Forgotten Name Ski Tour

Published on 2009-3-12 by Michael Stanton

forgotten name (attempt)

March, 2009

Sigh. I went for a ski tour and at the last minute changed my mind on the destination. I didn't have a map for the new area, but I had been there several times (in the Sellrain). Then at the trailhead I was impressed by the large amount of new snow, the falling snow and the fog. I thought "rather than repeat an old tour, I'll follow these nice folks up to peak X." Big mistake! I caught up with them about 400 meters up, then went ahead to break trail, but the dense fog meant that I soon had no idea where to go. I waited a bit. The large party with the map was not interested in continuing, so I saw that I'd "treed" myself kind of like a cat. Hmm...no map, in fog, on unknown mountain, nobody to make tracks ahead. After 1.5 hours of skiing, my day seemed to be over! Sigh. I left the big group eating on a slope and went down a ways. The immediate problem was that we were about to traverse a steep slope, which could be dangerous after the fresh snowfall. Going down a ways, I found a reasonable entry to the valley floor when the clouds parted. Soon I was across from the party, making tracks up the safer valley floor. I motioned that they could join me for more skiing, but they went home. But it was only a partial victory. After 45 minutes, I was back in thick cloud, with a major fork looming in the valley. Evidence of avalanches were around too. Oh well, at least I broke some trail. I skied back to the car and drove home.