2006-03-06


This morning I went up the Cirque lift again. It stopped when I was halfway up and didn't start again for 10 minutes. So I took a few photos.

The Cirque area.

Another view of the Cirque, to the right of the last picture.

In the foreground are two chutes down into the Cirque. I think the nearer one is AMF, and the more distant is Gowdy's. I might try one of them tomorrow morning.

Today I just did the Cirque Headwall again.

It's actually not as difficult as I thought it might be. The snow was quite okay — a bit windswept and icy on top, but soft underneath.

I skiied around to the left, traverssing all the way around behind the little hill with the trees, so I that I could get a better view of the chutes from below.

This is AMF, as seen from below. It looks do-able.

Here's the view of the West face of the Cirque, as seen from just below AMF. Some people actually jump off those bluffs. They're nuts.

And here's the view down. After the brief narrow bit of the chute, it opens up and you've got as much room as you need. The challenge for me is that it's quite steep. It takes all my courage just to point my skis downhill on a slope like this!

Safely at the bottom of the slope, I took a shot of AMF. It's the little mogul-encrusted chute at the center of the picture near the top. Today I skiied in from the left, just under where AMF empties onto the slope.

Another, perhaps more challenging chute is further to the right on the West face of the Cirque. This one is Gowdy's. No moguls. But moguls can actually be nice on a slope this steep because they give you something to stand on! I watched the two guys in this photo navigate the chute without much trouble. It's narrow, but still wide enough to make turns. I don't know if I have the guts to tackle this one though.

And lastly, here's a view of Gwyn's High Alpine restaurant, as seen from the Cirque.
This has been one of the best ski vacations I've had, and I'm looking forward to one final day of terrific skiing!

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