Skiing Lockett Meadow - Flagstaff, AZ

My buddy, Jrock, came down from the bay area for some backcountry skiing in Lockett Meadow - Inner Basin. We met up in Flagstaff, and drove up the Forest Service road to gate about 3 miles short of Lockett Meadow campground. We split from the car at about 9:00 and walked up the road, and I was happy to see a consistent strip of snow on the road for the last mile on the approach to Lockett Meadow. From here, Jrock put his skins on his splitboard and I continued up in my shoes to the Inner Basin trailhead. Around 9,500 vf, I started punching through the snow as it began to thaw, so I strapped my skis on and kicked up the path. This is a really long approach, and usually isn't recommended by the locals, but it was way easier than I thought it was gonna be. It was a pretty gentle climb up with really no steeps to ascend. We pretty much took our time and at around 2:30 we topped out at about 11,000' vf just below the Headwall of Agassiz. We bagged no peaks or ridges today, and the skiing wasn't super duper treacherous, but it was actually pretty fun stuff. Our decent started with 500 vf dropped down a luge type gully with super fun swoopy curves. We cruised through the pines at mach speeds, and back to the snow covered prairie the we came up. We then blasted threw the aspen and before we knew it, we were back to Lockett Meadow. I continued with my skis on down the road until the snow ran out. Then I was left with two mile walk back down the road back to the car. Jrock and I finished this little trip at about 4:30 very satisfied, but I couldn't wait to take my boots off.

BTW, my boots, skis and skins are weighing at 22-23 lbs total. Dry!

Here's a vid of the day:

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And here's a Google Earth Tour of Lockett Meadow:

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A high res Quicktime version can be found here: Lockett Meadow