Gash point. Mileage day

Up, up and more up.

Motivated but still waiting for a real snowpack, I put in a big-for-me day of powder lap skiing at Gash.  I left the car at 6:15 and headlamped my way in. I just did laps in the main bowl, so the day itself was pretty simple.  I cashed my pack about a third of the way up the skin track, and the routine was to take a lap, transition before I got too cold, then climb to my pack for a snack.  I started by skiing six runs on the east shoulder of the main bowl.  The skiing was really good, and I had a great time exploring all the possible ways to ski the main bowl.  I skied the last five runs in the middle of the main bowl, stopping just below the final headwall due to avalanche danger.  I had hoped to ski a few laps on the West shoulder, but decided to avoid even moderate avalanche exposure after triggering a large collapse at the base of the headwall.  Fortunately, I spent all day on terrain that was not steep enough to slide.

The biggest mistake of the day was using a running pack to hold an extra set of clothes.
I forgot how the straps don't work with skins.  Fortunately there was no one around to heckle.

Great skiing!

 Even with my even and conservative pacing, I got tired, and the last few laps were a bit of a grind.  But soon enough I was on the last climb, topping out just past my 16,000 foot goal.  Even with my moderate weight setup, the day went quickly, and this was the second most elevation I have skied in a day. The exit was a little sparky and brushy, but it was still fast enough to make a 30-minute exit and return to the car just before headlamp time.

Almost out of food on the last climb.  Time to head home.

For stats, a little north of 16k, done in a little under 12 hours at a moderate pace.  10k day number three for the year.  I felt good and efficient all day, if not a little slow.  I also had to eat about 150 calories per hour, which is more than I like.  As a training day, this was a good confidence boost.  I have been training a little differently this fall, and don't think my upper end fitness is very good right now, but I do think my all day fitness is right where it usually is, which is great.