Feb 2, 2010, Mt. Pugh N Glacier

Kyle Miller, Jason Hummel and I scoped out Mount Pugh yesterday. The road was driveable to the trailhead and the snow level started a couple thousand feet higher!  (Approx. 4,500 ft.) Felt like fall or summer skiing with all that hiking to the snow level. But it was a beautiful day, we found good powder, and is a rarely visited area so it was quite a nice way to spend a day. The only problem was the slabby conditions higher up. Skinning towards the top of the Straight Glacier the snow felt less stable. I did a quick hand pit and it didn't look good so I turned around. The next three steps produced cracks that shot upwards of ten feet in various directions, about 8 inches in depth. So we didn't venture onto anything both high and steep. This was on a north-east aspect, around 6,200 ft. up. The glacier had some of the best powder turns of the winter for me. Light and smooth.
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