Well, I ditched day 2 on the Alaska Snow Safety Conference to go backcountry skiing by myself. It was just too blue and there was plenty of low density fresh. I tore out of Rage City in cloud. I didn't bother to get the snow off my car; that's what highways are for. I had a Plan A, B, and C. Plan A was a long shot, but even with steeps odds, that horse came in.
I espied a skinner heading up Sunny Side at Turnagain Pass. It was an aggressive skinner but it was efficient. I ran into the group that set the skinner, and they were more than happy to share what conditions to expect up higher. They had kicked off a small wind slab off the SW aspect of Pt. 3340. I promised to keep my angles low.
Pt. 3340
About the time that I gained the ridge, the light went to shit. Oh well. I dropped into the low angle Triangle Bowl at the head of Seattle Creek. Even though the angle was low, the exposure from above was high. Avalanches had released in the prior 24 hours from either side leaving a mess of debris in the gut. I didn't linger.
While I was doing the mess around in Seattle Creek there was some action on the front side. A glide crack had fully released above the skinner taking out about 150' off switchbacks. Other than the nervous bile creeping up into to my mouth leaving an awful acrid taste, the skiing was excellent.
Dang ole' glide!
On Sunday morn, I responded to a flash mob request to Occupy Tenderfoot. Our caravan of 99%ers arrived well caffeinated and anxious to participate in a well thought out movement that is sure to bring about real change.
H★ Claiming Her Spot
KAZ and H★ formed our own mini group and sussed out some alternative areas to occupy. This led us to the north side of Tenderfoot Ridge. A+ snow accompanied our descent towards Butcher Creek. We returned back to Tenderfoot Ridge to reclaim our area, but by this point other protesters were congregating in our zone, but there was plenty of room for all.
The ground still hasn't frozen (3,500') and there was evidence off recent glide fractures in the area. A small wind slab had released on a micro feature (NW facing, 8", 10' wide, ran about 20').
H★ Occupyin'
- U.K.
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