Mission traverse South to North - 4/29
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| Duncan skiing the East face of McDonald peak. |
A primary goal for the season was to do the Mission traverse in the unconventional direction from Sheepshead to East Saint Marys with the intention of skiing different runs, and dropping into Lake of the Stars. When a 1-day weather window finally arrived, Duncan and I got a properly early start, and were shuttled and walking up the Ashley lakes road at 3:15 am. It was nice to have a partner to take the sting out of the dark hours. We did manage to break a ski basket early in the day, but we figured that Duncan was the stronger climber, and that we would try to make a dagger work instead of a ski pole. We turned our headlamps off near treeline on Sheepshead, pleased to find a solid re-freeze, a fickle commodity during this record warm spring.
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West aspects had undergone a big avalanche cycle in the past week, and the going was just OK as we pied-a-platted our way up punchy ice and debris to the summit. The East ridge was icy, and we kept the run as abbreviated as possible. Aided by Duncan's sage call to use ski crampons, we efficiently climbed McDonald and took a nice run down the East face to Icefloe lake. The Lake of the Stars climb was once again hilighted by Duncan making the wise climbing modality move to don crampons while I stubbornly kicked away at firm snow. In the end we topped out at the same time and took a nice short corn run to Lake of the Stars. The skin up the Sunrise glacier was uneventful - just try to stay relaxed and keep up. Poor memory cost us a few minutes finding a good entrance to the Picture lake run from below Shoemaker, but we eventually worked our way into it and had some nice corn skiing on this Mission classic.
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| View from Sheepshead summit. |
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| Climbing out of Icefloe. |
I had hoped to ski a steep, complex couloir to Lake of the Stars, but we got bogged down by slow climbing, and by the time we were on top of the couloir, it looked way too warm and committing for our comfort level. So we traversed East and looked down another partially connected line and came to the same conclusion. Our only reasonable option was to continue slugging along the ridge line which eventually allowed us access to a safe run down to Lake of the Stars. I felt bad about dragging Duncan along such a poorly planned and executed section, but he was a great partner through it. In the end we lost at least an hour, and I felt a little sheepish, but we were safe. Definitely took a few minutes at Lake of the Stars to appreciate the position, down calories, and psyche up for the rest of the day.
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| Climbing out of Lake of the Stars. |
Since the last two runs don't really have much inspiring skiing, I expected it to turn into a bit of a march, but I was surprised to really enjoy the last bits - beautiful high plateau traverse, safe enough run to Grizzly lake, then pin it up to ESM trying in vein to keep up. Skiing ESM involved careful ski cuts which sent impressive wet slides roaring 2,000 feet down the South face. We returned to the car around 6 pm in a magnificent state of fatigue - tired for sure, but really excited having covered a ton of beautiful terrain, skied a ton of good snow, skied a ton of bad snow, and managed several challenges well enough. So good!
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| The way to ESM. |
I didn't track vertical, but it was a big day - around 13,500 vertical feet, done in a little bit over 14 hours from the car parked about 300 vertical feet above the canal on the Ashley lake road to the car parked about 1. 5 miles shy of the Saint Mary reservoir.
Mission Traverse for time - 5/24
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I was able to once again capitalize on a one night refreeze to go for the Mission traverse as fast as possible. With snow line already very high, I made a last minute decision to go South to North to avoid a horribly long walk down at the end of the day. Another proper early start had me walking from the car in the dark. I started my watch at the upper Ashley lakes trailhead a touch before first light, walking at a bright but mostly sustainable pace. I ended up doing a lot more snow free downfall hopping than would be ideal, and transitioned to ski boots and crampons about 1,500 feet below the summit. I arrived on top in OK time, but to my dismay, the East ridge was also melted out, so I scampered down most of the ridge proper and only using skis to schuss across to McDonald from near the saddle.
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| Lots of walking on the Sheepshead climb. |
The middle portion of the traverse went very well. I was able to hold a bright pace, snow was consolidated to alleviate the need for skins, and the skiing was a little sun cupped but quite nice. There were a few dry patches, including the predictably snow free Southeast face of peak 9,066, but they didn't really slow things down too much. Lots of water and gummies were consumed. Soon enough, I skied around Grizzly lake, slapped skins on for the first time, and pushed with everything I had left to the summit of East Saint Mary's. I totally fried my quads and blistered my feet running down the trail from East Saint Mary's. Refusing to swap ski boots for approach shoes in the name of time was dumb but pretty fast. The foot damage healed in a couple of days. At the reservoir, I took a minute to relax, eat, and revel in the experience before hopping on the bike and lazily spinning back to the car near the canal at Ashley lakes.
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| Water stop on the way to Sunrise glacier. |
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| Ridge negotiating near Mountaineer. |
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| Don't slow down, don't slow down, don't slow down. |
There are enough variables with the route that I don't think that a fastest known time concept necessarily applies to this outing. I do think that I could shave an hour with perfect conditions, and a strong uphiller could smash this time. But I'm satisfied with the effort.
9 hours, 21 minutes from the Ashley lakes trailhead to the East Saint Mary reservoir.
