Mt. Richardson attempt two

Sunday May 2, John and I made another attempt at Mt. Richardson. Forecast for good weather with low winds and a definite overnight freeze sounded like a good chance of success. Super early start had us skiing past the Halfway Hut before 6am. Nicely frozen surface snow and super supportive base provided fast conditions as we pasted Hidden Lake and headed to the low point on the far southern end of the South Ridge of Richardson.

View to South Ridge of Mt. Richardson

Making tracks up to the south end of the South Ridge.

Getting closer.

View to summit of Mt. Richardson (l)
Pika Peak and un-named peak on the right.

Nearing the low point on the southern end of the long South Ridge of Mt. Richardson, the crust was to hard to skin up, so we put the skis on our packs and booted up to the ridge. At first snow conditions were great on the ridge, but definitely required crampons. We were loving it for a short time. As I led up the ridge, the support crust failed, and wouldn't hold our weight. I pushed on for awhile, but soon the 18 inch crust (45cm) crust would always collapse. Under the hard surface layer was bottomless faucets that was just an awful wallow. We were concerned about this mess of a snow pack getting worse as the sun warmed up the snow. We decided to bailed since the snow was so poor and we had a long way to go on this snow.

Kevin booting up to the ridge.
(Photo by John)

OSWB on the ridge.
(Photo by John)

Ready to boot up the South Ridge.

View up the South Ridge to the summit (l).

View up South Ridge, lots of poor snow to travel on.

OSWB checking out the snow conditions. This is where we decided to bail.
(Photo by John)

Boot pack up to the ridge on the right.
Down boot track on the left.

Booted it back down the ridge, collected the skis and booted down from the ridge line. The conditions on this slope was basically all ice. Had a breakfast break and then enjoyed some great conditions on the ski back to Hidden Lake. Quick blast back to the parking lot. Back to the car before 11am, alpine starts are hard to wake up for, but the early end of the day is nice. I think we are done with Richardson in the winter now? 

OSWB getting some
(Photo by John)

Really nice turns down to Hidden Lake.

John enjoying the day.

Beauty setting of Hidden Lake.
Pika Peak and Ptarmigan Peak (r)