Tincan Proper

It was a great first day of Terminal Leave, and a phenomenal day to be in the mountains.  I called Josh, and B-real and I met him at Ingram Creek for a day tour in Turnagain Pass.  When I read the Advisory, I thought that the entire PWS was socked in with clouds, but we were delighted with bluebird skies once climbing into the pass.

After debating where to ski, and scouting some lines, we decided to ski the south face of Tincan Proper.  I've been eyeing this line for a while.  It was 7F in the parking lot, and a little cold on the uptrack.  But the visibility was 100% and no wind.

Josh and B-real on the knife ridge up to Proper.

We decided to dig some snowpits to see what the Thanksgiving Rain Crust was doing.  I found that the crust varied in depth from 10cm to 35cm.  I conducted a Shovel Shear Test and Compression Test.  My score was CTNFQ3.  I really had to pound away at the column to get it to shear.

The descent was a little crusty, but truly amazing.  We had this "rib" all to ourselves.  At the bottom it required a bit of crafty route finding.

This is a perspective shot of the huge expanse of terrain in only one area we ski.  If I'd hit the books a little bit harder, we could've skied "The Library".

Duffus doing some route finding.

Enjoying the scenery.  What a way to spend day 1 of 82.  I hope there are many more days like this...

And now enjoying that cold smoke.

Perhaps the icing on the cake was the run back to the truck.  We took a nice tree shot, and it was what you'd call "hero" snow -  so good that it bolsters confidence, hides technical mistakes and allows heroic recoveries from gross errors.


Seems like a lot of folks are taking advantage of the splitter weather.  Captain's Chair and Spirit Walker both got skied recently.  Good on 'em!

The Transition

Tomorrow is my last official day on Active Duty in the Army.  That means the transition to a beard and long hair.  I thought I would be sad, but I can friggin' wait.  I have 82 days of leave, and plan to use every bit of it to ski powder, think about powder, dream about powder, climb in powder, and search for powder in the Great State of Alaska.  But not without a brief stint in the Lower 48 to see family and ski the "East Coast Ice" in the Adirondacks.

I've gotten out a little bit lately, but nothing to brag about.  We hit up North Bowl on Saturday to find average snow, but a hefty wind on the ridgetop and bootpacking a portion of the Uptrack.  This actually made me go out and buy some Ski Crampons.  Marc surveys our run.

Marc walking on the ridge.  Temptation Peak is in the background.

When it rains, it pours.  I had two core shots on the new Coombacks, and the buckle on my Spirit 4's broke while at the resort yesterday for Military Monday's.  This required some shop maintenance.

Be On the Look Out for a chronological history of my military career with some pictures to follow.  The ETS party is scheduled for Saturday, March 5th 2011.  And i'll be on the look out for some mid-week ski partners after my trip back home.  Give me a holla if you want to get out and explore.