On Wednesday February 3rd I took the pup for a quick tour up The Pyramid.  We turned around at the upper cliffband due to uncertainty about the snowpack’s stability.

The NE Ridge of the Pyramid seemed strangely foreign to me after strong atypical winds out of the NNE pushed the drifts and cornices back to the opposite side of the ridge.  It’s amazing how much snow can be moved by a few hours of strong wind.

The skiing was good down low where protected from wind and sun.  Up high pockets of pow lurked amid windhammered crusts and grabby windslabs.  With atypical winds whipping around the recent ~24″ of fresh, things may be a little wild out there for a few days.

I found a skin track on the lower mountain that petered out around mid-mountain. Whoever put it in apparently doesn’t know the easier and “safer” way to navigate the mid-mountain steeps and steps.

After passing below the big cliffband and natural logslide meadow they opted to trend towards skinner’s right into very steep and windloaded terrain, instead of opting to trend towards skinner’s left into less steep terrain with a more direct route.

In addition to being steeper for longer the route to skinner’s right also puts you at the far end of a 5 minute flat bench in the ridge.  The route to skinner’s left spreads the vert out over more distance with a shorter total distance.  Both ways pass through some avalanche terrain but — in my opinion — the route to skinner’s left is much better.

Headed out of town for a few days on a little road trip.  Back on the 5th.  Seems like a good time to go since the snow is spotty due to sun crusts and sketchy due to big winds.  Have fun!  One Love.  Peace.