Cat Snowboarding - Mt Bailey

As Trevor was trying to fill spots on the cat for Mt Bailey, he reached out and extended an invite.  I figured what the heck...it was something new and worth checking out.
Mt Bailey is down by Diamond Lake so it would only be about a 2 hour drive to the cabins where we would check in and rest up for a day of backcountry fun on Saturday.

I have mixed emotions about the day.  It was great to check out new terrain and get into a new adventure.  We scoped out some great opportunities for further exploration and it just indicated how much backcountry access there is in this state.  It is pretty incredible.

We were treated to decent weather.  The area had been consistently  getting snow and we were able to get fresh tracks from the recent snowfall(s).  The snow was a little on the heavy side but still big fun.

In a way, the cat lift seemed a bit like cheating as we did not have to sweat our way up and earn our turns.  We piled into the cat and my biggest challenge was fighting off the nausea at the top of each run as we hit white out conditions thanks to the wind and snow.  It always took several minutes to get below the whiteout to start seeing a little more clearly and for the nausea to start to dissipate.

All in all - thumbs up...it is definitely a very different experience than a true backcountry experience as a little bit of the soul was missing but still good fun none-the-less.

It would have been awesome if it was clear since it would have helped in getting a better lay of the land but alas mother nature was storming and we were along for the ride.

We managed to get 6 runs in and each seemed to get a little better.  My favorite runs were the last two where we got an amazing tree run that seemed to go on forever (but not long enough) and then a nice steep chute with amazing lines and fresh luvvin'

some pix:
Nathan doing his praise the lord booty dance...

 from inside the cat:

 getting ready for tree bliss:

 yum!