Counting a Mt Wilson ski

[jmanner]

Hey folks,

So, I got on a hall fame forum kick and the Dr. Jon thread got me thinking about counting a ski of Mt Wilson. And since its September and I am ready for ski season start again, I thought I beg the question: What do "you" count as a ski descent of Mount Wilson? Skiing from the nearest saddle or climbing it, hope for a good snow bridge, or "Davenporting" off the summit? Other? What would be considered a "normal" snow year for the Wilsons?

Or is the answer: "Millenials these days and their reefer are ruining Colorado!"

[highpilgrim]

I'm not a skimo guy, but it seems the backside with a full, stable couloir wouldn't stress many of them out.

This is the backside summer route, btw. There's a short steep area that the jog sidesteps.

wilson route.jpg

[bergsteigen]

I'm not a skimo guy, but it seems the backside with a full, stable couloir wouldn't stress many of them out.

This is the backside summer route, btw.

wilson route.jpg

It's the first couple feet of that, that is the issue... Usually not in. Need a good snow year for that.

[highpilgrim]

^^^ There you have it.

View from the top. It's not far from there to the top of the couloir.

for a short distance.jpg

[SnowAlien]

Here's everything you need to know about Mt Wilson ski. Bummer about photos.

https://14erskiers.com/blog/2016/04/14e ... -may-2010/

I did ski from just below the summit in calendar winter via Boxcar, and was informed by the high arbiter that it doesn't count. It would take a huge snow year in SJs to make it skiable from true summit though.

[bergsteigen]

Meanwhile I consider the Dawson rules (https://www.wildsnow.com/about/about-lo ... -colorado/) to be the standard, since he was the first and the rule setter. Average snow year lines. Dawson skied from where I did. I consider that good enough. Do I hope to ski it in a better snow year from the exact summit, sure I do! But if Dawson can count it, I'm gonna count it. Period.

[lodgling]

I skied it from here on a solo mission in 2009 from Slate Creek on the second day of spring:

Mt Wilson.jpg

I reached the summit from there as well, which I found very difficult at the time. I looked for a route to link the top to the Slate Creek basin and couldn't find anything that didn't require mandatory air off the summit into the other basin (pictured above in hp's post). Being alone, that seemed like a stupid option. So I downclimbed to the highest point I could fit my skis on snow and went from there -- a point which was higher than either saddle from which most of the real skiing on Mt. Wilson has occurred, including Lou's. My first turn was a doozy. I had an email exchange with Lou about it the following week or so and was satisfied enough to check the box and feel pretty good about it. I'll probably do a TR from that trip some day, since it is one that I actually have some photos from.

I'd like to think that I will get back to Mt. Wilson some day, but time flies and it is very far away. Mostly, I'd like to ski Box Creek again in better conditions. Because of timing concerns (I had a meeting in Cortez I had to get to), I skied it as refrozen corn before it had ripened for the day. Or what SnowAlien would call "ice." I'll get a good look at it whenever I ski El Diente.

I have gone back and cleaned up some other descents over the years, including Huron (when I first met Carl and Marc), and La Plata and Missouri this year (TR coming soon). With that, the rest of the list is clean. It is really hard to explain to my wife the need for repeats. It seems Brittany feels pretty passionate about Mt. Wilson standards and I suspect that she is the "high arbiter" referred to above. I get a lot of inspiration from her and Frank (and the other finishers), but Mt. Wilson is one thing I disagree with Brittany about.

So, to answer the OP's question, in my mind you need to tele ski Mt. Wilson solo from the red circle in my photo above for it to count

[SnowAlien]

Lodging,
That's a hairy start!
Personally, I have trouble visualizing how that side would go at all, but we did ski Blanca in pow after all? It wasn't a dream. So that could happen - once in a decade event, apparently.
I skied icy Boxcar as well , so it's the main reason I don't mind going back and actually enjoy it. I didn't mean to ski Wilson on March 13, we were there for a calendar winter ascent, but the snow looked stable and good, so we treated it as a spring snowpack and went for it. Unfortunately the clouds came and the sun wasn't strong enough to prevent a refreeze. The corn refroze all the way to treeline. But at least I skied from the saddle almost to the start of Boxcar in pow, which was memorable. Again, not a bad area to go back to, and there's a perennial talk to ski unranked South Wilson. Some day.

[Gueza]

Meanwhile I consider the Dawson rules (https://www.wildsnow.com/about/about-lo ... -colorado/) to be the standard, since he was the first and the rule setter. Average snow year lines. Dawson skied from where I did. I consider that good enough. Do I hope to ski it in a better snow year from the exact summit, sure I do! But if Dawson can count it, I'm gonna count it. Period.

Agreed.

[jmanner]

Meanwhile I consider the Dawson rules (https://www.wildsnow.com/about/about-lo ... -colorado/) to be the standard, since he was the first and the rule setter. Average snow year lines. Dawson skied from where I did. I consider that good enough. Do I hope to ski it in a better snow year from the exact summit, sure I do! But if Dawson can count it, I'm gonna count it. Period.

Agreed.

Okay, good, this is how I was feeling about skiing this. If the standard is a "normal year" than a summit ski isn't plausible or at least unlikely.

Thanks for the responses folks, definitely three of the people I would prefer to hear opinions from.

[lodgling]

But if you're up there and can make it go, best to make it go ...