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| Kelly making the final drop to Snow Lake after our ascent of Avalanche Peak |
Thanks to motivation by big brother, Kelly, we planned a ski tour over to Snow Lake, then up to the summit of Avalanche Peak. We were accompanied by Kelly's friend Eric, who was trying to get in shape for the Wapta Traverse, near Banff. With extremely low expectations, due to the lack of new snow, we hooked up at Alpental at 8:30. As usual, the parking lot was already getting full. The uphill end was loaded with avalanche course participants, guided by Pro Ski Guiding. The crowd of the parking lot was quickly left behind as we headed up on perfect sunny day. The snow felt great under our skis, and as we skied up to Snow Lake Divide we began to realize we would actually have good skiing. We had nice turns down to the lake on the protected North slop[es, then begain winding up towards Avalanche Peak, Probably about 3/4 of the way up we switched to boot packing, as the four inches of new snow was sitting on a crust that did not encourage easy skinning. Especially as the slopes were getting steeper. Booting was difficult due to the thin crust not really supporting our weight. We persevered, though, and gained the ridgeline with views of the slot and crooked couloir. After a quick trip to the summit we enjoyed excellent skiing back down to the lake. Great day to be out in the mountains.
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