Happy New Year!
Skied up Loop Brook to the Lilly for a quaint bivy below Sapphire Col on Jan 02/06. Lots of alder bashing and open creek crossings (bring a life jacket and rubber dingy, maybe we should have Swiftwater Rescue incorporated into the ski guide program if global warming continues...) lower down below the Lilly moraine feature. Lilly glacier easy to bypass on climbers right with broken ground in the middle and climbers right. Climbed the steep pitch to Sapphire Col in the morning with a 10 -15 cm of new sitting on the Dec 25 crust. Slab had not set up until near the top of the climb near a steep convex feature, which pulled out a 0.5 soft slab (ski cut (?) down 10cm, 15m wide and ran 20-30m), not really of any consequence but sporty in some regards. Excellent ski quality (30-40cm of storm) down beside the Dome, however whiteout conditions provided exc ellent opportunities for touchy feely snowplowing techniques and roped skiing fun! Ski quality decreases and becomes industrial below treeline with 10-15 cm of dust on crust.
Also skied Lookout Notch to Asulkan on Jan 01. Approach to the Illisilly (practice slopes) looking very thin, with many rocks and moraine feature still poking out. Bowl below Lookout Notch has slid with last rain storm and was covered with a thin dusting providing "rodeo like" skiing conditions, avalanche path below is filled with many x-mas trees and hazards. Temps feeling very mild (-6.0 at 9:00pm on Jan 02 on Lilly below Sapphire Col) throughout stay at R.P.
Cheers,
Scott Grady
Assistant Ski Guide
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