In my cups. I realized quickly that last week’s rains had made the sun cups substantially worse, plus it’s a little cooler and firmer. I figured at any given time, only twenty percent of my bases were actually touching the snow. This could be a long day. Hopefully it’s still smoother in the steeps anyway. I suspect this epic season is about done, so much snow it interfered with the skiing, haha. (and as it turns out, that was it. 69 days, 361,200′ total vertical feet, on thirty different peaks, averaging 5,200′ per day, which is my usual seasonal average, oddly enough, a vertical mile. cheers)
I skied the steep snowfield at left, and erased the weather station on the peak at right.
Whitebark Pine (Pinus albicaulis)
Mountain Jewelflower (Streptanthus tortuosus), Brassicaceae family
Western Wallflower (Erysimum capitatum ssp. perenne), Brassicaceae
Spreading Phlox, (Phlox diffusa), Polemoniaceae family
Dwarf or Skunky Monkeyflower (Diplacus mephiticus), Scrophulariaceae family, come in either yellow or pink
Dwarf or Skunky Monkeyflower (Diplacus mephiticus), Scrophulariaceae family
I tried skiing down here but ran out of snow after a couple hundred feet.
top of my ski line is looking choppy
scarcely made a mark
but it looks better below
still scarcely made a mark though
Headed back up, past the pink snow algae, I heard meltwater running in the rocks across the way, and stopped to fill my sack.
Picking my way blind down the steep rocky terrain as it rolls over can be somewhat fraught. I know there’s a line or two in here somewhere.
I came down the continuous line skiers left, below the skylined trees.