The guides cooked up another awesome warm breakfast and we filled out bellies with calories to get us through what lay ahead. What lay ahead was my favorite day of the trip. This is hard to pick because each day was amazing but our third day was a little extra special based on where we toured.
We skied / boarded from the hut down into Bob's hole where we transitioned to skin mode. I had a couple of exciting moment descending as the overnight temps froze the snow to some nice icy crustiness! I sort of kind of made it down without too much incident and we talked about our upcoming tour. The plan was to go up to the red light district and do a quick lap on 'quickie' and than head up high into the alpine.
The first lap down quickie was a perfect way to start the day with nice buttery turns down an open slope. A few turns later we were at the bottom and discussing our route to get up high. We transitioned and settled in for a long skin.
The plan was to head up to clipper gap and see what the snow conditions were like on the north side of the slope. With a little luck, the snow held some powder as it was protected by the north facing aspect and wind. We slogged up the hill, through the gully, and then traversed up into the saddle. It took about 1 1/2 hrs through some really warm temps in the gully. There was little to no air movement and it seemed like the sun was just baking us in the little cauldron. We stopped a couple of times for a quick drink and kept motoring to our saddle that was getting more and more visible as we ascended.
Right before the saddle, we regrouped and spread the group out as we gained the saddle. Once the saddle was gained, we had amazing views into the interior of the Wallowa's. Wow! We took our skis and boards off and settled in for a quick bite as our guides scoped out the snow pack and conditions. Within a couple of minutes a plan was formulated: bust down and do a quick lap on the north slope, then skin back up to the ridge and decide what line to drop on the way back.
We lined up along the top of the slope and got the green light to drop in. I wasted no time and took the first tracks down the slope. My first couple of turns were slightly cautious as I had no idea what the snow would be like. Surprisingly, the snow was great! It was 'stale powder' but once again we had some phenomenal turns in buttery smooth snow...the smile on my face just kept getting bigger and bigger until all too quickly I was at the bottom and looking back at my tracks on the way down. Within a few minutes, the rest of the gang re-grouped and we were transitioning back into skin mode to head back up the slope.
Roughly 30 minutes later we were back at the saddle and game planning for what was next. We all decided we wanted to do a little bootpacking up the ridge and drop into the bowl from the ridge. I followed our guide's footsteps and we split into 2 groups. The first group bootpacked up and over a cornice to drop into a nice wide open bowl. The other group staged just a little bit lower on the ridge.
There was some exposure along the ridge as we hiked up and I thought briefly about the consequences of slipping down either side of the ridge and decided to avoid that as much as possible as we would slide for a ways before stopping and there might be some consequences to it all!
Soon enough we were in ski/board mode and our guide dropped the first line. We alternated groups as we descended. I watched a couple of people descend and have to admit there was a little pucker factor in anticipating my turn. I dropped in and was anxious about what the snow conditions were...icy? firm? soft? A fall up high would mean a long ass slide down so it was time to point it down hill and go!
I transitioned in, made 2 turns and quickly realized the snow was perfect! Giddyup!! I relished the turns on the way down and it was all over way way way too soon! The steep slope meant for a quick descent and all I could do was enjoy what just happened and watch as the rest of our group dropped in one by one.
The next person down after me was Erin and I was excited and anxious all at the same time. She nailed her turns on the way down and breathed a little easier.
We all made it down without incident and picked our way down the gully while trying to maximize our turns. The smile remained on my face and all I could do was bask in what was the King line of our trip.
Everything else that day seemed a little less memorable only because my mind kept wandering back to that ridge line we did....there were a couple more laps on some smaller north facing slopes but heck it seemed a little inconsequential after dipping our toes into the pool of euphoria up high.
Somehow the next couple of hours blazed by and all I could do was peek back up at the saddle and see our turns up high. It was a good day...no, it was a great day!
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