Jrock and I headed out from the parking lot at Snowbowl w/ backcountry permit in hand at around 10:00 am as the lift area was shut down due to wind. Our goal was to get some turns in the inner volcanic basin of the San Francisco Peaks. We marched up the groomers via Wild Turkey/Logjam to the lower bowl. We then bushwacked a direct line up to the top of the ridge. The wind was honking, and throwing snow up there. The views into the basin were amazing, as the bowl was packed with snow. We then headed north along the ridge towards Humphreys Peak (12,637’), The I don’t think we made it all the way out to the true summit , as we topped out at around 12.5K above an amazing couloir. It musta been around 2:00 by the time we strapped in for the decent into the bowl. Jason wisely took a lower approach into the couloir, because where I put in was WAY, WAY ICY! I actually took a little tumble and slide down a 40-45 degree pitch, before arresting. Ice turned into wind blown crust, and crust turned into dreamy powder as we ripped turns into the basin. Plenty fatigued already, we traversed across the base bowl to just below the low point of the ridge and boot packed/ snowshoed up the and over the ridge. Sitting back on top of the ridge, the elements of cold and wind were bearing down on us, as we snapped a few more pics and prepared for the decent down throw the glades back to the resort. Today, was a good day!
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