September Ski - done!

Technically speaking, this was probably the worst "snow" I've ever skied. I'm not saying it couldn't have been worse. Frozen solid, it would have been so much worse, even dangerous. And I'm not saying it was the roughest snow I've ever seen — some "snow" above Tunemaha lake in the Sierra takes that honor (1986, horribly worse: hard frozen, bathtub sized suncups with wickedly sharp rims). But these were memorable...

Despite snow in the forecast for the weekend, we had to take our shot at our September ski before heading out on a raft trip. Like a fast-food burger, Saint Mary's Glacier wasn't particularly tasty but it was quick.

We leaf-peeped on the drive in. Fall River Road had great Fall colors.

TWO mine openings I never noticed before

By far the best way I've found to carry skis in wooded terrain:

my favorite way to carry skis in wooded areas: Voilé strap + biner. it keeps the tips out of the trees and away from your heels and calfs. the one downside is that you do have to keep a hand on them so they don't wag. using 2 biners separated can solve that but for short hikes like this one, why bother

balance is important

a balancing trick: angle the strap and catch the strap on either side of the binding hinges.

up the Elevator. at first N didn't want the poles shortened...

kinnikinnick

really lovely. carrying O, the Boba proved its worth once again

St. Mary's glacier greeted us a little further up the hill than last month. and boy was it worse for wear.

panorama of St. Mary's Glacier. we ski up toward that v on the upper right

How rough was it? Let's try something different: look at the photo below with crossed eyes. Make it so there is one overlapped image in the middle. Voilá: 3D view! Did it work for you? It's a little exaggerated but it gives you some idea of how rough the snow was.

look at this photo with crossed eyes. make it so there is one overlapped image in the middle. voilá: 3D view! did it work for you? iIt's a little exaggerated but it gives you some idea of how rough the snow was. those are pretty dang deep runnels there!

the Lucky Bums + skins made it easy to get around. these poles are the beefy helinox GL145 - just 15.8 oz/pair (448g/pair)

O gets his September ski. note that the Helinox poles actually adjust small enough. their adjustment mechanism is so easy that we adjust the poles all the time and they never slip

T! I tried the digital zoom for the photo - ugh!

And so another notch in the belt...