After yesterday's shut-down, I emailed Paul and Amir and reminded them, "bring your ski crampons." The climb up the Phantom had been bullet proof crust. I had a tour planned, but really didn't think I could make it happen in the condition we saw on Thursday.
What a difference a day makes.
It was snowing lightly in the parking lot, dusting the ground. At Source Lake, there was 2cm. But when we finally stopped climbing at 5450' in Chair Peak's East Basin, there was 20cm! It made for fantastic skiing back to Source Lake. From there, we headed up towards Pineapple Pass, turned right to climb over Bryant Shoulder to Bryant Col, but stopped at the final boot-pack. We waited about 30 minutes for the flat light to scatter and definition to return, then skied down the gut of Bryant Couloir, and on out to the parking lot.
3700' gained in climbed and skied in a casual 7:30 hours. At the parking lot our cars were bare - and beers were waiting down at the lodge before the drive back to town.
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| Skiing the final apron from East Chair Basin. |
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| Midway down Bryant Couloir. |
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| An awesome view of Bryant and Chair, with the Bryant Couloir and East Chair Basin in plain view. Source Lake is out of sight. |
