North Ridge of Mary's Peak

Next weekend I have plans to head to Mt. Lassen and Mt. Shasta with Aaron and Chris yet

I’ve only been able to very briefly try out my new backcountry ski setup so I figured today I would go check out the North Ridge of Mary’s Peak. I was able to drive all the way up to the highest trailhead and start hiking from there in my gore-tex running shoes with my Garmont boots in my bag. I ended up climbing a while with a nice couple from town.  The woman owned the Tarn Tip Thai Restaurant on Monroe across from COAS. I told her she should take credit cards to get more business J.  The trail went from wet mud to a dusting of snow and then to all white everywhere. The sun shining through the snow covered trees after a late April snowstorm earlier in the week was truly beautiful. About 1,500 feet from the summit I put on my ski setup as the snow was deep enough and skinned the rest of the way to the top. It was very cloudy on top with very few views and by the time I had clipped my heels in for the descent it had become a total white out. Tree skiing the North Ridge was lot of fun but eventually the snow go too thin and I had to take off my skis. I was very pleased to find that descending back to my truck in the “walk mode” of my new boots felt absolutely fantastic. It was almost like wearing running shoes how comfy they were. I noticed a little spot of rubbing on both heels I’ll have to keep an eye out for next weekend on our big trip. After a long night of partying with the Ruby Tuesday’s gang the night before I’m super glad I pulled my hungover ass out of bed and went for the hike as it was beautiful and got me totally stoked on my new gear. Not even a couple shots of Absynth can keep me away from the mountains!  Click the title of this post for all the photos via a slideshow.