Allison Clay Trip Report 2-11-09

After the big snowfall; D, Snowcave Man, Splitboarder and myself headed up the mountain to try and poke around Allison Clay. If it was safe, we were gonna ski it. If it was not....we were gonna hit the trees. Either way, we had come for the 30" of fresh light stuff which had fallen after a depressing two week absence of Ullr. The fact that it was in the middle of the work week made no difference...we came to party.






















The skin up left us in awe at the bluebird, near lack of wind and cotton candy trees.....an absolute treat.

















On the way up, we stopped for lunch at Snowcave Man's Snow Cave, fully equipped with AM radio tuned to the Hopi station, reading materials, munchies....and one awesome poem I could not do justice retelling here.



After a quick stop over at Snowcave Man's Snow Cave, we the crested the ridge between the plane crash site and Allison Clay where we got our first look.

















We continued on above tree line and descended below the cornice on the southern aspect of Allison Clay to dig a pit.

















The results were fairly stable.....


















......so we continued a climbing traverse on the pit slope to gain elevation.

















A nice sundog became our target as we climbed higher...but somehow was almost lost in the glare and effort of the bright day.


















Topping out at 12,000ft, D snaps shots of us from a safe zone below. I love this shot which shows some of the wind kicking up around us, the rocks and the sastrugi...the ethereal nature of this shot plays up the atmosphere and elation we felt for being out on such a beautiful day, not working and doing what we love.

















Splitboarder went first. The 15ft long rooster tail behind him was the 1st sign that we were all in for some goodness.....

















Yours truly in the #2 slot,






















Snowcave Man followed me.....it was all smiles.

















After pounding out the upper portion of Allison, we all regroup in a safezone to soak up our work. Expressing surprise and jubilation over our good luck to catch Allison pregnent with snow and happy, we continued on down the bowl. In my last few visits with Allison, she was starting to sound like Holly Hunter's character in Raising Arizona......."By the looks of her, she appeared to be as fertile as the Tennessee Valley....but the Dr. explained to me that her womb was a barren and rocky place, where my seed could find no purchase." Not this time Dr......, not this time.

















D cranking some sweet powder tele turns down lower in the runnout zone....you could hear her laughing with each turn.

















As nice as it was up top, it was even nicer down below......





















Images taken by D, Splitboarder, Snowcave Man and me