Early April began with new snow, a stable snowpack, and a back-to-back guided hut trips. Rare conditions like this are perfect for enjoying steeper terrain in powder, and that’s exactly what these groups were looking for.
Kurtis and Philippe took last year’s Ski Mountaineering Camp, and they returned this season with a couple friends to tick a few more lines off their respective bucket lists. After hiking into the hut, they got right after it with a “warm up” run in KBs off of Skier’s Summit. The next two days saw descents of JC in the Profile Basin and then the Sickle in perfect powder conditions. While skiing these steeper lines in soft snow was user friendly, booting up them felt like swimming uphill!
Next up was a larger group of locals along with friends from Oregon and even the midwest. Warming conditions traded powder for silky corn, and we still managed to find cold, dry snow in the local chutes. Warm temps and sunny skies meant wonderful afternoons lounging in and around the hut enjoying cold beers and reliving the day’s adventures.
Spring conditions means fast travel, and we took advantage of the firm snow to do a recon day into the Monolith Valley for an upcoming womens trip Sara is running. We couldn’t pass up a quick detour up the north couloir on Heyburn, and although the conditions aren’t as powdery as they have been, it was great steep skiing practice for our interns Tanner and Lani!
Enjoy the photos and hope you’ve been enjoying some of the great spring conditions!
