It's been quite a while since I've updated this thing, and since I wanted it to start out as a ski journal of sorts, I guess I should write something about the great winter we are having in JH right now. I was a little skeptical about the upcoming winter when my plane landed after Thanksgiving and it was pouring rain in the valley. Not exactly the kind of weather I was hoping for upon my return. It rained, and rained, and rained. The good thing was that it was frequently cold enough up top to turn that moisture into snow. Great early season turns were had on The Pass when there was absolutely no snow on the valley floor.
It kept getting a little colder, the snow line kept creeping down, and the skiing kept getting better and better. I feel like I've skied powder every time I've clicked in this December. I would say I've skied more good snow this December than in all of last years funky winter. The snow has been steady and consistent, with a few big storms dropping a couple of feet at a time. By all accounts the snowpack seems bomber. I need to start keeping up with the dates of things skied, but this month has been a haze of powder, work, and Lost Continents. You know how it is. A few highlights off the top of my head:
- First over-the-head blower pow on Four Pines a few weeks ago.
- Dawn patrol on Glory. Sunday morning after a storm. Cold and clear. One of the most beautiful sunrise/alpenglow sessions I've ever experienced. Dropped into the NE facing aspect of Glory Bowl and skied untracked, run-of-my-life type snow.
- A single untracked run down Laramie Bowl at JHMR makes the list.
- Endless to Mile-long in Granite Canyon of Christmas Day was pretty awesome.
- South Face of Taylor yesterday (Thursday, December 27) in great conditions.
- Presumably first tracks down the Spoon Couloir on Disappointment Peak a little over a week ago. Someone obviously could have skied it before us, but we saw no tracks and no signs of a previous booter set up the chute. The chute itself was wind affected, but the entire E Face of Disappointment was INCREDIBLE all the way to the bottom. A few pics from that trip follow:
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| Bill skins up the East Face of Disappointment Peak |
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| Nearing the top of the Spoon Couloir |
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Near the top of Disappoinment Peak. Grand and Owen in background. |
-BY
