Quick report
A time of the season for especially rapid change, but just in case any of this is useful to anyone, my tracklog, pictures, and captions are posted here: https://www.strava.com/activities/11334232970 … and snow coverage observations in order of the tour: 1. NE Snowfield connection to above the Lip closure area was typical for this time of year, in a good way, although some portages could open up soon where the East Snowfield joins the SE Snowfield. 2. Upper portions of Chute were totally gone. The juncture of the traverse into the solid lower section suffered from a discontinuity of probably only a meter at most of vertical drop, but that will have become far more serious of a discontinuity by the time anyone is reading this observation. 3. Left Gully was typical for this time of year, in a good way. 4. Oakes Gulf Airplane Bowl was good for just under 1k vertical feet thanks to an avalanche this season that cleared out one of the many ribbons extending deep down below treeline. But getting narrow down low. Probably only about half that vertical left in Airplane Bowl by the time anyone is reading this. 5. Hillman’s was heavily bumped up yet excellent cover! Just one water hole was starting to emerge and could ski straight into the below-treeline cut ski trail and then into the Sherb, skis-on the entire way. By the time anyone is reading this, that one water hole might have become more of an obstacle and a short portage will be required to exit the gully, but should remain a worthy ski line for some quite more time this spring. 6. Strava elevation profile indicates that I skied only ~400’ of the Sherb, and even that was generous of USFS (thank you!) given the conditions. So if the Sherb is entirely closed by the time you’re reading this, please respect that closure rope and hike down all the way from Hermit Lake via TRT so as to preserve the trail for future seasons (as further erosion will only worsen conditions for all of us). 7. Right Gully was still close to full length, but a fairly long stretch toward the top of the skiable section was quite narrow and started to get undermined. So the skiable portion might be very short very soon. I exited on far climber’s left so as to stay on some steep (yet both soft and supportive) snow to avoid kicking any rocks on the climber’s right down onto three skiers transitioning at the top of the skiable snow. The final schwack on far climber’s left was intense yet blessedly brief. Once I was at the hiking trail, I was able to skin up immediately from there, but the trees are probably too tight by the time anyone is reading this. Which means the only realistically feasible entry/exit for the top of the Bowl is now Left Gully. 8. Skiing straight down the NE Snowfield, the longest vertical descent according to my Strava elevation profile is pretty much spot-on for what I’ve recorded over the years as the typical maximum 660’ once the road opens, so typical in a good way (even if the road opening is a week ahead of typical).