Turnagain Update

Turnagain Pass again had very little to no wind, ideal winter temperatures in the teens to low twenties.  Glade snow is still the best, though the alpine snow quality is catching up.  Some light flurries blew in and out over the day.

Our December day offered 5 hours 35 minutes between sunrise and sunset, but there was plenty of daylight to wend our way toward exhaustion.  J-Rock and yours truly spent 6 hours 40 minutes on skis, starting the day with an ambitious objective of Sharkfin and settling for laps on Eddies.  We luckily happened to depart the parking area with Ron and Todd, and they helped us find our way across Ingram Creek.   They were headed for Wolverine.  Our plan was a lap on Eddies and then over to Sharkfin.  We stayed on Eddies, and we heard some happy hollering over on Sharkfin.

Ingram Creek with a lot of open water

Cutting Eddies Bowl

Tincan Sunset

Aldercation

Revisiting Todd's in Powder

Jill Fredston's story of Todd dying at his namesake bowl is haunting, and when J-Rock mentioned Todd's as a possible objective, the thought of Jill's story was unsettling.  But, conditions were good, crew was good, weather was good, snow was good, Todd's Bowl was good. 

Matt was OK with testing the slope, so Jon and I watched him descend with smoke-like contrails.  We descended the bowl and traversed back to the 'front side'.

Gotta be fast to record Matt



J-Rock ready to try Todd's

Temperatures in the teens with no wind.  The skies lightly snowed from time to time and visibility was in and out.  The glades held the best snow, but Todd's Bowl was very good in most places with an occasional crusty area.  Abundant avalanche debris fanned out below most of the north facing couloirs of Tincan ridge. 

Cinco de Fresno

 
The Fresno Five found the pull out at milepost 49 on the Seward Highway at sun up with blue skies and cold temperatures. Fresno Ridge rises 3000 feet above the Seward Highway at Lower Summit Lake and extends 3 miles north with the highway parallel to the massif. A gajillion ski lines run from the ridgeline to the highway, and we five hombres discovered a few.  George, Michael, Josh, Dante and yours truly tracked out our little world of Fresno Ridge, Cinco de Fresno.

Tres Joven Amigos and the two old guys followed

Wind had worked the alpine snow

Velocity Josh



Michael

DP



The Sun Also Sets and We Must Descend

  Temperature ranged from 10 to 20F, and winds were mostly calm.  Weather station was a few hundred feet above our highest point.  The snow was best below tree line.  We could feel the rain crust on inclinations of 30 degrees or more.  We had some minor route finding through the alder patches, but they are mostly buried and presented no major problems.