Wednesday, March 21, 2012

nice little 1,000 foot stash. I skied laps on this after 15 inches of dense snow had fallen in the absence of wind. I returned the next day (picture) to find the slope rendered useless by the night's gale.





















Chemistry tricks...Slow precipitation of lead iodide produces gold! The flourence flask shows the positive result of a Tollen's test, pure silver precipitate lining the vessel.


































Cut throat killa'! 18" spawning female. Lived to spawn.




























This specimin had an unusually large head and small right arm













































Latest route on Dickey Peak.


I managed to reach the false summit. The run turned out to be much steeper than I thought, yikes! The dagger mounted on my ski pole for fending off mountain lions doubles as a self arrest tool in situations like this. No sign of avalanches, nonetheless I skied close to the rock/snow line on the uphill side of the gully. Being solo means that most (?!) of the routes I've skied this year have been chosen specifically because they present this option.


The last few weeks of snow and cloud cover have really saved the spring ski season in the LRR, still pretty slim though. In contrast, on the other side of the valley, Smiley Mountain Snotel site reported over 8 inches of SWE in about 10 days, more than doubling the snow pack!!