R-R-R-Romancing The N-N-N-Nugget

Brrrr.

The thermometer at the First Interstate Bank registered -15F as Parker and I drove through Jackson on the way to the Park yesterday morning.  Who knows how cold it was at the Bradley-Taggart parking lot--colder than that, anyway.  Regardless, it felt good to start into the mountains under brilliant stars with the whole range silhouetted against the deep blue sky of dawn.

Once again, we skinned away from the truck with puffy jackets on, and ended up wearing them for most of the day.  Things just never really got warm, but they did get colder.

It was really cold crossing the lake.  Check out that mustache!

Parker had been up on 25 Short a few weeks ago and spied a long couloir shot spilling into Avalanche Canyon from the col between Nez Perce and Cloudveil Dome.  A little traverse below the top to get from the entrance couloir into the real run, a significant stretch of steep-and-narrow, and a monster chockstone at the bottom to add some excitement to the exit.  All told, 3000'+ of snow with gorgeous rock walls, with high enough consequences for falling to focus things in on skiing well.  

Fortunately he thought to take a photo of it.  Aah, the wonders of the iPhone.
Photo: Josh Parker

After agreeing that it would be a really fun outing and we should give it a shot we learned that it's called The Nugget--maybe in reference to the chockstone at the bottom?  Not the most inspiring name for a ski objective.  Oh well.

We got a brief chance to warm up in the sun skinning past The Platforms...

...before skinning back into the shade in The Meadows.

Once again, we broke the rules in our approach to climbing/skiing.  There are downsides to McLean's maxim about climbing your ski objective first: it forces you to spend significantly more time in the bowling alley, exposed to the hazards above, and it doesn't allow for ski cutting the top of a couloir to control whatever avalanche hazard may or may not exist before committing to it.

Besides, it's just so quick and easy to skin up Garnet Canyon to the entrance col.

Photo: Josh Parker

I had initially planned to take my snowboard, and got so far as to put skins on my approach skis and set the whole rig out on the deck.  Then 5 minutes before Parker showed up at my house I put the snowboard gear back on the rack and threw the Chipmunks on the Red Rockets instead.  Somehow skis seemed like the ticket.

Was that ever the right choice!  I had forgotten the joy of traveling through the alpine with lightweight skis and a light pack.  So smooth, so fluid.

Still cold.

This might be the coldest I've ever been.

It felt SO good to top out at the col and move back into the sun.  After cleaning out a small windslab at the top we pretty quickly got skis on and moved down to escape the spindrift showering around us.

A bit thin at the top!

Impressive wind ripping spindrift over Cloudveil Dome!  Impressive mustache, too.

Once down to more pleasant climes we took some time to thaw out and eat food.  Then the real fun started.

The couloir was full of honest-to-gawd stable powder!  Admittedly it was peppered with frozen chicken-heads here and there, but overall we found mind-blowing snow quality.  And it got better the further we skied down...

"I think I remember how to ski..."  (I've been doing a lot of snowboarding lately.)
Photo: Josh Parker

Aah, that's right.
Photo: Josh Parker

Parker frees himself from gravity coming out of the narrows...

...And keeps ripping turns.

This couloir just keeps going...
Photo: Josh Parker

...And going...
Photo: Josh Parker

...And going! 

Arriving at the chockstone after thousands of vertical feet of powder skiing was daunting; it was hard to tell just how big it was, but it was clearly freaking huge.  Some thoughtful soul had left an anchor, so after extending it with a bit of cord to make things more convenient we were able to throw the ropes and go.

Photo: Josh Parker

The big question was whether or not the ropes would reach to the bottom.  I started the rappel with plans to build another anchor at the lip if necessary, but when I looked over the edge I saw the ends just touching down on the sluff cone below--phew!

There's a sweet alcove under the chockstone with dripping water somewhere at the back of it that provided a huge powdery platform for us to hang out on while we packed away the ropes and got set for more powder turns down into Avalanche Canyon.

This was also where Parker discovered that the vital buckle on his faerie-slipper boots had snapped right off.  Rubber ski strap to the rescue.

And then it was fast powder turns all the way down to the shaded coldsink at the bottom of the canyon.  So sweet.  

If anything, the turns just got better and better.  It's not often that a line like that holds such amazing snow.  And we hit it on the one really sunny day in the last week.

I definitely have some day-after-a-really-cold-ski-trip-tenderness in my fingers and toes this morning, and a couple of spots on my cheeks. It was damn cold up there.  Darn fun too.