Report from January 10, 2023

Yesterday was a special day.

• 3,600-vertical-feet
• 7-miles
• 6.5-hours

RHC talked us into going up and over the ridgeline and dropping into the backside zone.

There’s some great tree skiing out there and it’s a completely different type of zone compared to what we have here around the hut.

I was game.

The only issue was that it was -5ºF and blowing 20mph up on the ridge…

A crew of 6 of us bundled up and went for it despite the cold.

The wind burned at first but soon we warmed up and were controlling our temps well and even having to vent to keep from sweating.

We took turns breaking trail and made the ridge in about an hour.

The ridge winds were raging and the cold was sharp on top.

We quickly transitioned, dropped down, and got out of the fiercest winds.

We picked out a tree patch we liked and dropped.

The snow was deep, dry, and explosive.

I ended up in a pillowy, baby tree zone bursting with light and altered my mind.

This zone is gorgeous.

We cruised back up and picked out a different tree panel to ski.

I got an entire gully wall to myself and the snow felt like skiing through a bubble bath.

Bubble bath powder.

It’s too bad the sun wasn’t out for that powder bath because the snow was flaring off my body and skis at every movement.

We went back up for one more and ended up have a laugh in the baby trees near run #1.

From there it was about an hour back up to the ridge.

The sun came back out and made our hike out hallowed and surreal.

From the ridge, we dropped into flat light shadows back to the hut.

We had to sidestep and skin one short section then we were home.

The warmth, comfort, and friendship of the hut was very welcome.

Thanks, BC!

Photos in Chronological Order