Not snowbirding on the snowbird

     So this weekend was a long one for me and I wanted to hut it and ski untracked/fresh. Given the snow drought, this left few options so Snowbird it was.  I spent a weeknight out there with the goals of solitude, untracked snow and scenery.  There was enough snow to skin the whole way and I thought I made good time to the hut despite feeling that I worked super hard.  It was likely the heavier pack.  There were some old tracks of a small group skiing out, and a different snowshoe group on the glacier.  I had the hut to myself.
     I must have just missed the snowshoe group by a day.  I was quite disappointed in the condition they left the hut: water and ice all over every surface, a large pile of debris in the bottom of the stove that required a project-size effort to clean out, and a lantern left spewing gas into the hut.  Classy, folks.  I spent my night fixing the latter two, gave up and went to bed.

     The evening alpenglow was great, the almost-full moon illuminated the entire basin, and it even snowed 2 inches that night.  The morning brought clear and calm, with alpenglow again and a slight sleepy fog over the passes.  The upper glacier was untracked, so I had the privilege of breaking trail on tired legs but also that of the solitude and untracked snow I was seeking.  I skied a bit and marveled at the view from the top for awhile.  Totally worth it.

     I decided to take advantage of the good weather and make a push for the car.  I was able to ski from the pass to the Reed Lakes trail hitting only 1 rock near the pass.  The ski-outs from Bomber and Snowbird are over some fun terrain, that day was no exception.  The Reed Lakes trial to Archangel TH was slower going than I expected but the sun was out and I didn't see anyone until ~2 miles from the TH.  Though a short one-nighter, it was a good break from the norm.

This is a moulin.

The view from the pass toward the valley.  A good ski out.

Other random thoughts from the weekend: the vertical is squeezed out of a slope when it is earned. Not so much when accessed by lift as evidenced by the wasted vertical in these lines at Arctic Valley. I estimate 25% left to be skied?