Those afternoon thunder bumpers yesterday dumped some rain on the snow and saturated it.  The early snow up high was crispy and needed a bit of time to thaw out.  The lower mountain had become sludge, so the dividing line was  the last 1000′.  Sunset gully was still the route to the bottom on the Peruvian side but the run out was very sketchy and little willow bungies were sticking out threatening to grab hold and knock you down.  Obviously by next week end the walk down will be manditory on both sides of the mountain if you opt to ski to the bottom.  The High elevations thawed rapidly and the groomers were nicely granular and smooth.  The off trail began to break by 10:00 AM and the traffic had made these areas much more negotiable.  Entrances have melted out  in most aspects so a down climb is required in the upper Cirque.  West facing is all but gone off the Cirque traverse so next week will be completely gone.  Good cover remains in the Little Cloud bowl area and Regulator is holding on , but the middle section is going away rapidly.  The Bass Highway has long sections of walking now and by next week you can count on it being totaly gone.  That is redundant I know but I reiterate for emphasis.  See you next week!!!   BACK TO THE HIGH DESERT!

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 31st, 2009 at 10:56 am and is filed under Snow Reports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.