Morrell Mountain powder exploration

I finally made it out to Morrell mountain for a solid day of solo ski exploration.  Yurtski is situated high on the mountain, and tales of a mandatory snowmobile approach coupled with mixed reviews of the terrain kept me away for years.  As it turns out, I was woefully misinformed.  Foot access is reasonable enough, and the terrain is awesome!

Hard to see tracks, but my first and second runs are the first and second layers of the mountain.
All three faces shown can be skied to a convenient point where two gullies meet at 6,000 feet,
from which it is efficient to set one skin track and crank out powder skiing.

I rallied out of town at 5:30, started skinning from the Seeley trailhead at dawn, kicker skinned flat roads for a long hour and a half, made the long climb up one of the West ridges, dug two pits, and topped out four hours after leaving the car.  I started the day off by skiing two long west facing runs, which had the added benefit of recycling my skin track.  To my surprise, I saw a party of five on the summit ridge and decided to follow their tracks down an excellent powder run on the East face.  From the basin, I headed to the main summit of Morrell.

First run. Super fun steep burned tree skiing.

Second run.  A better than it looks moderate avalanche path.

Big air in the gully at the bottom of the first two runs. 

Climbing for more.

 The rest of the day was spent on the main peak, skiing the South face (perfect powder),  North face (surprisingly poor rimed snow with terrible visibility), and the West ridge to exit (OK, but I don't think this is the best exit).  The weather deteriorated at the end, and I bonked a little on the last climb, but the weather and snow were so much better than forecast that I was not in a position to lodge a credible complaint.  I was pleased that the exit only took 90 minutes from the summit of Morrell to the car.  10,200 vertical feet done in 10 hours, 54 minutes car to car.

Excellent powder skiing dropping east from the ridge.

Climbing for more after a good run on the South face of Morrell.

Weather deteriorating as I prepare to ski the North face.

That special feeling you get when the snow is blowing so hard you can't see and you just bonked.

 All in all it was a great day.  Although a snowmobile would save up to two hours of trudging, foot access is not too bad, the driving is straightforward, and there is a lot of terrain even if the avalanche danger is a reasonable Considerable.  I will be back.

The day.