The wetter snow of spring is apparently what it takes to stick to Lost River Range. A few good freeze/thaws has ensured that the snow will not blow away. Finally, endless scree has been transformed to a cruiser skin track.
I headed up sawmill gulch which, if you have an ATV, can be followed with some difficulty pert near the pass between the two named peaks in the photo. I grew up in the suburbs, so my vehicle only made it about a mile past where this photo was taken.
April fools day...after an hour of hiking and two hours of skinning I discovered that I had inadvertantly brought more than the usual 1.5 litres of water. Somehow I had four litres!
As sometimes happens, I forgot my camera (ipod). The image I most regrett not having is one of the titanic leatherman, splitting sawmill gulch with its perfect equillateral triangle burning white. Pretty much looked like K2 from that aspect. From there I headed climbers left toward the unnamed summit on the photo's left (with green arrow). This pittance of a summit tops out at only 11,000 ft. The looker's right couloir off the summit went well. Warm weather the week prior gave rise to several point releases, but no fracturing. On this day everything was frozen solid and covered in an inch of fresh...and no wind! After negotiating rocks and avi debris the chute turned into a low angle half pipe full of ankle deep pow that extended well below tree line. This run had it all: steeps, tech, rocks, ice, vert, pow, location, access! 2,300 feet.
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