1-3-09, Church Mtn (Hwy 542)

For some strange reason (at least to me) someone plowed the road going up the the Church Mtn. trail head to the first washout (1600ft I think). There was still about 18" to 6" on the road so I had the truck in 4-low. Took about an hour to skin to the trail head which was sort of tiring work as the road had a fair amount of coverage but was soft enough I would sink about 6" with each stride. Skinned another three hours past the trailhead which at times got slow as there are several steep traverses that required me being diligent about ski placement. Stopped at about 4500ft (when the trail starts to break out into the open) and skied back. I cut the switch backs for the first 2000ft. Initially the snow was quite good and then the coverage became less and the underlying crust more prevalent. Had to stick to the trail for the last bit back to the trailhead due to thick forest but all things considered a great ski. Stability (in the forest anyway) seemed to be quite good and had zero issues. Sorry, no pics as I foolishly left the camera behind.