West Peak

Saturday, March 23, 2013

I'll start with the interesting stuff and work back from there.

Time: 1:45 pm
Location: Summit of West Peak
Stoke level: Off the charts



















Let's back up a bit. We didn't go up last weekend because it got really warm and then it was cold with a tiny bit of snow. The evaluation was that it was going to be too gnarly for my blood.

It snowed a bit starting on Wednesday and they reported something like 9" over the past few days. There was 3" overnight...not enough to get up at 6:30 and hit first chair. Plus, I figured it would be the proverbial "dust on crust" conditions.

We arrived at the crack of noon again. The crowd was thin and the clouds we're thinning too.

We did a couple of front side runs to start. Conditions were better than expected. The park, however, continues to deteriorate. Not much hope for the rest of the season on that since the main park dude took a grooming job at Breck.

We talked with some patrol guys on a ride up and they said backside was alright. We started with a run down SDN, which was ok. We pressed a little further over the bowl than we usually go and found some nice new lines.  Then we headed backside and did a run down Cherokee. It was pretty chopped up. I convinced Dylan that conditions were just right to hike West Peak today. We've been talking about it for the past three seasons and it felt like the time was right. 

Dylan gets some Northern Exposure.

Into the woods. West Peak is maybe 1/2 mile from the top of Peak 2. We skied down Waldo to and cut into the trees over to the saddle between West Peak and Peak 2. Eventually down changed to up and we started hiking. Conditions were as good as they could be--10" of fresh on top of a nice layer of crust. No postholing here. Makes hiking easier.
 


















Approaching the summit.
 


















Nitka, Viktor!

Peak 2 (left) and Eagle Peak (right) from the top of West Peak.

Check out these dudes.

The clouds part on our arrival.

Diamond Peak is still Obscured by Clouds.

Ahh, sweet sidecountry pow!

The trees were amazing off West Peak. Open, with lots of interesting lines. Now we have a bunch of new zones to explore next time it snows. It will carry us well into next season. The question we are both asking: "Why did we wait so long?"  The answer...fear of getting stuck in a hole and having to walk out.

West Peak from the top of Peak 2. Note the tracks (ours) off the summit.

Ski!

Awesome day. I did not anticipate an expedition today, but sometimes you have to follow where your feet take you. The trick is knowing when to listen to your feet.

Spring break week this week. Time to catch up on projects, write some grants, and maybe get a day or two of skiing in. Weather report is sunny for Monday, so...Monday's on deck.