On Sunday, April 17, Bill, Scott and I decided to explore the crust skiing in the Center Creek drainage near Turnagain Pass. This is an area that Tim Kelley and Tim Miller showed me last...

Last year we skied the first few miles on the Johnson Pass trail before busting up and over and into Center Creek drainage. This year we started by skiing up Center Creek itself, which was much nicer skiing - smooth crust. Here is a cool spot where the

After a couple miles on the creek, we came to the Johnson Trail bridge. Here we had to make a decision: take the trail for another half-mile then try to pick a a route up and over the ridge like we did last year, or continue on the creek and see if we ca

Soon the creek became impassable because of a narrow gully and no ice. We took our skis of and hiked up and over a nearby knoll and back down to the water. The hiking was not much fun, but we did see this porcupine in a tree, so that was nice.

We then skied for about 200 meters then the creek became impassable again. We decided that the creek was a lost cause and that the best route was up and over the small ridge that we traversed last year. So we hiked up out of the creek bed.

Last year, it took us an hour or so to get into the Center Creek valley. This year, it took over two hours, and at least half of that was hiking. So much for our shortcut. But at least we are still smiling!

Once we finally hit the open areas, the crust was beautiful.

The prize on this ski is the view from the ridgeline that overlooks the Placer River valley and Spencer Glacier. It made all that hateful hiking worth it.

Pano shot of Bill

Pano shot of Scott

Bear tracks on the ridge. We saw lots and lots of bear tracks, probably a few days old. Either there were 4-5 bears sleeping in the Center Creek valley this winter, or there was one bear who was very busy once he woke up. We also saw a set of wolf trac

We didn't stay long on top. The extra time it took to get there meant that the crust was melting fast. The descent from the ridge can be fairly steep in places, but if the crust is good, it makes for fun shreddin'!

Scott rips it up.

Bill carves a turn.

Me, trying to get an edge in on the crust.

If you can't get an edge in, you can always just point 'em straight.

Bill skates out of Center Creek. The ridge line in the background is where we skied to. On the way back, we tried to find the 'good' route. But due to softening snow and not knowing exactly where the route was, we ended up on another hateful hike. Thi

But we finally found the Johnson Pass trail and made our way back. Remember the waterslide picture? This is what it looked like on the way out.