Pyramid May 2014

[patrick]

5/4/14 I went up Pyramid this morning just before noon and it was pretty frozen and icy. But I bet it softens up later. There is still a lot of snow up high but it is going fast down below 1500 feet. I barely skiied to the knob - I've going down the other side of the trees at the start of the beaver pond run and then cutting across slope to the trail. But today was the last day I'll do it and I had to cross lots of grass. The lower gibber bowl is going quick too and basically you can only ski to the creek crossing from now on. A lot less snow than usual down low, but weirdly enough it is not so bad up high. I just looked at photos from February and I am amazed at how little snow we had back then. Back then the gibber bowl had nothing. I am happy to have what we got!

[patrick]

5/8 We lost a LOT of snow in the last 2 days. We got no new snow in the last storm and are losing snow from top to bottom. It looks like we reached max snowpack on Pyramid sometime in late April. But we are probably still gaining snow in the center of the island up by Koniag and Glotov etc. Anyway the gibber bowl is now melting out quick! The North bowl and anything above 1700 feet is still great!

I also saw some fresh bear tracks. Looks like a sow and fully grown cub. Sows with young cubs do not come out until June. This is probably a sow getting ready to dump her teenager and get back on the dating scene.

[patrick]

5/9 The skiing is great but it looks more like late rather than early May. I've seen more snow in the north bowl in mid June! That said, the skiing is still way better than it was in early march. See bottom photo from march 10th. There is still way more snow up there than that!

[patrick]

5/10 Great Skiing! Lots of Hikers today and every one of them asked if there is enough snow to ski. I think they will be surprised! And I doubt any of them will make it to the summit. The skiing is still better than the hiking.

FOUND Also I found a Kestral product that a skiier dropped late on Friday. I left it at Orions.

Patrick

[patrick]

5/17 It is getting difficult to ski back into the gibber bowl. Today I barely made it to the spruce trees just above the creek crossing without crossing grass. And by this afternoon I think it will be melted out in a few places. The North Bowl, however, is holding up very well. Still an easy 1000 feet vertical to be had there.

[Philip]

We were kind of wondering, as we drove out the road to spend time on the beach, if there was any snow left up there. I have to admit that I'm a little relieved that for the first time this month I'm not getting my brains cooked inside my skull on a sweltering weekend ski tour.

[steve]

The North wall and Bowl is still in good shape. And with a little Zigzagging you can link snow fields back to the trail at 1600ft . O well it is Memorial day weekend.

[patrick]

5/25

Steve's right the North Bowl is very good. I've been gone for a week and was pleasantly surprised how much snow we still have in the North Bowl. Looking at pictures from last week we seemingly did not lose much either. On the ride back to the car I also was able to ski pretty easily down to 1600 feet (not for Philip maybe) and even with some grass skiing I caught the snow below where someone built the big jump back in April.