A couple weeks ago, Hans and I decided to get out to ski. Hagar worked well thanks to how close to town it is, and how quickly it can be done. This was good for me since I was still tired from Humboldt a few days prior, and for Hans because he was moving to Wyoming the following day. The half-mile downhill skin went quickly enough, and then we were headed up in to Dry Gulch.

The weather was perfect that morning, nice and cool but not too cold, and with clear bluebird skies. Some guys from Descente and Icelantic Skis were up camping in the drainage and I wouldn’t be surprised to see some lifestyle photos in one of their catalogs from Dry Gulch next year.

We moved quickly and were above treeline before 8am.

Though we had some interesting ice to deal with while skinning, it was ultimately fairly trivial and we hit the summit ridge a bit before 8:45.

We topped out on Hagar at about 9:45, but transitioned to ski about 20′ below the summit because of a perfect flat open spot in the ridge.

A few minutes later we were down; Hans remarked about how short the ski line is for the effort to get back in there, and I had to agree. Fortunately in our high-traverse to get out of the drainage without bogging down in the trees, we found a couple amazing slopes with perfect corn.

Last I heard, Hans is having a blast up in Jackson with a fulfilling job in one of the most beautiful places on earth. Good luck buddy!