Ski tour

Alright, so I am going to try to get back in to blogging again. Instead of trying to catch up from the last blog I think I'll just start fresh. This morning I did a quick tour up to about the tree line before work. Woke up at the horrible time of 6:15 and was on the road by 6:45. I was the second car in Bear Lake parking lot so I pretty much had the place to my self. The weather was to die for. Bluebird skies, zero wind, and about 30 degrees. The goal was to see how high I could get up Flattop before I wore out. Once at my high point, I would traverse north and then ski down the bunny slope on the east flanks.

The skin up went fine. The trail started out hard packed and chunky but softened as the day wore on. I managed to skin up for about an hour before I had enough and set off on north into the trees. While heading north I tried to keep a fairly steady altitude because I knew I had to pass above a large rock outcropping.

After about 10 minutes I popped out onto the nice open slopes of the east flank of Flattop. Perfect for someone like me with limited ability to turn. After a quick snack and adding a few layers (anticipating some good falls) I stripped of the skins and let gravity have its way with me. I actually am starting to feel some turns now. Still pretty rough, through. Not ready for tree runs by any means.

Anyhow, the climb took about 1.5 hours and the descent took about 30 minutes. Here is a short vid I captured at my high point.



And a map of the trail

View Flattop Skiing in a larger map