March 5

Yesterday a fine tour was done. Didn't quite wear me out, the skiing was good enough to continue and I had demons in need of exercise, so I headed out again, with no firm destination. On the trail I got a great view of where I'd been the day before.

I went up Red Pine. Upon reaching the ridge I knew where to go. An easy ski down in partially sun softened snow puts a person at the base of Box Elder. Already been over there and skied the triple.

Going to the summit from White Pine parking presents a interesting problem, always enjoyed.

I did have a little extra help. Socko, kinda like a double shot of Red Bull. Had to ingest it, even before climbing.

The Socko, while giving me the shakes, did help ascending. A look back after attaining the lower ridge shows how far I'd come, but worse, how far it was back to Red Pine.

There had been a good sized slide cycle from the last storm. Most of the east face had slid and there were scattered pockets on many of the lower slopes. I like this picture, showing both the crown and the stauchwall of a slide from the recent cycle.

I made it onto the upper ridge, only to discover a couple of others had skied the slope. Musta just missed them. They'd zig zagged up the east face apparently coming from Tibble Fork. Better them than me. That ski out after the northwest face can be daunting.

I always enjoy the view of Timp from the summit. This time was no different.

A little extra motivation and some gas would get me down there before it all melts.

I had a nice line off the top. Snow wasn't the best, wind packed, and a little herky jerky with a slide path run out to negotiate in the lower apron.

Skiing improved below the main bowl, since the sun had softened some of the crusts. Unfortunately I was near the start of the long climb back to the ridge.

It takes a couple of hours to climb back up Dry Creek from the bottom.

I had a good view of the Pfeiferhorn for the climb watching the shadows get longer on the south face.

Near the ridge, I took one last look back at where I'd been.

Upon gaining the ridge I saw a group had zigzagged all the way up White Baldy. Impressive up track. Looks like almost as many turns on the up as the down.

I also noted tarheads had tracked out and high marked the shoulder of the west Twin gaining access through east pass from Silver Creek. One would think, money would be available from the fee demo area in American Fork to prevent and enforce this rom happening. Caused quite a ruckus with people in the area I heard later, but the FS is unable to deal with the problem in a lucid fashion.

Good tour and a good adventure. The tour is becoming an annual event, sometimes getting a couple of runs on Box Elder and sometimes just going over and back.

 


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