Mollman peak skiing

Excellent skiing on Mollman peak.

After two failed attempts, I took a day off of work in late January and rallied back to peak 8,632 for another attempt at the Southwest face, this time buoyed by the first Low avalanche forecast of the year and good weather.  Even with a late start, I was able to get the approach completed by about noon, and was soon romping easily up our skin track from the previous weekend. Eventually I split out right and made a climbing traverse to the avalanche exposed upper gully.  I dug a pit at 7,800 feet, and had stable results, which coupled with several other data points, helped my confidence in committing to the first serious avalanche slope of the season for me.  The skinning was tricky, but ski crampons helped a bunch, and I wasn't in a hurry.  

Moody skies and tricky skinning during the climb.

I summited around 2:30, excited to ski.  The run was splendid.  Visibility was adequate, the snow was good, and the ski line was great.  I skied 3,000 vertical feet, all the way to the shore of an unnamed lake below the summer trail.  After a short but definitely Mission-esque bushwack back to the trail, I pointed it east and walked most of the snow covered trail to the car in approach shoes.  I was so grateful to ski this run with safe and excellent conditions in January of a dangerous avalanche year.  It is a good ski line that merits more attention than it deserves.  It would also make for a good early spring ski objective (the lower face must melt out early), and could be easily combined with a handful of other ski runs in the immediate vicinity.

Let's do this!

Looking aback up at the face.  I skied the looker's right fork of the central gully.

The only but very significant bummer about the outing is that my feet were in very poor condition and hurt like a bugger the entire time I was in ski boots.  After one more day of painful skiing the following weekend, I would have to take two months off of skiing to let them heal.

I don't know the formal name for this peak, but Mollman peak seems fitting.  It is certainly the most commanding peak in the Mollman lake area when viewed from the Mission valley.

Previous attempt #1: Jeffrey and I attempted to ski a more conservative line on the South flank on 1/10, but were surprised when a pit at the bottom of the exposed entrance to the upper face produced unstable results.  Rather than second guess the pit results, we tucked our tails and spent the rest of the day crossing Mollman lake and skiing a more conservative but quality run on the Southeast face of peak 8,616.

Skiing deep in the Missions on Bail attempt #1

Previous attempt #2:  Ned, Kyle and I attempted the Southwest face on 1/23.  Avalanche danger was forecast to be low, but there was enough snow that I didn't have the confidence to attempt the gully directly.  In addition, poor visibility sapped both our assessment abilities and gumption.  We made a valid attempt to summit the peak via the safe West ridge, but were stymied by steep terrain well below the summit.  After skiing a great run back to the base of the peak, we climbed to near the summit on the South face/ridge.  We turned around about 200 vertical feet from the summit, with poor visibility and a biting wind once again sapping our gumption.  The ensuing ski run was also quite enjoyable, and I had a great day out with friends and appreciated our conservative decision making.  The day definitely lit the fire to return and get it done though.

Climbing the South face on bail attempt #2.