This trip was a return to where I'd poked around last Thursday, this time exploring some new roads and attempting to get to some snow that had eluded me on the last go-around. Everything was set for three of us--me, Kendra P., and Stev--to make the trek, but alas the lady got called into work at the last minute. So it was that Stev and I trekked out, just the two of us. We drove out Hwy 89, turned off at Jackson Meadows, then took FSR 86 toward Meadow Lake, eventually turning off at White Rock Lake. Then we proceeded to take several unmarked roads until we crossed over the PCT. When the road we'd chosen continued to dip back down toward Perazzo Canyon, we flipped a bitch, parked, and then began bushwhacking up to a nearby ridge. We crossed paths with some hikers who looked at us perplexedly, inquiring where we planned to ski, even though there were numerous patches of snow in all directions. Sadly, several of the lines I'd hoped to ski had dwindled in size considerably in the past five days. Original choices no longer available, Stev and I hiked for a spell on the PCT before trailblazing up a ridge. It was a classic patch skiing day in that every time we came to a patch that was perfectly skiable, we looked off into the distance and saw another one that begged us to lay down some two plank graffiti. Thus, what we had initially intended to be a quick jaunt, turned into a 14 patch marathon. The snow was variable, as were the pitches, but overall it was a top notch excursion.
“The best place in the world to ski is where you’re skiing that day.” — Warren Miller
