Quick report
Route map, pictures, and captions at: https://www.strava.com/activities/18257197364 https://www.strava.com/activities/18269604387 https://www.strava.com/activities/18283629489 https://www.strava.com/activities/1829869430 No signs of any snow instability, so this observation is all about the remaining snow cover for ski tour planning. Major caveat: as of the time I’m writing this Th pm, the summit has already recorded about a quarter-inch of rain during the day, with more to follow until the freezing line is fx to drop to ~4.5k elevation by sunset, followed by anywhere from zero to four inches by Fr night for the summit obs fx period, with NWS showing at most an angry inch or two over the weekend. Tu Apr 28: Airplane Gully still close to full length at ~1,100’ vert. Bottom ~200’ vert narrow with moguls, probably to be undermined soon. Otherwise in surprisingly good shape despite all the skier traffic the prior three days via Otto. A few small isolated hazards emerging throughout but nowhere near the formation of any cruxes. Many reports of other lines being skied, both in-person that day and on-line the prior three days. Turkey Chute was reported that day to be scarily undermined already. Pipeline and the neighborhood had been recently skied via downhiking, rappelling, etc. Mo Apr 27: NE Snowfield nearly full length at ~630’ vert via skier left dogleg. Skier right connected easily with the traverse across the base of the East Snowfield, which came tantalizing close to connecting with the SE Snowfield, which in turn still extended ~500’ vert up from there. Easy traverse along the rim of the Bowl into Chute, which was also in great shape. The previously massive glide cracks along the way and across the full width of Chute above the hourglass were still mainly filled in by the late-April refresh. Right Gully was still at least ~500’ vert but rapidly becoming undermined at the top. The snowless exit back up to the ascender left toe of the East Snowfield was okay by late-season standards (although getting into the Bowl that way would be horribly unfun). Su Apr 26 & Sa Apr 25: Left Gully in fine condition, even if getting beat up at the top from skier traffic. The connection to the rest of the Bowl at the base of the gully was plenty wide, not even close to becoming a crux. Traverse from top of Left Gully to top of Hillman’s didn’t offer any practical skiing, with three disconnected snowfields. Hillman’s skier left branch was beat up from skiing traffic with many emerging hazards but still skied nicely. Didn’t have a chance to check out skier’s right branch: probably smoother skiing but the crux up high (after the initial bowl-shaped entrance) could be a concern. Below the split, gloriously wide and smooth at first then became a tighter mogul field with many emerging hazards. Still fun skiing, with no awkward maneuvers required, but didn’t have a choice of lines. Trivially short portage to the below-treeline ski trail before what will now be a short walk on the Sherb to the bridge for Hermit Lake. LH summer route already had an established boot track across the steep snow traverse Sa pm and then ever more so Su pm. I felt totally fine with ski boots and BD Alpine Whippet (boot crampons staying in my pack). Will remain a steep snow traverse for weeks potentially, but might soon be okay soon with just trail runners when the snow is soft.