Ypsilon Lake, 01/04/2003
Started 10:17 at the Lawn Lake Trailhead. It was a very windy day. There was no snow at the trailhead so we attached our skis to our backpacks and started hiking with our ski boots on. After a couple of miles we turned left from the Lawn Lake Trail to the Ypsilon Lake trail, crossing over the Roaring River. Somewhat after this, the trail became skiable. We skiied for about two more miles as the snow became deeper and the temperature got much colder. As the snow became a few feet deep, there were no longer any visible tracks to follow on the trail, but thanks to Stefan's great sense of direction and his recollection, we managed to not lose the trail in spite of it being invisible a few feet below us. We turned around at 13:30 about a tenth of a mile before the lake because of avalanche danger, on the steep slope with small trees, where the trail descended to the lake. The danger was made more real by the couple of avalanche "boom" sounds, from nearby slopes, that we heard near the end, no doubt caused by the high winds and light snow forming deep drifts on the downwind slopes. The return trip was far easier and more fun since we were able to ski downhill for a part of the way before it became rocky again. Returned to the truck at about 16:00. The total trip time was about 5 hrs and 43 minutes.