First ski of the season

So I was trying to hold out until a solid amount of snow had fallen but now that it is November it has been long enough:  for the first ski of the year, though much later than last year, we decided to head up to Jewel glacier in Girdwood.  None of us had skied it before but had all had enough info on it to give it a shot. 

The typical morning start of rallying before dawn with the dogs was a good reminder of what's to come.  We headed out from Crow Pass TH.  About 2-3 inches were on the ground, barely enough to carefully skin from there.  We were expecting clear skies but it was overcast with comfortable temps.  We conveniently left our maps at home so were going by memory.  Fortunately we were able to make it to the base of the glacier, but not after crossing a talus field and turning our skis into genuine rock skis (we found the good skin track on the way back down).

              




Snow conditions were great: approximately 8 inches of freshness with fewer tracks that we expected given the lack of snowfall so far.  We skinned up to check it out.  By then a fog had moved in and visibility was poor and lighting was flat.   After lunch at the top we waited for a gap in the fog and cautiously did our first run as the location was new to us and the moment of clarity didn't last long. 
We elected to do another lap which was better than the first. 

We threw the skis on the packs for the walk out: too many rocks and too thin of snow to ski it out.  I think this outing can hold me over until a better snowpack develops.