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Nice, looks like you guys had some sun breaks in there. I felt like the further we got into the trees, the less wind affected the snow was as well... And yes further up that ridge it gets super windy! I want to hit some lines on the facing wall (to the east) when there's better snow cover.

And do you know the route for getting out via the creekbed at the bottom, rather than on the Meadows side? Would save some time on the hike out...

Yes, there was a trail that we took on the opposite side of the resort. Pretty much head into the woods until you come across the creek. The tricky part is finding a spot to cross over. Once you cross the creek, follow the establish skin tracks. I got some pics in my album containing our route.

https://picasaweb.google.com/NWboarder8 ... directlink

You mean you skinned up and came back through the creek bottom (shown in red) vs. the route highlighted in green? Nice, you need to show me that one. Would save a lot of time on the skin back to the car.

I think we took the same route. I threw the route up on a topo map.

Yeah, that Newton creek is the one I want to try to ride/skin down on from the ridge, instead of the Clark Creek route.

Jefe, Rumor has it, with a little more snow you can ride across Clark creek onto a cat track. I'm assuming you can ride it all the way back to the lot. Shouldn't require any booting, or skinning.

Yep, that's what we usually do later in the season when there's more snow. You can simply ride down the west side of Newton ridge to the Heather Canyon/Private Reserve runout and follow it back to the HRM lot.

HOWEVER... that west side of the ridge gets super wind affected and is usually not the best riding. (Right now it's mostly a bunch of rocks and a thin layer of icy crust)...The east side of the ridge stays more protected/fluffier. So, if one could ride down the east side of the ridge, and not have to hike back up and over to access the Meadows side, and simply ride/skin down Newton Creek, that's the best case scenario in my book. Especially in the early season when the cattrack is not there yet on the Meadows side.

My suspicion is that if you follow Newton creek down it'll dump you out near where the creek crossing is near to the HRM lot. I think I need to follow Patrick's example and get me a $6 green trails topo map and try it on my next mission up there.

Thanks for the tip!

The trail you are asking about is in my backcountry ski & snowboard route book. You want to follow trail 645 heading towards Elks Meadow. I don't remember if there were any established trail markers or signs.

Is there some turns to be had in Clark now? I work at Meadows daily and both those canyons are looking pretty sparse as of late......

Not in Clark, but in Newton...

http://youtu.be/_5y0aC2Xgnw

Hey Christoph (or anyone else) -- have you ever checked out bluegrass ridge? Seems like it might be a good option on E hood for when we have cold/highpressure spells keep the snow good at low ele's.

Or gunsight ridge over and down into badger lake?

Bueller?

-phreadi

I never have but I'm always down for exploring... you know the routes?

I have a route for gunsight in my backcountry book. I'm down to check it out if the conditions are good.