Ski Trip Failure

After hiking the Sawtooth mountains this summer,

I planned a return trip to Imogene Lake via Hell Roaring creek. The return trip was to take place in the winter on skis.

My friend and I left at 5:30 on Saturday morning and drove the 3.5 hours to the Sawtooth Valley. The area had just received at least of foot of new, heavy, wet snow. There was at least 5 feet of old snow piled up on the sides of the road. We skied 3 miles or so along the road until we could cross the Salmon River and head up the forest service road towards Hell Roaring Lake.

The going was rough, very rough. Our skis sank 8-12 inches into the slush on top of the snow. If we stepped out of our skis, we sank waist-deep into the snow. We took turns breaking trail up roads that the snowmobilers had ignored. After 3 hours of this, it started to rain. RAIN! At 7,500 feet above sea level in February in the Sawtooths. The rain was too much. My sled started to fill with water, and my buddy started to talk about how much he wanted to go home.

We turned around and skied back to the car. It rained for the next 2-3 hours while we backtracked to the highway. I am still frustrated. I didn't even get a glimpse of the Sawtooth mountains since they were veiled in cloud and fog the entire visit.

I am thinking about taking Ian back this weekend to ski to Redfish Lake.