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| A day of hard labor can turn a two hour hands-and-knees bushwack into a pleasant ten minute stroll. This has really opened up some possibilities. The stock handle on the lopper only lasted one mountain man hour! |
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| After a day prepping the trail and lots of rest I headed out to ski a line I've been looking at for a long time. This picture represents the last crux on the descent, marked by the lowest red arrow in my final photo. On the ascent I stayed climbers left in the wider passage which had melted out. |
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| about 1/3 of the way up |
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| At the middle red arrow, looking down. Uhh...? |
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| At the middle red arrow, looking up. Above this began sustained 50 degree firm snow, a joy to swing tools into! |
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| At the top red arrow, I found this hidden 200 cm wide slot on the descent which allowed me to avoid the 15 foot WI 3 step which was the crux of the climbing on the way up (blue arrow). This WI crux came at the top of several hundred feet of 50 degree firm snow which I ascended on front points using two technical axes. For me, this was way more pushy than any part of the descent. |
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Bazinga! Descent marked by green dots. This photo was taken in mid winter when avi conditions where high. By the time things stabilize, there's not much snow left. The obvious big couloir off the summit was my objective, but its snow pack was too unconsolidated to climb. Contrary to its appearance from this angle, it is in fact a perfect 50 degree plum line. I attempted an alternative route to the summit but was stopped by steep wet rock. Clicking in here at 11,400 feet was pretty wild! My camera stopped working mid descent, but who cares! The whole face is about 2,000 vertical feet and beneath this was another 1,000 feet of perfect corn! My stoke was so high that I skinned up canyon to summit Mount Breitenback, a 12,000+ foot giant. I was stopped when the snow pack began to refreeze forcing retreat. From there, it was 2,000 feet of non stop high speed 25 degree corn, awesome! (Ty, I stand corrected) |
