Bright, sunny skies, temps in the low teens and low avalanche danger sometimes make a good day to venture up Hillmans or into the Bowl; but winds at 60+ MPH from the WNW forced a change of plans at 9:30AM.
We took a below-treeline ski tour, had some great views, and made a few good down-mountain turns. Even below treeline, the wind was howling, and I was worried about frostbite danger with the windchill factor. But I warmed right up once the wind was at our back, and the sun in our face. Dee took turns breaking trail with me. The summits were obscurred by clouds in the morning, and occasionally cleared later to reveal snow plumes on the peaks. The hurricane force winds were rearranging any loose snow on the mountain.
The Sherburne had good cover, but appeared mostly hardpacked from heavy skier traffic and wind.
The Gulf of Slides ski trail also had good cover, and was pretty hardpacked, though from less traffic. We did not see a single soul. There were still a few powder turns close to the trees on the shady side. The sunny side (skiers left) frequently had an old sun crust, and only occasionally offered good turns. Here and there, the wind was laying down a thin coat of drifting snow, or drifting in a few inches, but most was blowing off into the trees.
As we found at Cannon on Saturday, the best turns Sunday were off the trail, in the trees. We ducked off the GOS ski trail, and had an adventure skiing down and across the New River to the Avalanche Brook Ski Trail. In the trees below 3000' el., we enjoyed a couple dozen untracked turns in 6"-12" powder along the New River drainage, in between long traverses.
At 1PM back at PNVC, we were frost-bite free, and not too badly bruised from our encounter with a blowdown. You learn something every day, if you aren't careful: usually you can brush spruce limbs out of the way as you ski by, but once in a while they're as unyielding as hitting a telephone pole.
Thanks for a great day, Dee!
We took a below-treeline ski tour, had some great views, and made a few good down-mountain turns. Even below treeline, the wind was howling, and I was worried about frostbite danger with the windchill factor. But I warmed right up once the wind was at our back, and the sun in our face. Dee took turns breaking trail with me. The summits were obscurred by clouds in the morning, and occasionally cleared later to reveal snow plumes on the peaks. The hurricane force winds were rearranging any loose snow on the mountain.
The Sherburne had good cover, but appeared mostly hardpacked from heavy skier traffic and wind.
The Gulf of Slides ski trail also had good cover, and was pretty hardpacked, though from less traffic. We did not see a single soul. There were still a few powder turns close to the trees on the shady side. The sunny side (skiers left) frequently had an old sun crust, and only occasionally offered good turns. Here and there, the wind was laying down a thin coat of drifting snow, or drifting in a few inches, but most was blowing off into the trees.
As we found at Cannon on Saturday, the best turns Sunday were off the trail, in the trees. We ducked off the GOS ski trail, and had an adventure skiing down and across the New River to the Avalanche Brook Ski Trail. In the trees below 3000' el., we enjoyed a couple dozen untracked turns in 6"-12" powder along the New River drainage, in between long traverses.
At 1PM back at PNVC, we were frost-bite free, and not too badly bruised from our encounter with a blowdown. You learn something every day, if you aren't careful: usually you can brush spruce limbs out of the way as you ski by, but once in a while they're as unyielding as hitting a telephone pole.
Thanks for a great day, Dee!
