May 31, 2007, Silver Peak

Got a couple fun runs on Silver Peak last evening.  Well, the first one was good, but the pollen build up made the second pretty challenging.  You can drive and park right at the Mt Catherine trailhead.  If you're strategic you can skin without having to click out and bush-wack from your car all the way up.  A few more days of melting will change that though.  I didn't go up on the ridge or to the summit, so I'm note sure what kind of a run the west side would be.  A TR from last weekend I think sounds like there are some turns to be had on a quickly melting patch.  I made the mound in the basin my top out point both times.  The steeper pitch run through the trees from there is great right now.  But with that there pollen, I had to really lean back on the second run and couldn't glide much on the last part back to the truck.  If I go there instead of Muir this weekend I'll likely take a dish scrubber and scrub my bases before each run.  It's interesting, when you're on your edges carving you glide fast, but the bases are slow slow.
-Cheers!    ::)