The Day after Christmas with 18" fresh everywhere, Lingo and I set out to do a standard Circle Awl tour. After realizing that this tour is indeed far too "standard" now, with tracked out powder everywhere in the Aspens off the summit, we looked northward to Mill A. He had more time than I did and wanted to go longer and further, while I needed to get back. As the sun came out and the beauty of the day came to be, I realized I needed to join him as he explored the upper reaches of Mill A. It didn't take much convincing at all...
The plan was to get to the saddle and then possibly ski some aspect off Gobbler's. But looking west from the saddle, I then became enamored with Mt Raymond. I knew we needed to ski some aspect of it at that time. The target was the northern shoulder shown here. All pics courtesy of John Curtis.
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| Drawn toward the ridge |
The snow was still decent on the way up, surprising for a south-facing aspect with no shelter. Luckily we were early enough in the day that the wind and snow hadn't blasted the exposed face...yet.
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| So many options up here. |
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| Approaching mighty Raymond |
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Lingo enjoying the rays and the scenery
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We carefully scoped the ridge to finally found our entry point. No cornice break-outs were noticed, nor wind slabbing, nor propogations, or slumps. So we felt good about the conditions we chose to be in.
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| Blue bird |
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| The Exhausted-Exhilarated-Selfie, prior to the descent ... |
Then it all came together with a beautiful drop-in off the ridge into some nice fluff, with Jimmy Hendrix providing audio. Make sure the audio is turned up to feel the true adrenaline. Mill A was a great belated Christmas Day gift indeed for both of us. Next drop in up there will hopefully be off the Raymond summit, if fate allows it...
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| Our Happy Trails...we will return.... |
