Report from March 2, 2024

Today was a battle.

The roads, getting our car stuck twice, digging metric tons of snow, snowplows, snow blowers, hectic…

As soon as we clipped into our skis, all that melted away…

17ºF.

8ºF up high.

The skinning was pleasant, the wind was howling, and the snow was deep and dry.

At the top of our first run, we were apprehensive about the avalanche conditions.

We’d chosen a lower-angle run but there were a lot of red flags:  lots of new snow, lots of wind, and lots of wind-transported snow.

We tread lightly and put in a few ski cuts with good results.

Then we blasted off – to the moon.

I honestly felt like I was high…

Kyle did too.

The snow was so deep and dry and floaty.

It was hard to understand.

Days like this only happen once every few years at best.

We relished it.

We savored.

We breathed it in.

Literally.

I was coughing at multiple points on my first run.

Back up for another.

The wind was insane on our second ascent.

Enough so that Dwanis was freaked out and wanted to bail at one point.

We persevered.

The snow was exploding off our skis during the 2nd run.

The snow was even deeper and drier.

I porpused in and out of the snow laughing between turns and faceshots.

One more half run of bubble bath powder and we were back at the car.

By then, the plows had cleaned up and widened the roads nicely.

We drove home with ease and the warm truck made me soft and sleepy.

Thanks to our great crew of Dwanis, Tim, and Kyle.

Note:  we saw lots of signs of instability out there and our snowpack pits revealed a very reactive snowpack.  We kept our terrain selection low-angle

And thanks, California!

Photos