October Turns

     A clear day in the forecast and we rallied for an attempt at Jewel glacier just off Crow Pass: a well-known and fairly reliable spot for early-season turns.  With our hot sandwiches for the day and a Dewski from the Carrs' Huffman, we were on our way.  This time of year is great for a number of reasons:
-there is still enough daylight to seem normal
-since I haven't skied in months, the relatively limited conditions are amazing
-re-uniting with people I haven't seen in months
-ski movies are coming out
-temperatures are cooling off
-I can start talking about skiing with my wife

Looking at this pic, you might think we had no idea what we were doing.

     We hiked up in perfect weather.  Although there was less snow on the glacier than I was hoping for, there was enough for it to be totally worth it.  We hiked up the Crow Pass trail in conditions as seen in the pics.  We couldn't skin until the glacier proper.  There was a pair of two ahead of us who attempted to ascend the glacier below the crevasses to the North-Northeast.  We chose an alternative route below a less-crevassed area and later noticed they had decided to turn around and hike all the way back out, without making a single turn.  (What!?) So sad, but we would make turns for them on the un-tracked glacier.

The Crow Pass cabin is down by that lake.  Jewel Glacier is tucked back up a few benches above.

Some super cool rime-y patterns.

     After a brief lunch we skinned up and took a look at the Milk glacier below(tempting for future efforts), ripped skins and began to do what we came for.  The snow had a crusty, wind-buffed surface that could be skied through with relative ease on the powder beneath it.  We did several laps, enjoying the calm and clear skies as well as the success of the early-season outing.  This locale should be sufficient until more substantial snow flies.

Swapping hiking boots for ski boots.  Trade-up what?  That dog ate my sandwich.

Yesssssss