photo: Peter Moore, 2009
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With powder snow becoming harder and harder to find, 3 of us decided to do some adventure skiing in the sun. We emerged from the urban fog and headed toward Melakwa Point, north of Chair Peak.
The icy slopes approaching Chair Peak basin made travel very frustrating and some of us opted to boot rather than fight it on skis. Once on the west ridge of Chair the fun began as we flip-flopped from one side to the other on our way up. The rock crux is perfectly manageable in ski boots if a bit exposed. We left the rope in the pack but it might be advisable due to loose rock, ski boots, and skis on backs.
The views from the point are great and the ski down to Chair Peak Lake is steep and exciting. We had expected firm conditions and thin cover and found exactly that. We toyed with the idea of rapping into the “Little Alien Couloir” but chose the direct ski instead. With the current, minimal snow cover, two-thirds of the way down the route you are forced into an icy choke between rocks with large cliffs below. Given the firm and variable conditions we decided against this excitement and made two rappels into the Melakwa valley. We skied corn down to the lake and exited via Bryant Couloir. The couloir is surprisingly filled in but has been skied to death since the last snow.
It was a beautiful, calm day with some fun ski-mountaineering and a great steep ski. Shady aspects were teeth-chattering and sunny aspects were soft enough to be fun.
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