Backcountry skiing (Wayback) 2:30:00 [2] 7.0 km (21:26 / km) +875m 13:11 / km
Cold temperatures scared everyone off except Jordan. Went back to 20km to check out one of the other paths. Colder today by a few degrees but no clouds so warmer during the climb. We were on steep south and snow was getting only very slightly moist. Climbed up the furthest left gully for half the elevation then into the trees on the climber's left. The alders and the gully made the lower section harder than I thought it would be while the middle section was nice forest. We gained the ridge for the last bit but this sucked due to the narrowness of the ridge, bluffs that affected travel, and wind affected snow. Due to the rocks and cliffs it is impossible to ski directly into the line we were aiming for anyway so we traversed into it dropping about 100m along the way. I think next time it would make sense to head right around 1850m and keep climbing across the slope. The first path looked fairly tight with trees but could be skied by a couple good skiers (quite a gully half way down). We skied the second path and it was much better (though still fairly treed and only space for 4-5 people). Snow was good until we got near the bottom on lower angle stuff where it got slow. Jordan was tired so called it a day. The flat ski out was painful due to the cold and slow snow. We didn't need to go as far but it seemed to take longer. I think the snowmobile traffic yesterday had helped the sliding speed.
