Powderhouse Pow Day

Well, it finally happened. I finally got a good day of powder skiing this year! After months of mediocre snow conditions the stars finally aligned such that Ondine, Brian, and I were able to get out to Powderhouse Peak just after a good late-season snowstorm.

What a day! This morning we skied what I can easily say are the best conditions of my (albeit very short so far) backcountry skiing career. Ondine, Brian, and I made plans to head up Powderhouse reasonably early this morning (by Ondine’s standards at least) – starting at about 8:45am.

Tuesday, April 17, 2018 8:43 AM PDT
Distance: 2.7 miles
Duration: 2 hours, 18 minutes, and 3 seconds
Average Speed: 1.2 mph
Minimum Elevation: 7675 feet
Maximum Elevation: 9409 feet
Total climb: 1754 feet
Total descent: 1761 feet
Brian leads the charge up the steep skin track
Me trying to keep up with Brian
Brian skinning up near the top
Brian climbing the last rise to the summit

We made it to the top at 10:00am, not bad! It was a perfect bluebird morning and the views were spectacular.

Pretty good view from the top

We spent 30 minutes at the top, mostly taking (too many? NEVER!) pictures. Then started down a run that I’ll remember for a very long time.

Getting Ready to head down
Ondine shows us how it’s done
Fun times in deep snow
Brian getting some air

The snow was so deep and soft that it almost made us forget about how few days we skied this season.

I’m pretty sure this will be my last day of the season. I’m not really interested in heading to Heavenly for closing day to ski on mediocre mashed potatoes – this is how I want to remember the winter of 2017-2018!

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