March is here! One of my favorite months. The eternal struggle between winter and spring starts, daylight savings time arrives and the increase of daylight makes tours a little more enjoyable. The biggest highlight however is the improved stability, and the chance of combining that with soft snow riding.
This however leads to much more of a complicated timing issue, guessing at temperatures, sun exposure, amount of cloud cover, cooling effects of winds and the list goes on and on. Every time I think I have a general idea of what we will find, I am continually put in my place. I find that no matter the amount of time you put into trying to read the mountains prior to a trip, it is learning to read the mountains on that particular day in real time as you tour that usually dictates what you will do for the day. The mountains teach me patients, and most of all to be flexible. This translates to life as well and I have found through the past year with Covid that life has no guarantees and plans can change instantly. This mountain experience has taught me to roll with the punches, no matter how bad they are. In the past, as a young split boarder with objectives in mind I would head into the mountains thinking that I knew conditions prior to the tour, exited to likely ride that said objective, only to find myself disappointed when we were shut down, somewhat discounting the ridiculous beauty around me. As a much older split boarder I have learned to head into the mountains only hoping for a nice day with views, the mountains will make the rest of the decisions for me as the day progresses. I have learned to really appreciate and cherish when it all comes together and you get the gift of riding something of real content, something you dream of all year. I have found over the years, the stars really do only align a few times a season so you better learn to appreciate it all, the good with the bad. It truly is a game of luck and time in the mountains. The mountains continue to teach me.
On this particular day, beautiful weather was forecasted which is no guarantee. Seeing not a cloud in the sky and no wind we hoped to find an sheltered east facing couloir in powder condition and catch it before the sun started to heat up the snow. Unfortunately with the temperature extremes we have received in the past weeks, the couloir had already started forming runnels from cliff wall drainage above previous to our exploration. We climbed to the half way point before calling it after a few sloughs started to come down the mountain. As we climbed the ice crust thickened and riding conditions would have been horrible anyway. Its always hard to retreat from a striking couloir, and in my younger years I may have forced it. These days we are not looking to just ride a couloir, we are looking to ride them in condition. It was a good call.
Retreating we decided to head up the couloir on the south aspect later in the day. We figured we would walk up and see if the snow was already cooked being in the direct sun most of the day. As luck would have it the solar and air temps left it in perfect condition. We continued to climb all the way to the top without any reasons to turn back. As we reached the top, stunning views greeted us, as well as two goats we had been seeing throughout the day. It was a truly amazing moment. Trying to beat the shade and inevitable refreeze of the couloir, we dropped in quickly enjoying amazing corn turns in its entirety to the lake. Sometimes if you look past getting shut down, and move on, you may find something really special waiting for you around the corner.
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