Quick report
Tour tracklog and pics posted at: https://www.strava.com/activities/11206141816 No stability concerns. So just beta for skiing: 1. Overnight freeze was hard even down low, so although we could have started skinning at the Cog base entrance to the ART, walking seemed faster, especially since the supportive grippy snow was like the trail had been paved. 2. Although some of the coverage down low suffered compared to Monday, up higher once the ART gains elevation is still in excellent condition. Our six party members probably covered every combination of skinning, bare booting, and boot crampons, with all the travel modes probably about even. 3. Double Barrell didn’t look very inviting from a distance. What did look tempting were the Ammo upper snowfields near the Lakes Hut, but we were there far too early in the morning to ski that aspect. And what did look intriguing was avy destruction from this season at the base of one of the many unnamed fingers extending down from Airplane Bowl. 4. Excellent snow coverage skinning over to GoS, although so excellent that I got suckered into skinning all the way veering to the ascender’s left in the hopes that it would connect on the other side to a continuous-snow traverse into the gullies … which it did not, so if repeating this portion of the tour, just boot directly over the ridgeline, then plan on some casual downhiking to reach the gullies. We took #2, although #3 might start higher, and also has what appears to be avy destruction this season at the base, but we didn’t get a good view of it from GOSST. 5. Graham had the usual burn-out section and the usual two swamps, but good for what it is. 6. Sherb was open to ~360’ vert of PNVC, which is quite generous of the USFS, so please respect the closure rope, especially as it might be moving higher up soon, given the many bare sections down to the current closure. 7. We chose Lobster Claw for our ascent up out of Tux, and the top is quite solid, not even close to getting burnt out. 8. Cog from near the summit was decent transportation skiing, just two portages up high, followed by one at the utility line, with skiing almost all the way to the bridge, although all of this required various maneuvers as well as skiing on assorted non-snow surfaces, with dramatic deterioration compared to the prior day. 9. Original plan had been to dip into Burt a bit, since some lines had looked tempting the prior day, but we were out of time by this point in the tour.