too shaded icy conditions, thats definatly on my list again for this spring/summer,, although i hope i make it up to the nw too