Thursday, April 14, 2011

Season finale

Got out for a late season tour this past Sunday on Mother Myrick mountain which lies just across the valley from my house. Was pretty excited about the tour for three reasons...first I finally reached the summit on my 4th or 5th attempt since I'm always running out of time and there is no good way to reach its summit. Second the top of the mountain has some beautiful old-growth spruce, only like 20-30' tall but very stout at the base as they came out of the snowpack with wide spacing between the trees. I don't recollect seeing anything like it in the Northeast. Third, the drainage I've been staring at for years, a nice looking 2000' vert drainage with northeast aspect which holds the snow incredibly well has nicely spaced trees for most of its length. While the skiing on that particular day wasn't exactly stellar, I still had some fun turns up high (above maybe 3000') with some fresh snow that had fallen earlier in the week but was now gloppy, then again lower down (below about 2200') where a good freeze-thaw cycle had consolidated the base and a nice corn layer had developed. Incredible coverage for this time of year. I was able to ski down to below my car which was parked at 1300'.
Monday brought 81F warmth with flooding snowmelt and rain Tuesday and Wednesday has done its damage. Now it would be a good hike into find snow in the local mtns. I think its best to put the sticks away for the year and break out the bike. As usual doesn't sound like winter is by any means done out west. Hope everybody is doing well and look forward to our next meet-up!

Wednesday, April 06, 2011

Renan comes to Jackson

It seems as though Renan has been chasing some pretty hardcore skiers around the Tetons. I wish I had known he was in town. Unfortunately, he took quite a fall. Hope he heals quick.

http://www.tetonat.com/2011/04/05/jhsp-rescues-injured-renan-ozturk/#comments

Rough week for this group. A couple days later Jimmy Chin was caught in a slide and carried over 2000 vert, but luckily came out unscathed.

http://www.jhnewsandguide.com/article.php?art_id=7165