Mt.Ellis Pow Pow

After the snowless winterless winter we had last year, a snowfall event like we had overnight must be taken advantage of. Therefore Nick and I got an early start and skinned up Mt.Ellis. We broke trail the whole way. It wasnt just through the new snow but the entire snowpack! The horrible horrible structure of the snowpack made us sink essentially to the ground with each step. It was 12+" of new snow but our skin track was a tunnel twice that thick. We dug a pit at 8k' and got some of the worst results I have ever experienced; CT8 Q2 (= GIANT RED FLAG for those of you who dont know what that means). There was no need for a propagation test because I could just kick the snow with my ski and produce soft slab avys and/or 30+' spider cracks. Needless to say we didnt ski the classic burn but we still got some great snowy turns. My camera lived long enough for one photo.

Nick trailblazing somewhere near the top.