Kinda scary out there this morning. We had to be back in town by noon, so it was a brutally early start this morning, hoping to make it up and down in time for our deadline, as well as to beat the coming storm. Last weekend's storm dropped a TON of snow in the high country, and based on today, I would say that the snowpack in Steven's Gulch just doubled. It was hard to tell this morning how conditions would be, as it was still dark when I headed out. The road was a powder mess, with only two skin tracks from yesterday heading up. It was also really cold, as my toes took forever to warm up. When I got to the summer trailhead, the skin tracks turned off and went to one of the cabins, so I knew that my work was cut out for me. I began crossing the bridge hoping that some wind had come through and at least blown away some of the powder - no luck, however. Postholing from the beginning, the run was quickly turning into a mini epic event. When I got to the top of the willows, I ran across one of the largest avalanche's I've ever seen - the entire southeast face of Kelso Mountain had slid the day before. This slide was big, really big, with a debris field of over a 100 yards wide, and it went clear to the ground. I got a little spooked, as the south and southwest faces of Kelso looked really loaded and ready to slide as well. I ran way out into the basin to avoid any potential danger of a slide, which required more willow wallowing. Finally, after passing the big sign, the avy danger subsided, but the wind continued to be a pain. Also, my legs really began to hurt, primarily from the postholing which required me to lift each leg high up while also moving forward. I began to make better time, however, as the upper basin and face had been wind scoured somewhat, and I didn't have to wallow quite as much. Again, the usual tag of Grays and then the torture traverse over to Torreys through unrelenting wind had me questioning all sorts of things. I took a quick break on Torreys as I tried to find protection by the small cairn five feet below the summit and eat a bar. The next storm was already on the summits, as it alternated between blue sky and spitting snow and whiteout. The return trip was no less challenging, as all of my tracks had already filled in from the wind, so I got to break trail twice! Ahhh, always a good time in the mountains.
Morning light...
Breaking trail on the way up...
Storm starting to roll in...
Coming back down, you can just barely make out my tracks near the big sign from earlier...
Not the best photo, but the slide goes from the left all the way to the right of the frame. Massive!
No comments:
Post a Comment