Little Pipestone Cabin
Trip date: Wednesday Mar 27, 2024
Submitted by Mike W
Particpants:
Me on my Sporten Explorer 64s
Discussion:
Skied to Little Pipestone Cabin yesterday for the first time. Unfortunately the day was cloudy, so there weren't great views. Fortunately the day was cloudy, so the barely supportive crust didn't break down! From the Pipestone parking lot, I skied the E section of Pipestone Loop (#20) to the end of the grooming. From there, I followed the existing skier tracks on the Pipestone River. Although the skier tracks were solid, I could easily break through the crust with a firm pole plant even though I had alpine baskets. So double-poling was not an option, and I had to moderate my pole use while diagonal striding. The snowpack consisted of about 5cm of fresh snow on top of several crust layers, each 1-2cm thick and separated from each other by about 5cm of loose snow. Only the top crust layer provided any support, and only for skis (photo 1). When breaking trail in Point Camp Meadows (where the existing tracks ended), the crust was occasionally not supportive enough even for skis (photo 2).