POWDER!!!
It was a banner day for Snowbowl. The powder was deep and the winds below treeline were light. Given the snow conditions, I made really good time heading up hill. I managed to follow some ski tracks until they turned back. I had been doing really well, but after the tracks ended I slowed down. Even though the cornice above treeline appeared to be hard, it was not. Sometimes soft and deep, sometimes firm, I had to stay with my snowshoes to move uphill. I would have switched over to crampons on the ridge, but the winds were on the high side. As always, when I bring my camera I over shoot. I put everything up to illustrate the "fun I had in the snow", as per a forum thread.
I had nice conditions on top and cramponed down directly off the peak to around 11,600' when I went back over to snowshoes. From then on down I was making really good time descending. Sometime I sprinted downhill. Nothing like running down the Allison Clay in 10 minutes. Seriously, I did the lower 1/3 to 1/2 in 10 minutes. My legs felt it.
3 1/2 hours up, but only 2 hours 10 minutes down. Really good times given the 4 feet of fresh snow, I think.