The great day started at just before 10 am with me bushwhacking straight at Faith, No. Sister. The late morning snow had a heavy caking quality, but at least I could keep my skis on once I hiked past the end of the road. A little fluoride wax helped immensely and the little bit of sticking still happening helped to climb the steady up slope. Out of the woods, onto the ancient moraines, the mountain showed me many great options for climbing and descending. I choose a climbing route on the north buttress which looked less exposed and smarter for my solo day. The sun baked snow above tree line was wind swept and hard, forcing me to put on skins. Luckily the caking stopped with the colder wind pack. I skinned up a great ramp right into a steep snow field on the northeast wall. I switched to crampons after a few switch backs in the surprisingly soft powder; about ankle deep. The front pointing was prime, with my duck bill sinking in far enough for the ball of my foot to secure each step. One foot in front of the other, slowly, giving me time to scope my route and gauge the snow conditions of various aspects of my upcoming descent down the Villard Glacier. Once on the north ridge of Faith I had a non technical traverse over surreal snow formations; like the scales of ice dragons, or wintery coral beds growing with the prevailing current. Sometimes the snow was hard and icy and other times thigh deep soft powder. The calmness of the day has been unprecedented and as I traversed some fair weather clouds produce by the heat of the day, were drifting up form the valley and adding to the etherial atmosphere. The clouds did not last long and there was, Hope, Middle Sister, showing her smiling north face. I finally came to the crux and stashed my skis and poles and switched to my ice axe. The crux was a 35' 5.6 class climb. I knew I was up to it but the NO-FALL zone gave me pause. Below me several cliff bands emptied into Villard Glacier's wide bowl. Slowly and surely I began climbing the mix of snow, ice, and rock. Scare myself? Yes I did, but these types of "edges" are far and few between for my mortal life and I know my spirit craves this type of "wave." Topping out on the summit ridge I was relieved to see a repel sling set up on a sizable and accessible boulder, which would allow me to skip the dangerous down climb. The summit, 10,084', was a ridge of cold powder snow and the sun on my back was warm with zero wind. Lunch, a photo shoot, and prayers of thanks for the magic of the day; then by 4:15 pm I started down and set up my repel. So much sweeter to be on a rope going down 35' of snow, ice and rock with 2000' below. Back at my skis I get ready to descend the couloir of choice. The top pitch is close to 50* but it has 6" or more of fresh powder on a stable base. I am high on adrenaline and prayer, and drop in. Yes, yes, yes! Those first truns set the tone and my smile is big as I stop to peak in at Early Morning Couloir. I looks great, but I have been meditating on the chute to my left (the main entrance into Villard) all day and it still speaks to me. I decide to save "Early" for another adventure, hopefully climbing with friends up the east buttress. I turn, say another prayer, as today my Faith is large, and drop into thousands of feet of soft wintery snow. It varies in depth, shin to thigh deep, with several face shots, but everything is soft until just after the mid point, 8,800', when a wind crust adds a little spice to my big happy turns. Wow, just writing about it gives me the warm fuzzies. Skiing all the way to the parking lot on spreadable butter, where I had to put my skis on my pack and walk the road a mere 3/4 mile on mostly gravel (just a few snow drifts the van could not tackle,) to my parking spot. Nearly 5000' of elevation gain and descent!
This day was a great gift of energy aligning perfectly! I hope to be doing more superb mountain adventures this spring in the winter lingering high on the mountains.
