On Saturday, being the weekend and all, I figured it would be nice to get off the beaten path a little bit and do a quick tour out of North Lake.
The most recent backcountry ski guidebook calls this "Piute Pass Ridge", but climbers refer to it as "Fool's Ridge" in reference to the Aiguille du Fou (Fool's Needle) a favorite climb of the late, great Smoke Blanchard. Read more here.
A fresh dusting of snow and cloudy skies greeted Ben, Ann, and I. Just after this creek crossing we headed up an attractive couloir.
Ann boots up into the clouds.
The booting was "variable" with a few sections where one would randomly punch through - as Ben is experiencing here.
Fortunately the clouds cleared a bit when we reached the top.
Happy Ben with Lower Lamarck Lake behind.
Mt Emerson and the Piute Crags.
Some of the skiing was pretty good, but the patches of avalanche debris were tricky.
Ben took this pic of me searching for a little smooth snow.
Ben further down.
Ann opens it up a little.
Ben negotiates a steep section.
Looking back to North Lake.
The apron held the best skiing of all. Ann all smiles at the bottom!
Winter moved back in as we walked back to the truck.
Sweet!
No comments:
Post a Comment