2016-01-10 - Guye Peak East Couloir
We took an unconventional route up and found our way skinning up plenty of ice chunks and other tree bomb and avy debris. Once we gained cave ridge the snow was actually quite nice, the clouds lifted, the sun shined, and we got some good skiing in. Also, found some surface facets on exposed slopes.
The snow was a bit firm in the couloir itself, but we were able to find some nice steep-ski turns.
A+, will go again.
Troy and I were discussing how the upper reaches of Guye could bring avalanches down on this slope. I believed him, but showed some skeptecism given that it was pretty tightly treed. We went forward about 50 feet and this broken tree punctated his point. Got it.
Troy skinning by a neat rock feature on his way up the ridge toward Guye.
Troy and Dave skinning up the Guye peak ridge line.
Yahoo! A break in the clouds as we approached the north peak. Dave in the foreground, another party in the background.
Hey look, faceted crystals.
Dave.
North, middle, and south peaks of Guye. The south peak is the true summit.
While much of the gulley was pretty avy-debreed and side slipped out, we were able to find some nice turns in points. Snow had a light breakable crust and was pretty heavy, but all-in-all not too bad.
Dave skiing.
Troy skiing the couloir. It's still pretty steep.
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