Are we really going to skin up Long Squaw?
It was quite the day at Red today. Another 8cm of snow overnight, making 59cm in the last week, and a forecast for clearing skies. The tragic news of a skiing fatality in the local mountains the day before had me extra curious to check out conditions in the back-country, and we’d already dropped a car on the Cascade highway, but planned to ride the lifts for the morning. A big and excited crowd had gathered for opening. I was halfway up the T-bar when the power went out. I looked back down through the mist in time to see and hear a cascade of brilliant blue explosions (like something out of a Sci-Fi Movie) in the transformers around the base lodge. The gossip amongst the skiers was that a staff member, felling a snow-laden tree adjacent to the power lines, had inadvertently triggered a short circut of some kind, but I’ve heard no official account. The Silverlode chair was unaffected, but the rest of the lifts were down. We were told it would be dealt with within a couple of hours, but it was obviously a more serious problem, and we changed into our touring gear, skinned up Long Squaw (Rino’s), and continued on with our day.
Cam and Andrew – Cornice Cutting on Record.
Cam had recently purchased a backcountry bomb , and put it to good use cutting the cornices on Record. It more difficult than we imagined to get the cornices to drop (even when cut through), but we dropped a couple of large chunks, and felt a lot better about the slope stability because of it.
Andrew – Western aspect of Record.
We skied the North and then the Western aspects of Record Mountain in light boot-deep powder.
Andrew – Field of Dreams
Trail breaking was slow trenching out towards Record Ridge and the Field of Dreams. The wind was howling, but the sun was shining. We were all trying to think up superlatives for our run down the Field of Dreams – a classic long and open line with absolutely perfect snow, coverage, and light, and a fast ski-out to the car.
Tyler.
Andrew.