Alpaca Peak

Riding quality was:

OK

Snow conditions were:

• Crusty

We rode:

• Alpine slopes
• Convex slopes
• Dense trees
• Mellow slopes
• Open trees
• Steep slopes
• Sunny slopes

The day was:

• Sunny
• Warm

Fantastic two days in the mountains. Zupjok to Alpaca. Snow was very hard packed and icy in the mornings. Warmed up with the sun and made for not terrible spring skiing. Well bonded crusty snow turning to thin slush by mid day. The biggest concern we noted was the looming cornices, as predicted. What may have been a reasonable path prior to this week has turned into a trail of - (hopefully old) footprints alarmingly close to cornices. We stayed far away from these on all the ridge tops.

The ascent to zupjok has become a bit technical on skis, exposed rock and debris, and deep boot prints on or near the trail. Trail from Zupjok to Alpaca was straight forward. We opted to boot pack some sections.