Emmons/Winthrop 6/24/06

[ilookeddown]

On Sunday June 25th Adam, Aaron, Steve, Jesse and I skied the Winthrop Glacier from Camp Sherman. We attempted it two weeks prior and were forced to turn around at 13,000 ft due to very poor visibility and moderate snowfall on day that started out without a cloud in the sky.

 

 

We were able to skin up much of the route. We had to take our skis off to gain the ridge on the Winthrop (about 550ft) and again for the last 1000 feet or so. I was hoping to skin the entire way but booting up sometimes just makes more since. We placed 8 wonds on the way up to mark hazards and any change in direction for out decent. I was very thankful for having those 2 weeks ago when we descended in very limited visibility.

On our way down 3 turns in, Aaron broke through very small crevasse and his ski popped off and it fell in. The first thing that went through in my mind was “I think he’s good enough to make it down with one.” I was relived to see him pull it out of there after climbing back up and reaching in.

 

 

The rest of the ski down was mostly uneventful but it was getting quite warm the lower we got. A huge scrac broke loose a few hundred feet below us just as we were getting to the most technically challenging portion of the route. I went first and cut the slope that set off some small slides that drained into a crevasse then skied to a safe spot. Steve went next and skied past me and set off a fairly large slab that ran into the flats. The last 3 made it down without any problem. We then skied through a fairly low angle crevasse field and down to Sherman. We packed up and skied the inter glacier as far as we could before hiking back to the car.

 

In all it was a great day. Lots of climbers and skiers up there but none on our route which made it even more enjoyable. Aaron posted his TR and some pictures including one of the route on TAY if anyone is interested.

Edited July 2, 2006 by ilookeddown