Skiing!....In Trees!

The stars are finally aligning for what looks like a pretty decent tail end to this winter season.  We've finally been able to string together some consistent precip with some consistent temps and this weekend marks the first time I've been able to really ski Cannon in probably a little over a year.

Saturday was a bit strange weather wise in the Notch.  Gorgeous at the base. Sun was out, temps were mild.  Climb 1000 vertical feet and you've got dense freezing fog, 20-30mph south wind...you know the usual.  The snow was still pretty good and holding up to the traffic well.  Jim and I got to some early recon seeing what wooded lines were in and what needed a bit more coverage.

Obvious wooded lines were already played out but the coverage was good enough to still ski them without much issue.  Other lines with a bit more junk could still use another shot of snow but a handful were riding just about as good as they usually do.  It was great to finally duck in and have at it.  I felt like my 'glade eyes' came back fast this year and I was linking things fine in the tight stuff before too long.

Mittersill was scraped pretty clean but I found a line or two that was still a bit fluffy.  I bet Sunday was pretty nice over there early but it doesn't last long with that chair running nowadays.  Luckily even the slackcountry has slackcountry up in the Notch and Shaun and I decided to try our luck Sunday finding the goods.

Goods = Found

Looking up at our prize

Find them we did and we found them first.  An easy 4-5in had fallen at elevation overnight (on top of everything else we got during the week) and it was still snowing at a good clip on the skin in and during most of the day.  No one had been in here since the latest round of precip so we were looking at at least a foot of untouched.

The initial skin in is nice and gentle, perfect to get warmed up.  Its followed by some sporty terrain for a bit that required us to boot up a pitch until we could contour around again to our target.  Skinning up the actual line was a bit tricky but we got a track set that was workable.  Its a fun little run; decent pitch, stuff to jib off of a bit.  It would be nicer if it was a bit longer but the top of the line gets pretty choked out as it heads up to the ridge so we actually didn't skin all the way to the top.  There is an obvious stop point for the best part of the line where we transitioned.  From there its probably a couple hundred yards of fun...rinse and repeat.

 Shaun dropping in on lap 3

We got 3 laps in before heading out.  We were starting to feel the up by then and had gotten the best of the snow on the line itself.  The out was surprisingly fun even though it is a bit more low angle.  All in all probably one of the most successful days I've had in the backcountry.  Simple plan, executed without issue in great conditions.  Forecast for the next few looks pretty decent, hopefully the temps stay where they need to up north...