A weird weather pattern leaves us with 4" of powder on a sunny spring day.
- March 14, 2010
- Team: Bob and Art
- Distance: about 20 miles, ~1900' climbing, 5000' descending
- Car to (other) car: 6 hours
Note: click images to see a larger version in a new window
Bob needed some mental refresh. It's a long story, but when you are at our stage in life (well into your 50s), you might understand. So after some work on a worthy goal, I struck on skiing the ridge, from Bogus to Boise. This trip brings back massive nostalgia for all three of us because we have all done it several to many times (Bob's ski diary puts this as his 35th). And putting this group of three together for the tour was even more special. Art and I last skied the ridge together almost 40 years ago. And Art and Bob hadn't seen each other for about 30 years. But they certainly knew each other: these two were together for the first winter ascent of the north face of Borah. Does Bob look happy? |
 |
A few previous runs of this trip (more done, but without camera or trip reports): December 4, 2005, Gordy, Carl, Bob, and Don December 29, 2007, overnight with Lew February 9, 2008, solo December 24, 2008, Ralph
|
|
This time it was quite cold, probably just under 20°. We were all waxed with a generous layer of blue and it was working great. Due to the wonderful snow and the great weather, we were having fun going hard so had already stopped to strip twice and we had not yet been skiing 20 minutes. (Dear Snowshoer friends: On skis, you can actually GLIDE UPHILL.) |
 |
It was dead calm and after the storm that rolled though on Friday night and Saturday, the air was amazingly clear. Here Bob is about to hit the junction where the Deer Point climb joins the ridge road. Art and I stopped to allow Bob a breather, but Bob just blazed past us and dove into the first downhill laughing. |
 |
The storm had left about 4" of fresh snow. Because the storm had been accompanied by high winds, there were lots of drifts and wind-affected areas. On cross-country skis, these can be a challenge as they toss you around. But we were in high spirits and laughed and giggled as the terrain sped by underfoot.
|
 |
| Further out the ridge there are some shortcuts to be had if you know the terrain. Shortcuts in protected bowls. We laughed and hooted as we tele'd through the glades. Yee haw! |
 |
The snow out here was awesome, despite the sunshine and warming temperatures. Check out the smoke coming from Art's skis.
(Dear Heavy-Metal friends: Art and Bob are telemarking on leather boots and touring skis.) |
 |
| We hit a few more shortcuts with equal enthusiasm. Then my camera battery quit. Dang- and I just changed them last June. |  |
| Here's another of the little bowls, this one photo'd by Bob. We're not sure what Art was doing. Usually these types of shots are of him checking the map, but we weren't carrying a map this day. |  |
| We made it all the way over Eagleson on that same blue wax, a rare occurrence in any month, let alone the middle of March. We must be living right. |  |
| Here we have finally made it onto upper 8th Street for the long downhill back to town.
|
 |
We were able to ski down to the Upper Hull's Gulch trailhead, then walked the road down to the motorcycle parking lot where we ha stashed Bob's rig. A good time was had by all. We, as a group, would like to thank whoever it was that built up such a huge stash of karma that we could enjoy such a day! |
 |
| On a less wonderful note, Bob and Ralph just called from Coulter Bay in the Tetons. Those rotten guys went to ski the Skillet without me. And I introduced the two of them! | |
|
|
