We managed to talk Jim into selling us a one trip lift ticket, yesterday at Powder King. The ridge we climbed up on the other side was crusty and windswept, the cornice was a mere shadow of the one we sawed off with a climbing rope, eight years ago, during an avalanche course.
Back then the cornice was the size of a couple of school buses and weighed even more. It broke into two pieces as it fell. Amazingly none of the snow on the slope pulled away. It was as stable as an eighteen wheeler on the highway. It is only in retrospect that I recognize the significance of what happened. I'm more experienced now and a better skier. The slope we skied down yesterday was disappointingly gentle.
Yesterday there was a minor worry about the slope sliding. We had seen evidence of two slides on our way over. However, we sussed out the safe spot and spent a few hours skiing in the soft but thick powder. Fog drifted in and out of the valley all day. Not sure how long daylight would last we left early. Giving us more than enough time to ski past the t-bar in search of more powder before traversing back, arriving at the vehicle just as darkness fell.
The willows are bad at the bottom otherwise right now the Pine Pass has the best, easily accessible snow anywhere
The photo was taken later in the season, a few years ago.
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