Sunday March 25 dawned bluebird, so on our last reserved heli day we headed south in a shuttle van to the Placer Valley and then flew into the mountains overlooking the Skookum Glacier. Last summer Adam had bought a down jacket to handle cold temperatures, and since our first drop at 3,300 feet was sheltered from wind, he was a bit warm and unzipped the jacket a few inches. As CPG had been able to fly only half a day in the past 5, guide Kent McBride was diligent in digging snow pits and analyzing snow while we skied 1,000+ vertical sections one at a time for avalanche protocol. On the first 1,000 there were so many face shots that Adam's jacket filled up with snow! He emptied it and kept it zipped thereafter.
Our first 5 runs were all on these east aspects to the Skookum Glacier, and at least half of the 3,000+ vertical was waist deep with billowing smoke. The rest was merely excellent powder with not a hint of wind or sun effect right down to the glacier floor at 300 feet. A couple of the runs started as high as 4,200. ChrisC was most impressed with the terrain on his day with CPG, but for me it was the snow.
Run #6 was Ice Monkey, starting at 5,200 feet and dropping west from the same mountains. The snow was not as deep, but some of it was steeper and still produced the occasional face shot. The next run was west facing at lower elevation, and near the bottom Kent hit unexpected sun crust and took a spill. Like us, he must have been mesmerized by the powder perfection of the past 5 hours.
The last 2 runs dropped north to the Placer Valley at 50 feet elevation, with scattered trees on the bottom 1,000 vertical. On the last run at 550 feet one of our group triggered 2 slides on either side of him, but fortunately not directly underneath him. Kent spent some time analyzing the slides, taking pictures, and also had the heli fly over it for a closer look.
The day's total was 9 runs and 28,000 vertical, conservatively 26K of very high quality powder. This was unquestionably the finest of my 19 lifetime heli days, and only rivalled by April 9, 1999 at Mammoth as the best day in my 31 years of skiing.
Note to admin: I have now passed you in powder vertical for this season. I agree with you: it's all about quality! :wink:
Our first 5 runs were all on these east aspects to the Skookum Glacier, and at least half of the 3,000+ vertical was waist deep with billowing smoke. The rest was merely excellent powder with not a hint of wind or sun effect right down to the glacier floor at 300 feet. A couple of the runs started as high as 4,200. ChrisC was most impressed with the terrain on his day with CPG, but for me it was the snow.
Run #6 was Ice Monkey, starting at 5,200 feet and dropping west from the same mountains. The snow was not as deep, but some of it was steeper and still produced the occasional face shot. The next run was west facing at lower elevation, and near the bottom Kent hit unexpected sun crust and took a spill. Like us, he must have been mesmerized by the powder perfection of the past 5 hours.
The last 2 runs dropped north to the Placer Valley at 50 feet elevation, with scattered trees on the bottom 1,000 vertical. On the last run at 550 feet one of our group triggered 2 slides on either side of him, but fortunately not directly underneath him. Kent spent some time analyzing the slides, taking pictures, and also had the heli fly over it for a closer look.
The day's total was 9 runs and 28,000 vertical, conservatively 26K of very high quality powder. This was unquestionably the finest of my 19 lifetime heli days, and only rivalled by April 9, 1999 at Mammoth as the best day in my 31 years of skiing.
Note to admin: I have now passed you in powder vertical for this season. I agree with you: it's all about quality! :wink:
.