Hiked up with splitboard. Started on trailhead about 3:30AM, summit about 9:30AM, back at the parking lot by 12:30PM. Snow was still frozen my entire ascent, but was slushy around 6,000' and below on my late-morning descent.
The snow line was higher than I expected. Intermittent snow around 4,000', not enough to really skin up consistently until closer to 5,000'. Due to melt/freeze cycle, the snow was very icy at lower elevations (4,000' - 7,000') in the early morning, so I ended up hiking in my boots to about 7,500' where the snow was thicker/softer and skinning seemed easier.
I saw a lot of folks out both hiking and skiing. At this point I am inclined to say that skiing is diminishing returns until next season. It is a minimum of 3 mile hike (both in and out) on bare ground before/after being able to ski and that distance will only increase.
Comments