I have a ski ordered for Francine called the Payback. I never thought much of the name. It brought up thoughts of paying back money. Well this tour made me think a little more about the name, Payback. Our climb topped out at 5,300', only 2,300' of elevation gain. The first hour and half we climbed through the trees. The ground was crusty from chunks of snow fallen from the trees. Logs appeared as lumps in the shallow snowpack. We reached the base of Red and started upward. Despite the frigid temperatures, we were sweating in the sun. We slip and slid, we tried ski crampons, then resorted to boot packing to make it up to the bench that lies directly below Red. The slope above looked gorgeous, but we were negotiating for something that would require less effort. We could see a pass to the left between Lundin and Red that looked close. I had wanted to check for a potential route around Red and see the view from the pass. Of course the ridge turned out to much further than it initially looked, but the snow was good and we switchbacked up, until we hit the ridge and views of Mt. Thompson. Payback. The turns were creamy as dropped back down our ascent route. Payback. Once we hit treeline it was survival skiing. Payback. But those turns, the adventure, well worth it.
Don boots up to the bench below Red
Final traverse to our highpoint. Rainer in the distance
Mt. Thompson in the distance
Sweet
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