Not sure of what we were going to ski, Mike and I decided to bag some chutes that had been in our minds awhile. So we skied this one on the right (between the Concord and Lexington Spires), which was nice. Then went further uphill and decided to bag the one in the Early Winter Spires. We looked up it and thought, OK, let's go to the fork and ski down from there. Then we got to the fork and thought, well, it really doesn't look too bad, and it's not very long either, so we continued on. It got steeper. One pole got switched over to use like an ax, the whippet was digging deep, kick steps went from one to numerous kicks per step. OK, it looks like it'll end at that 3 foot wide choke. Get up to the choke, nope, that's the halfway point. And it gets tighter. Wow, quite an adrenaline pumping couloir for a casual afternoon tour. Mike didn't want to ski the choke so he down-climbed to gear up under it, while I went to the top to check out the view. My skis were shorter and have a bit of damage so I didn't mind skiing it. I felt better once I was clicked into my skis, then made a few turns, jumping high and keeping them tight between the rock walls. Then it got very narrow with tricky snow, calling for some side slipping with a few turns. The choke was a bit tricky. Then after that, Mike and I had Scott Schmidt style jump-turn skiing back down the couloir. The rest of the day, "Wow, I can't believe we just skied that."
The Southwest Couloir of the South Early Winter Spire, when you get to the fork, go right.
Mike in the South Early Winter Spire
The Southwest Couloir of the South Early Winter Spire
John Scurlock's photo of the Liberty Bell and Early Winter Spires.
Our line went up the far right spire, then right at the forks, continuing up the crack (no snow on it in this photo) to the top of the spire.
John Scurlock's photo.
The couloir went to the top of the far left spire.
You can see the very top of it, left of the summit, not the obvious one right of the summit. Looks crazy from this angle!
Porcupine
Looking towards Cutthroat
