Feb 7,Chikamin South Ridge

Phil, Monika and I began skinning for Chikamin yesterday under a starry sky and brisk temperatures. Conditions were fast. We made it to Alaska with hardly a pause, and from there picked out our line to the summit.



Travel along the creek north of Alaska appeared difficult due to the low snowpack, so we opted to leave the valley far climber's right in order to avoid any schwacking shenanigans.  We reached sunshine, open terrain, and a surprising inch or two of dry powder in a beautiful meadow just beneath the Four Brothers. Phil liked what he saw and decided to ski a couple of laps on some north facing aspects while Monika and I went for the summit. We agreed upon a rendezvous time/place and parted ways. 

After a brief attempt at traversing through steep trees on icy snow, Monika blazed a boot pack to easier terrain above. We began skinning again, but by this time the rising temps had made skinning nearly impossible. Every step glued 5 to 6 inches of snow to our skins. We decided to ditch the original plan of climbing up directly underneath the summit pyramid in favor of  a fun looking couloir off to the climber's right. 



The weather couldn't have been better. The snow was firm but softening. The views from the ridge were ridiculous.



When we got to the ridge we saw what we expected from below, a summit pyramid with not enough snow to ski from the top. Oh well. We climbed as high as we could, ditched out skis, and scrambled to the summit. Pretty fun, actually.







By the time we down climbed back to our skis, the snow had softened to shallow corn. Perfect. The whole way down.

 

I could finish by describing in detail the demoralizing beatdown dished up by Gold Creek on the way out, but I won't. Children might be reading. All I'll say is that it takes about the same amount of time to go in as it does to come out. By the time the three of us reached the car darkness had long since fallen. You've all been warned.