With clear skies and the storm of the decade of the week foretasted to roll in today, Wilson and I drove down to Turnagain for some skiing yesterday afternoon. With the sunshine and recent round of fresh snow I couldn’t have been happier with the extended day light that allows me to leave town at 3:30 and still be entirely confident of finding good light. The pass was pretty deserted, with less then 2 handfuls of cars parked along the entirety of the skiers side. Wilson and I decided on Corn biscuit (which was trackless) hoping to get some fantastic evening light on the northerly shots. The snow felt hollow and a bit spooky the entire way up, and upon inspection from above the first two lines were incredibly wind loaded and looked ripe to pop at any moment. Wilson and I decided on putting in a ski cut on the second chute. After marking my exit point and shuffling backwards for a few steps, I took a step right towards the ridge (in order to skin up above and cut the slope from above) and felt the ridge collapse as the slope slid away. For any enthusiasts out there Wilson captured a picture of me standing in the exact spot from which it was triggered.
Anyway, the slide and the accompanying larger then expected dust cloud convinced Wilson and I to have a couple of PBRs up top before retreating back to the car. And amazingly, while drinking up top, Max showed up, who, having been unable to leave town before 4:30, drove down solo, found my van, and skinned full speed in order to catch us, without the slightest clue as to where we were headed. I really love this time of year; being able to waste the entire day and still find some fantastic skiing in good light before bed can’t be beat. And to close things off, for those of you looking for a euro fix, my old buddy Clive from Chamonix has a pile of pictures over at Allez Toujours, while Chamonix Insider has a video and write up on the first descent of the Grand Gendarme d’Envers du Plan.
