May 8th, 2011 not sure if I earned G.N.A.R. points for calling Mom as I skinned out towards Mt. Catherine to slog up the deep isothermic snow. I wanted to see what the North face old growth trees looked like between 4 and 5 thousand feet. I was hoping for a lot less new snow under the massive tree canopy up the steep slope. As I started up the last long pitch my guess played out right and as I was getting towards the main slide zone I could see most of the open chutes had cleared out the last new big snow.
As I approached the last few hundred feet skinning became quite difficult w/ firmer conditions under the trees and chute’s bed surface was somewhat firm due to the cold temps, so I popped the skis off and booted the last 100′.
Quick break, had Trooper drop to the first tree then cut the slope getting the top 8″ to release, so back to the same bed surface we climbed for safe passage down to the lower zone. Skiing was expert only for sure and skied too many different types of snow from top to bottom to list. I just took it easy the whole way down and decided the best skiing is still right in the back yard on the slopes of Summit East aka Hyak. Another season w/ bucket loads of last snow and no MF cycle to speak of so far. Might head East for a bit.
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