First backcountry tour of the year: Divide Peak

With the large snowfall overnight, skiing was the only discussion. Nick, Adam and I skinned the 5 or so miles up to the South face of Divide peak. I broke a crucial part of my binding system on my right foot and had to skin gingerly the last couple miles before it finally broke beyond repair. I had already decided against a summit bid because I didnt want to completely break my binding and hamstring myself for the walk out. The trail is pretty flat so I wanted to be able to be in walk mode verse ride mode the whole time. We split up somewhere between 600-1000 vertical feet from the summit and a minute later my binding completely broke. I was bragging at the trailhead about how awesome Spark's generation 1 equipment is and how long it has lasted me. Thats juju for you. I carry replacement parts for every single component of my splitboard set-up, or atleast I thought I did. I have never been stuck anywhere before but I knew with the huge amount of powder snow that 'stuck' was going to be the word of the day. Even though I was around 10kft high and the snow was cold and the slopes steep, downhill progress was impossible. There was too much snow to ski! I ended up trenching through the snow to the cliff face, got to ski a little bit of that cause it was steep enough, then resumed trenching back to the trail. Then, with one foot strapped into the board in ride mode, I kicked and pulled all the way back to my truck. Nick and Adam showed up 20 minutes later. No question, that was the most effort I have ever put into a ski day with essentially no skiing; 11-12 miles and a couple three thousand feet later! BUT there is amazing terrain back there and a safe/efficient way back to the trail if you know someone that is familiar with the area.

Diggin' Pits. Super safe conditions everywhere we went. 

The South face of Divide is in the sunshine. We're closer to Hyalite Lake in this pic.

Where we split. I think my binding broke before they even got to the trees. 

I walked out right past the Hyalite Snotel. These are some Brunchorst climbs I believe.