Corn O’Clock

Finally! We have a snowpack that has arrived in the correct season, albeit a month late. At last it is time to harvest the corn!

Corn is a colloquial term for coarse granulated snow that has been through the freeze-thaw cycle of spring. Usually around mid to late morning the top layer of snow becomes soft while the snowpack beneath stays solid. This means big lines which would perhaps be unstable at other times of year are ripe to ski and the surface produces hero skiing and perma-grins. Corn skiing is right up there with winter powder skiing in my book. They are quite different and both exhilarating. 

This year has seen a very slow start to spring with powder skiing up until but a few days ago. I've had only one or two vaguely corn like runs so far this year so I have been more than ready for Corn O'clock! Today I headed down to the San Juan's to meet up with my buddy Jack. We had our eye on a line we were fortunate to score several years back in great powder conditions. It's a massive face we like to call the Aircraft Carrier on account of its size. We drove the truck almost to the base of the 2,500 foot line as the access road had just been plowed - schweet! - yet another reason to love spring skiing! Our first view of the Aircraft Carrier:

At the base of the climb was the crux move of the day. In hard soled ski boots I, the Weeble, wobbled but didn't fall down, and managed to successfully teeter-totter across. Jack was a pro and rocked it:

Skinning up the ridge, our line had me drooling:

But we had made such good time that the north face was still frozen with nary a nubbin of corn in sight. Two options presented themselves: sit on the summit and wait, or ski the east face which had an earlier sunhit and was therefore primo to go. Even though the weather was perfect for lounging around at 12,000 feet we, of course, opted to ski. Or in Jack's case, ride:

After 1,000 feet of creamy corn we turned it around. On the way back up I was excited to cross some mountain lion tracks. This is the first time that I have seen them on snow.

My skis are quite fat and so don't give a good reference as to the size of the prints. Here they are next to my whippet the head of which is 7 inches long. This puts the tracks at least 4 inches, maybe larger depending upon how fresh the tracks were. I believe they were only a few hours old and so the sun had not expanded them too much. 

Also I found places were the lions tail had been dragging in the snow. How cool! Here, kitty, kitty.

Or maybe not. I was glad to be out of the woods and climbing the ridge. The view out of my review mirror shows the town of Silverton in the green valley far below:

Back on the summit I was so stoked to FINALLY harvest the corn in such glorious weather. What a perfect day!

Off we went again. This time we launched the north face and it was pitch perfect fabulous with soft fresh snow on top transitioning to velvety corn in the middle. Jack:

On the deck of the Aircaft Carrier one has the feeling of being very small and insignificant. This avalanche path is huge!

At the bottom looking back up at our tracks:

Jack has photos of me skiing over on his blog.

And of course a spring ski day is only complete with a wardrobe change to shorts and flip flops and a few thirst quenching beverages, here on the rooftop of the Ouray Brewery: