Grizzly Shoulder

First turns of the season. We wanted a short day and hadn't been this way in a couple of years. The existing skin track was exactly like it always is up the shoulder....brutal. But hey we weren't complaining at least not too much since the trail breaking was exhausting. At the top we boot packed onto the ridge for a short run down the opposite side.



Just as I took this photo we heard a loud "whoomph!" and the snow under our feet seemed to settle noticeably. It was a small feature so we weren't overly concerned but it was unnerving. On the climb back up we actually came across a fracture line that had appeared over a convex roll which had settled but not released. Interesting to see and informative.





The ski down was...um, character building, in an early season bottomless snowpack alder-y kind of way.



To the Nomad! Hot tea. French fries. A good start to the season!