Cross-country Ski - Amabilis Mountain

This trip was a consolation prize for not getting to Nason Ridge, as the forecast had made it look like rainy conditions with its relatively lower elevation. But on Amabilis, we found some fresh snow, nicely covering the trees, more dry conditions, and even some bits of blue sky. The groomer  last groomed from the bottom to the Y on Friday, but had not groomed from the Y to the top since Thursday. Add that to the 2-6 inches of fresh snow on Friday night, and we found some nice soft coverage of previously icy crust along with opportunities for clumping, and therefore comparing of various glide waxes. Maxi glide paste won in a head to head competition. 

Our trip route began near the Kongsberger hut where a junior ski racing event was just beginning. We though headed up Amabilis and avoided most of their speed. At the Y, we paused for snacks before heading right up the ungroomed portion. Lunch (photo included) was at the spot where the old and the new crossover routes diverge. We went right, first to explore around the overlook at the marked spot on the topo map that says “beacon” although no beacon and no views found. From there, we negotiated the cut-through to intersect the groomed route, which proved both challenging and fun with the new snow.  From there, we skied over to follow the south ridge of the true summit of Amabilis, taking it up to within a couple feet of the summit, avoiding the cornice on top. Again views were limited. It was more challenging to ski off the summit than to obtain the summit. Hitting the not-so-recently groomed road, we headed down, finding more challenging skiing than usual between the heavy wet snow and already cut tracks. Back at the Y, we briefly considered taking the lollipop loop for the second time. If the downhill conditions had been better, we might have followed up on that consideration, but no, so down we headed. Total ski time including breaks, summits, and time for de-clumping was 6 hours.