SkiSickness

'sup trippers,

Cornucopia w/ good friends old and new last weekend. Saturday a road march eventually yielded corn o' plenty on the steepish north face of Buckner, and then after a Boston Gl interlude, 3500' corngasm to Moraine Lake. Big day, we tallied like, corn thousand vertical.

Sunday we corntinued a broken compass version of the Forbidden Loop, climbing a couloir up from Moraine Lake, tagging and skiing a Torment subsummit (mealy polenta snow), then traversing the scenic ridge N toward El Dorado, thence skiing creamed corn down west to the Eldo 'trail' homeward.

The 2000 (+/- 300) vf of trail travel on either end of this tour was definitely worth the turns. Suggest comfy boots or supplemental tennies. Plenty of feasting should still be available for those of you inclined this weekend. Cascade Pass--so dreamy.

We availed ourselves of a couple non-standard notches and cols; if ye seek these kernels of truth, don't hesitate to bend my ear.

Dave marches up the Quien sabe


Brian pioneered this double-gapped entrance exam to the Boston Gl

(Dave has a better pic of this--heck, he's got better pics of most things with that giant glass thing he was toting--i'll see if i can link later)

S-glacier environs still looking good


Dave deciding he's stoked on what lies ahead--2 sweet runs separated only by that glacier in background


Laura shralping the (likely first female) descent




Boston Gl traverse, Boston Pk L and Forbidden Pk R background


Dave showing early symptoms of severe overstoke; our ski on north face Buckner background


the line from N ridge Forbidden on other side of glacier


Superb sunset maize down to Moraine Lake


Got my trademark <2 hours sleep before the ~14 hour effort, so just thinking about Saturday makes me sleepy. More pics from Sunday etc. here

Love it back there. You gotta sleep, dude! Did you look at the couloir?

Things like this make me miss the cascades. Good warmth.

Holy moly. Way to pounce on optimal travel conditions, what an excellent itinerary.

What's Laura's last name?

What's the couloir Sky sneakily mentioned?

Where's part two?

Thanks yeah we felt like we scored with the conditions.

DJP: L's last name is same as a town near your home-city; imagine you know her, as (I gathered late in the trip) she also earned a champ title in freeride. Nearly dropped my camera in surprise when she pointed 'em and floored it down the north face.

The couloir Sky alluded to is the partially visible line (a variation, really--connects at 2/3 height) to the immediate looker's left of the face. Its base was sporting a triple-cracked schrund that was daunting enough to climb; probably ok to ski, but the snow was obviously good on the aspect we ripped, so took bird in hand.

Same reply as I used for DJP most recent. 5 stars all the way around! Looks like a beauty of a tour!!

This photo shows both the couloir and the North Face, Drew. The couloir is slightly steeper and it's a striking line, IMO. Jim Nelson photo with color FX by my old Barney signature model slide scanner.

You skied that one, eh Sky?

I skied both of 'em before Wehrly knew what a Dynafiddle was.

It's true, snapped the shutter a few times along the way. Enjoy homies:

https://plus.google.com/photos/10483108 ... 1797872273

Nice! Thanks for the link, Mr. Brown.

Cool antique photo Sky--upon viewing, would like to strike and restate my earlier assertion: the north face is a variation on the north couloir (more direct fall-line). Must go back for that one.

This one always puts the wind in my sails, too.
http://www.pbase.com/nolock/image/35362311

Praise be to Mr. Scurlock.

A few from a trip that ended in a little bit of an epicito when lars slipped on a bit of ice and dislocated his shoulder while self arresting. Gives you an idea of how cool the line is though.

The North Couloir:




One more from the west face of Sahale which we found in ripper shape.



Can't believe this was 7 years ago. TIme seems to fly.