A couple of days on the snowshoes have been refreshing. On Tuesday I drove in a direction and then stopped at a spot on the snow-covered road that had enough width in order for me to park.
It was a nondescript mountain out west. After some aimless wandering searching for ridges, I turned back and went another direction.
I was rewarded with two things: the first was nearly running into a deer buck. The other was finding a secret tree skiing area that will be perfect when there is a little more added to the snowpack and when avy danger is high above tree line.
Trying to see the forest from the trees. The ridges petered out into an indistinct slope. Plenty of wildlife tracks though, including a fresh set of a younger mountain lion heading downhill and to the south.
I will be back once we get another dump to get a taste of the 600-foot runs. If you ask me for the location, Ill let you know.
On Wednesday, Dan and I headed up Watrous Gulch towards Woods Mountain. It was our first outing together since Mt Audubon. And ignominiously it was Dan's first outdoors trip since then and my first time back up in the alpine since our Indian Peaks outing.
Dan was also nursing an injured meniscus and I was suffering from tendonitis in my left hand. So we made quite the gimpy pair.
The snow was thin down below but the snowpack at and above tree line was deeper than I anticipated. I broke trail for a good portion of it and we decided to eschew the "trail" and just make a rising traverse on the side of the gulch we were on.
The views were superlative as usual, and the wallowing was fun. I knew we weren't going to get up Woods Mountain. While having a goal is good, you shouldn't have to handcuff yourself to it.
After a couple of hours we found a good spot to have Dan dig his first snow pit. He has been boning up on his avalanche knowledge and I am all to eager to teach him what I know from my experience.
Dan trying to unlock the secrets the snowpack contained.
Dan getting belligerent with the snow.
The two layers of facets were scary. It is a dangerous snow pack out there. Shovel shear tests pried off a foot-deep slab with far too little effort from the upper hoar level. After a small windslab crust, the base of the entire snowpack is on a flimsy layer of facets that can be swept up. I had never seen such a weak layer in my alpine time and numerous pits before.
But even though the evidence we unearthed showed a very touchy snowpack, I informed Dan I would feel comfortable skiing where we were at. Mainly because the slope was fairly well treed and the angle wasn't vertiginously steep.
Mind you if it was an open slope and or approaching 45 degrees, there is no way I would do a ski cut.
Still it was good to breathe hard, point the feet uphill and enjoy the views, company and conditions.
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