South Schell Peak

 Before giving South Schell a go I tried my hand at South Ward. I drove up Sawmill Creek until the road was blown out, much lower than I had hoped. The hiking looked pleasant enough though, so why not?

Came across these cool pine needle mounds on the snow.

When, at last, I got to continuous snow it looked like this. After nearly two hours of hiking, I was over it. Not really disappointed because the hiking was real nice. Good to get a feel for the lay of the land in here too.

Yesterday I elected to go where the snow was deeper, the hiking straightforward, and the drive easy. North Fork of Berry Creek to South Schell Peak.

Early on the hike water was flowing everywhere and spring was exploding!

After about 40 minutes the peak came into view.

The old road/trail led to continuous snow up through this forested section before busting out into open high country.

Ski terrain! I went up and down the chute/bowl left.

At the top of the bowl with view to the summit. Dropped the skis near the top of the snow and hiked fairly miserable loose talus the last 500' or so to the high point.

It was brisk on top with a steady wind. Snapped a few shots and boogied down. Looking north along the crest to North Schell (bare, right).

Southwest toward the Egan Range.

East. Dry Yelland Lake and Mt Moriah

I found good skiing at the top of the bowl on softened northeast facing slopes, the chute was still firm, but the runout zone skied well. Just soft enough.

The forested section was fun too. Tight and slow before emerging at the snow tongue which persisted for a good ways.

End of the skiing.

Ski/scree boots.

 Pretty low ratio of hiking to skiing, but felt good to ski, great to summit. Is it over?