JackAl Hut trip report 2/25-2/27/11 (part II)

[kchap311]

The following morning we went to this "forbidden" area (completely tree'd and no wind to speak of- no cracking, no woomfing sounds, no strange loading to speak of) and the snow was wonderful. It was a little open area within the trees and the pitch was steep so we traveled one at a time to be safe. We also "farmed the snow" to ensure other folks had freshies after we had left. We created a skin track on skiers left of the area and did a few laps. We actually ran into those guys and they were making smart ass comments the whole time about how there were too many people there. Whatever man, enjoy yourself............no one owns the backcountry and have a good time right? That's what we're there for. This group had a hard time understanding that concept. We also ski'd the steep tight trees on the north side, taking off from the hut in a northeastern direction, fading back to north a little and then landing on a road at the bottom. I think this is pearl creek road. Traveling down this road (going skiers right direction) until it ended and then turning upslope and skinning back up towards the hut made for great tree skiing and a nice long descent. The skin back up was long but very worth it. The north side of the hut was out of the wind, so once you got over the crest of the hill where the hut sits it was like there was no wind at all. The snow was great on the north side and completely tree'd and protected from wind. We ski'd this terrain a few times on saturday and a few more times on sunday before leaving the hut. We ski'd out along the track that takes you in and ran into the next hut users making their way in. We were down in a flash and we laughed about the speed we got in to the hut versus the speed we got out, it's like night and day. It was a great trip and we all had a great time. Enjoy your trip to the JackAl hut!!