Sunday, June 22, 2008

Monday, June 16, 2008

Great weekend to end the season on!
pics are up at my Picasa
This weekend was great with a ton of people













on Skywalker


















for a great couloir


















with a tight, 53-degree entry.













Sunday was also awesome with no one except me and Evan on the E face of James.


We descended Starlight while still pretty firm



















and then boogied up the Shooting Star couloir.













It was already baking at 8:15 so we hustled up the 1000' couly in under an hour.













We discussed the couloir briefly while quickly getting ready, making sure it was clear this was a serious route. It's 50+ degrees and 10' wide at the crux, with some potential to go over cliffs and we agreed it would be best to make controlled jump turns and probably not link turns while in the couloir.














The snow was perfect, silky corn.



























10 minutes later we were arcing turns and spraying snow across the apron.









There was still the hike out and turns down the St Mary's Glacier (with the attendant hordes of gapers), then a nice fat slab of red meat on the grill to celebrate, plus 3.2 beer since we'll only be able to buy it for another 2 Sundays. Cheers!

Here's how the season ended up:
Starlight, Shooting Star on James
Skywalker/Leia
South Couloir on Crestone Pk
Humboldt
Witch's Ditch
Dragontail
Dead Dog
Silver Couloir on Buffalo
Lamb's Slide
Torreys Time Trial (2:30 to top)
Grizzly Couloir to ShitforBrains tour

The only significant objectives that leave a thorn in my pride for not getting them done are dual:
Ypsilon
Castle E Face
That's it. Get them next year...plus maybe Superstar...and how about N Couloir on Pacific Peak...and, well the list just keeps going. The way I fell in love with skiing this winter in UT, on new terrain, but with established partners, gives me hope for finding stoke wherever I end up next year.

Time to climb!