2/16 Springtime on the Buskin. Not too shabby.

[Philip]

Patrick was right- slightly fatter skis make a difference, and having a track established makes life quite nice.

I skied from the outlet of the Buskin Lake, around the southwest end of the lake (following Patrick's tracks), upriver along the old WWII road, and then up the upper Buskin River streambed to the gorge. The lake is covered in 8 inches of mashed potatoes with about 2 inches of dry (er... less saturated) snow on top of that. In some areas the track on the lake is not totally wet, in others the base of the track is slush. The snow on the road and river bed were deep mush. But despite the gooey slog, I laid a track up to where the gorge starts, and the way out was a lot more pleasant. Now that the track has been skied twice, the next person may actually have a fun time (until it freezes ). Effective poling in the deep snow is difficult, and it is sometimes still quite soft despite the track, but overall I was pleasantly surprised. It didn't hurt that it was very nice and warm, and the sun came out around 2pm.

Parking is no problem at the trailhead. I have skis that are ~65mm wide at the tip. Narrow track skis would not be recommended. If someone wants to still hit it this afternoon, it looks like it will stay a beautiful day out there.

[patrick]

I can't wait to hear if the south bowl on Pyramid warmed up into spring corn! Probably did - but you'd have to be crazy to drive past the bridge with the road not plowed.

Patrick

[GreggR]

Just got back--Lisa and I parked by the bunker road below the hairpin and followed Jon Larson's tracks up an 'alternate route' to the ridge of Pyramid above the golf course. He and companion had gone up the ridge toward the summit and skied a steep coulour. We traversed below the rocks and hit the south bowl, which was nice in spots but tough vis and a bit inconsistent. The snow seemed to be crusting up, too, so we went down and did the 3-tree a couple times (crusting up on top, slurpee on bottom), then down the road back to the truck. At least one vehicle and some 4-wheelers had made it to the ski chalet parking lot.

Gregg and Lisa

p.s. Note for Chris Myrick--his Alpine Trekker was found last Sunday near the spruce trees on the 3-tree run by Lisa.