And then the sun came out...

...which is normally a good thing, but this time of year the powder doesn't last long in the sunshine. It was a sunny morning. Buck and I did a Moose Brush but weren't able to get an early start. We reached the top about 1:00, as the sky was beginning to cloud over. Unfortunately, the damage was already done. As Buck said, "this is Peter Rork snow -- a good way to meet your friendly local ACL replacement specialist".  The turns that were completely in the shade, totally north-facing, were still good. Everything else, not so much. One and done...

Out Like a Lamb

Okay, so the end of March is still 3 days away. But the snow conditions on Teton Pass are indeed very lamb-ish .... white and fluffy. The snowpack at the top of Christmas Tree Bowl is deeper than my 9-foot avalanche probe, and the top foot or so is nice and light. Boot-top to shin-deep, aahh, springtime!

Pictures from Switzerland

I finally got the pictures from our Switzerland trip online. We spent a week in Wengen, Switzerland. It is a car-free village in the mountains up above Interlaken. The ski conditions were not very good but the scenery was spectacular. This is an absolutely beautiful area to visit in the summer also.

https://picasaweb.google.com/Ray.Fink/WengenJan2011#

While we there, we took an afternoon to ride the Jungfraubahn, a cog railway that tunnels up through the Eiger and Jungfrau to the highest railway station in Europe. Only worth doing on a clear day!

https://picasaweb.google.com/Ray.Fink/JungfraujochJan2011#

We spent a couple days visiting Doug & Alana in Basel, and got to see Boo flying down a Super-G course at a small locals ski area called Sattel-Hochstuckli

https://picasaweb.google.com/Ray.Fink/SattelJan2011#
 

Even better on Oliver

Doug and I headed to the Stateline parking lot, met up with his friend Marty, and we went for a tour up to Oliver Peak. There was a couple inches of fresh fluff, and lots of untracked snow. Several other groups were there, though no real competition. The north bowl was good (especially the lower half) but we found some very nice untraced over on Ollie East. So nice we had to do a couple laps, and then admire our tracks from the highway on the drive home.

Some good skiing again

We had a good time in Switzerland but the ski conditions were, um, not so very good. And we came back home to lousy conditions at home, most exposures either sun-crust or wind-hammered. I went for a short tour last Thursday on Teton Pass and never bothered to take my climbing skins off.

Fortunately another storm system moved in Sunday and Monday. My friend Doug is here visiting from Durango. We skied Moose Brush on Monday in the storm, coverage was pretty good on aspects that were sheltered from the sun. Stability was good but got a bit slabby as the day went on, due to more wind and warming temperatures.

Tuesday was the day: clear skies, calm winds, and about of foot of new in the past 36 hours. Doug's friends Jim and Karen from Whitefish are also in town, the four of us had an excellent day in Powder Reserves, Christmas Tree, and Edelweiss. I dug a pit at the top of Christmas Tree, CT 15 Q2 on the half-inch thick pencil crust. It skied very nicely. As usual most of the skier traffic was headed north of the highway, so even at 2:30 in the afternoon there were fresh lines to be had on Edelweiss.

On Wednesday, six of us (including Gary and Donna, also from Whitefish) went for a tour out the southeast ridge of Mount Elly. It was a lot colder today, the snow was still good though the south aspect had some noticeable crustiness underfoot in some places. I dug a pit at the top on a southeast aspect and was surprised that I couldn't find the sun crust, although I could see it just ten feet higher on the slope. CT 10 Q2 on a slight windslab layer in the new snow about 8" down, then CT 18 Q2 at the old snow interface. Doug and the Whitefish folks like to call this line "95 Turns", I have to say I'd never skied it.

After two laps here, we all decided to declare victory and rest up a little after three good days...

Beautiful Uptown Burbank

At least I think it's an upper tributary of Burbank Creek. That's Oliver Peak in the distance.

Janet, Guy, Jill and I parked at Stateline and headed for Oliver Peak. We took the ridgeline east of Stateline Canyon, following an existing up-track. Between getting a late start and some equipment issues that Guy was having, we only had time for one lap in the aspen glades and did not have time to go all the way up Oliver. We skied down from the saddle on this side of Oliver, and out Stateline Canyon. The snow conditions were superb!

25 Short is still there

Eric and I went to the top yesterday, just to make sure. The ski conditions were absolutely excellent.