Fool's Ridge

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.

Looking down the chute.

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!

Treasure Peak Bowl

Rallied for another tour with Ben. This time up Rock Creek where a couple of inches of light, fluffy snow fell at the trailhead - which is the pack station for now. 

We headed up to Ruby Lake

and then Mills Lake with our goal, the Petit Griffon center.

From whence we came. A lot of trailbreaking!

We took a nice break at this rock and contemplated trying the Petit, despite obvious sloughs, or traversing over into the Treasure Peak bowl.

Closeup of the Petit Griffon. Recent sloughs had flushed out of the chute, so we were a bit dubious the skiing would be very good there. We decided to head to the bowl.

We did a long traverse under the north face of Treasure Peak to find the most north facing, coldest snow. Ben ready to go, actually eager to go and get out from under the face that was pelting us with ice pellets.

The skiing was good!

The snow got a bit heavier as we skied lower on sunnier slopes.

The sun had really warmed the snow and we did trigger a shallow wet slide (above Ben's head) on an east facing slope. Then we "enjoyed" mank the last couple of hundred feet down to the valley floor.

Finally, of course, there was the long slog out.

A beautiful day in Rock Creek!

Lauberhorn and Grindelwald

Finally we came to our last full day in Grindelwald. I settled on the idea of a short ski tour in the morning and an afternoon strolling the town with Mary - which we had yet to do.

From our chalet this is the view of the Lauberhorn (left) and Tschuggen (right).

The ski lifts from Kleine Scheidegg had been closed for some time, but the terrain looked very nice so I elected to ski up to the summit of the Lauberhorn. A pic from the train as we approach the station with the Lauberhorn above.

The Europeans love their American Indian kitsch. They're big on watches too.

I was a little surprised to see several other parties heading up. This elderly gent was slowly making his way up.

Of course the views were terrific. The Jungfrau.

The Eiger (left) and the Monch (right).

A couple nears the summit ahead of me.

Looking straight down on Lauterbrunnen.

and Wengen.

The upper Lauterbrunnen valley.

and back east to Grindelwald.

A snowboarder hiked up behind me. Turned out to be a woman, about my age, getting a quick run in before work! 

Nice folks on the summit.

Went up for a second run to a sub summit. Looking back at the higher main summit.

The skiing was great on perfectly cooked corn - smooth, untracked, on playful terrain.

Next up was an afternoon in Grindelwald with Mary.

Had a high level match of mini golf. Worst course ever. Best views ever.

Stoked to see my car is very popular in Grindewald. Hardly see any here in the States!

Another day of fun and sun.

Mt Johnson Mini Couloir

Headed out above South Lake again. Climbed up through the Treasure Lake zone very close to where Ben and I skied on Friday.

This wind lip forms in this spot every year. Busted a rib here once upon a time.

Just above I found this fascinating zig zag pattern in the snow.

There are several couloirs on the north face of Johnson. I selected this one as it seemed to hold the best snow even though it was fairly short.

Getting up there.

Booting was hard work. Mid thigh deep in spots and over the knee all the way.

Once I got into the upper section of the couloir I was constantly pelted with snow pellets and, occasionally, small rocks. So I bailed out.

Dang fine skiing in the couloir. Wrapped around and found good skiing down into the main drainage too.

Looking back on the way out.

Surprisingly good skiing all the way out to South Lake too.
Nice!