BC Ski, Base of Bountiful Ridge, December 9, 2023

Above the trail, just below KPF.

Early season and little snow, the cover looked thin and un-skiable when scoping from home, but I went anyway . . just to see. The binoculars didn’t lie, it was thin. When I got to the base of Bountiful Ridge, where the angle dramatically steepens, I didn’t have the heart to continue. It looked like the skiing down would be brushy, trippy hell. When I was younger I wouldn’t have hesitated to go up and ski, but my advanced age has brought a wee bit of wisdom (Kara emphasizes the ‘wee-bit’ part), so I turned back and went home. Surprisingly, when I skied down KPF (short cut to avoid two miles of trail) the skiing was fun and made me re-think my decision to abort they day. Yes, very brushy, but with ramming-speed and direct hits, that brush was nothing more than some superficial ski damage and a few painful hits on my skins. No tripping and no falls. I know there are sharp, cut tree-stumps barely under the snow, but I’d like to think I’d see them before tee-boning or ripping a femoral artery. Luckily today there were no accidents. 

On the approach I booted all the way up North Canyon to the start of the single track (about a mile) before putting on skis and skinning. On the descent I reversed that, the double track was very thin, maybe six inches of semi-packed snow, and I didn’t want to totally destroy my ‘rock skis,’ my faithful Voile V6s. Yeah, they’ve never been my favorite ski, not quick turning and not very playful, but the more I ski them the more I like them, so I try to avoid damage if possible.  

KPF under about 12 inches of snow. Looks much better than expected. Not nearly as brushy as expected, and when I later skied down it, I had no major hits. Last year's work still evident this year. 

At the top of KPF I get the first glimpse of Bountiful Ridge. From here Mark’s Ghost (ski runs left of big Douglas Fir) looks surprising good, but we all know that area is notorious for hidden boulders and rock daggers, scary with thin cover.  

Snow stake boulder showing the thin base.

A new trail to be built along the ridge to Cave Peak, connecting the North Canyon trail the BST, is marked with survey tape, which reveals it’s path going directly through the Mountain Mahogany(directly ahead in this photo). This grove is small, about 75 feet wide by 200 feet long. I love Mt. Mahoganies, and they’re sort of rare up here. 'Sort of,' just know there are very few compared to the sea of Gamble Oak. I’m going to ask the Bountiful Trail Committee to consider moving the route 50 feet to the left to go along the edge of the Mahoganies, and instead go through the endless sea of Gamble Oak.

Fresh tracks. Small Mountain Lion?

Moose bed. I didn’t see them but many signs of moose near Rudy’s Flat. 

A veritable Moose party last night at Rudy’s?

Another Moose bed at Rudy’s, so fresh I think it jumped up and left when it heard me coming, which made me feel terrible for interrupting it’s rest on this cold winter day. 

54cm (21in) at Rudy’s Flat.

This is as high as I went today. This is at the base of the ridge above Rudy’s, where the angle gets steep (35 degrees). Just too brushy, it looked like more work to ski down than skin up. 

Cold day, at least it felt cold compared to the warm autumn temps I was use too. 24-degrees felt really cold, but as I write this (Feb 3) I’m now acclimated to cold. 24 degrees today would be an after-though. 

Big old Douglas Fir, I see these huge stumps and I wonder when this King started life? It’s just off the new BST cut, where the old short cut ascends the drainage off the North Canyon Trial. 

The fence at the North Canyon trailhead has been cut. It was built to keep ATVs and 4x4s from poaching the trail, but those days are now over, unless this is rebuilt.