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Skinning up
My partner (Kevin) and I decided that one more ski descent was in order to end the 2009 season. We've been skiing since October '08, so resting our tired ACLs sounded good. We read about people skiing Mt Evans lately with good snow coverage so it became our objective.
Good snow coverage
We only had to walk a little ways from the parking area at Summit Lake to the south east side of the lake to find snow. We were able to skin from there all the way to the base of the north face of Evans.
Nearing the base of the mountain
As were neared the base of the mountain the wind picked up dramatically. We were dressed light for the climb. We ended up adding layers until our heartrates chased away the cold.
A look up from the bottom of the north face
We transitioned here to crampons. There was a good overnight freeze so we knew our progress would be quick. However, it was only 7am and we didn't want to ski on ice. We both agreed that we could take our time climbing the face so the snow would get a chance to soften up before we skied it.
Climbing our playground
The slope isn't that steep- maybe in the mid to high 30 degree range. There might be a spot or two that gets up to the 40 degrees, but not for very long.
Very fun climb.
Our third part of our team
Here is our unexpected "third" part of our team. This little son of bitch could out climb us going backwards!
We couldn't believe a spider would be on snow at this elevation. I tried to get a better picture, but he became annoyed with me and moved away.
My turn to break trail
Topping out on the saddle
By this time it was about 8:20am. We had plenty of time to head for the summit.
A look west from the saddle
There is still plenty of snow on the peaks west of Mt Evans. I would imagine you could still get some decent ski descents in the next couple of weeks before the snow gets back down to the dust layer.
A view north to Meeker and Longs
Locals
These guys were looking for food until the drive up folk showed up. Then they beelined for solitude.
Skiing off the summit
Here's Kevin skiing off the summit. There is still enough snow coverage to get a summit ski in, but we had to traverse west a little ways so we could drop in at the top of the saddle.
Dropping in from the saddle
It was a little icy dropping in from the saddle. After about 100 feet it became softer and more carvable.
Further down the descent
Skiing out
We had to keep our speed up at the bottom so we didn't have to put the skins back on for the traverse. It worked out well, we were able to ski one more pitch down to Summit Lake.
On our way out
The west side of the cirque is still holding snow. We skied the line behind Kevin (in the center of the photo) last year.
Fun ski descent of Mt Evans
A fun morning overall and a great end to the 2009 season. The late season snow we experienced helped cover up all that dust that blew in earlier in the year.