March 4
Started at White Pine parking and ascended, taking the Red Pine, followed by the Maybird cutoff continuing up the Monolith to the Hogum 200 ridge. After viewing the Hypodermic Needle and Coalpit, we decided Coalpit was a viable option for the day.
The run down the Hogum 200 wasn't the best in the world. but certainly skiable. A slightly different line was taken than on Groundhog day.
The last time in Hogum, there had been a large avalanche on the west facing. This time the slides were on the east facing, with the west mostly smoothed out.
Climbing up the slide path, it was discovered the slide had initiated within new snow near the exit of the needle, stepping down twice into older layering from the January high pressure.
We gained the Coalpit ridge, where skis were removed for a boot to the summit. Three others had been kind enough to posthole all the way up the Y coulior and along the ridge to ski the needle leaving us both a clean line in Coalpit and a broken boot trail.
The Hypodermic Needle has filled in nicely with plenty of room for turning right off the ridge. Crust and avalanche debris made Coalpit a better option.
Skins were removed, with a great view of the valley.
The upper section was wind packed recrystalized powder, not the greatest skiing. The middle section had some very nice deeper settled recrystalized, best skiing of the day.
Eventually the line narrows into a gully for the finish. Others had passed and a number of wet slides had run into the gully making the skiing a bit unpleasant, similar to a mogul run at Alta, without the lift line.
I keep hearing about the necessity of a rope to bypass the waterfall, but have yet to need one after numerous descents, this time was no exception.
We did have to down climb a bit below the waterfall because of the lack of low elevation snow this winter.
Skis were once again put on and we were able to ski right to the highway with one more removal in a bare spot for a short distance.