West Elkstravaganza!
Trip date: Friday Apr 14, 2023
Submitted by Diana Piggott
Particpants:
Me, myself and the hot, hot sun
Discussion:
More fresh grooming at Elk Pass! Very welcome, since much debris was blended in.
Snow temp at 9 am in the shade ~-9C, very hard and fast. Skier tracks up Blueberry looked enticing, but West Elk Pass was my goal, and a very supportive crust with very little snow on top made it easily achievable. A few recent tracks led to Couch HQ, which looked rather derelict.
The tracks led on through the meadows to the Hydroline, and then turned south. By 11 am, the sun was getting quite hot, and adversely affecting the snow. I skied up the clearcut just far enough to see Elk Lakes, and then had a most wonderful descent back to the hydroline! I don't carve turns, but others might have a great time doing that, especially before 11 am. Not deep powder, though, just a very few cm on the nice crust.
Then I had a hard slog on sticky snow in the hot sun up to Elk Pass (main), with snow temp getting close to zero in the sun, still about -5C in the deep shade.
The descent on Elk Pass trail was very good, a little soft in spots, and still very hard and fast on the steep hills!
On the way up, I was passed by a skate skier, travelling light and fast. On the way down, I met several other skiers heading up. It was a very quiet day on the trail.