May 28
A little storm passed through, depositing, according to the Collins snow stake, 5" of new snow. I found 3" at best.
Went and skied the Castle "wall". These two guys had dome difficulty following the skin track slip sliding on the old surface under the new snow.
Skied the main chute on Baldy after the Castle run. Neither runs were very good. Lumpy and bumpy.
May 29
Most every year in the late spring, a trip to Timpanogus is done, cuz they finally open the access road. One of the favorites is now called Cold Fusion. We did it last year in June, but Memorial day is kind of a tradition for Timp.
The gate for the sagebrush flat road is still locked requiring a boot hike around to the snowfields. Since we're not from Colorada nor dpers and the road is open, the start was after sun up.
It's a ways to walk before snow. We wore hiking shoes for the approach, stashing them at snowline. We'd noticed both bike tracks and hoof prints in the snow patches. We met up with Paul and his brother out horseback riding. Cabelas has moved near his house, reflected in the outfit.
Passing the gully entrance, a bit of brush thrashing at the base was done.
The same mistake wasn't made on the exit.
Lower down skinning was easy, we made good time, finding a solid refreeze under yesterday's
Up higher, the angle steepened, we were slip sliding, whippets were installed, a safety meeting took place and we switched to booting.
Mark and Murphy continued up at a furious pace, with the snow hard enough that only duckbills penetrated. G and I got a little sketched, Murphy was having a blast.
The top had been blown clean of recent snow, boilerplate for a hundred vertical or so, slope angle over 40, with no photos taken till after I changed my shorts.
Down lower, it'd drifted in places, providing good edging, but also prone to rollers and slippage.
It wasn't hazardous, kind of a pain in the ass though, especially if you went last
The angle eased off allowing a more continuous descent. Spring time and green down in the valley making a person wish they were gardening ?
We made a mess outta the thing. Hopefully the next skiers won't try it for a week or so, allowing it to smooth back out.
Much of the snow we'd used for skinning on the approach had melted during the day and the return to hiking shoes followed by stumbling back to the vehicle seemed like it took forever.
A three thousand vertical descent takes a full eight hour day.
Nice day, though.