Betty Bear to Skinner (or not) 1/2014
Posted: Thu Jan 23, 2014 8:45 am
Our party of two skied in to Betty Bear on Fri Jan 17 2014. Lovely trip down Road 505; took us just under 5 hrs (including stopping for lunch; pictures etc. Another group took 3 hrs and change). The last 1.5 miles of single track was steep but fine. Our plan was to continue on to Skinner the next day. The trail to Hagerman Tunnel was not well marked but easy to follow on our sunny day. Could be a different story in weather. Arriving at the tunnel entrance, the traverse up to Hagerman Pass seemed foreboding: slope meter reading put it at 30-35 degrees, and the runout of the slide path went steeply below the road into a stand of big, mature evergreens. We decided to turn back and returned to BB. The trip out the following day took 2 hrs (the steep section from the hut down to Road 505: the warm temps of the previous day combined with the overnight cold to make this very icy and rutted. Quad burner with a backpack on. Road 505 rolls a bit and requires skins in sections. It's not a straight downhill to get back to the trailhead).