So back before blogging bankruptcy, the boy and I had taken Tink for a walk. It was Father's Day. We stuck close to home and headed into the backcountry of the local ski area to see a pika about a gully. Two gullies, actually. One that would go up to the ridge and one that would come down. I'd been up the down before, but never up the up. Confused? So was the weather.
It snowed. Well, eventually. It started as rain. Got to be a very cold, semi-solid rain, a very cold and wet snow, and finally it was legit snowing. What an awesome Father's Day gift! Thanks! We made decent time through the fresh snow (the last fresh snow of the year, as it would turn out) and got to the bottom of the up gully.
I poked my head into the gully, scrambled up a bit, and let prudence turn me around at the crux. (Well, I thought it was the crux, but it wasn't really. More of a faux crux. Yeah, that would be a foe-crucks. It must suck to learn to speak English. Even if part of that is French.) Anyway, we bailed and headed home.
Three months later we were back. While it wasn't hot, it definitely wasn't snowing. Not raining either so at least that was a win. We saw half as many pika on the way up as we had on that last trip and we were at the base of the gully in no time. It was much less sketchy without the snow. It was on this trip I realized the crux was far lower than where I stopped last time. Clearly, I could have pushed on, but part of being a growed-up is I don't need to prove myself every time. (I'll be an actual adult when I don't have to do it every other time.)
A few scratches from the tortured tree guarding the ridge and the world opened up. HUGE views to the north over the very, very popular Snow Lake and yet not a single person where we were. Go figure. The boy followed up the gully and did his standard, "I hate you. This is beautiful." My evil plan worked again.
We followed the ridge to the west and successfully made it to the down gully. Success! It was a big win, but not one I think I'll repeat too often. Don't get me wrong, the ridge is perfectly worth all the scrapes and scrambles. But maybe not that first gully.
Of course, there is a third gully that is definitely worth some exploration. Now if I can just find the time to get back there before the snow comes back.
(And no, all the snow wasn't gone. The multi-year snow patch composed mostly of névé was still lingering. Melting water running across the surface dropped into a moulin. That water was especially gold and tasty.)
