Did a big lap of Sunshine Sidecountry today where I met up with Chris Moneypenny along the route!
Went up Goats Eye first thing for a couple of laps before heading to Divide for another two laps and skied down into Sunshine Meadows. On my way to Quartz Ridge found Chris and we headed up the ridge to the top. We skied the pleasant northwest slope of Quartz Ridge towards Larix Lake before skinning up to the top of Grizzly Glades. We then traversed Twin Cairns, skied down the north face and back to the resort boundary.
Beautiful day out there weather wise, cloudy to start but became blue bird by mid-day. No winds except the classic cold Twin Cairns summit ridge wind blasting off The Monarch. For the most part the snow is supportive for travel but on flats you’ll probably find bottomless facets. Most ridges are now wind blasted but the latest snowfall improved surface snow outside of those features. The north face of Twin Cairns was steeper than I remember (it’s been a few years!) but seems like the upper section is loaded slightly different than any other picture I have of it. The north-east ridge line below the face held excellent snow today.
