April 2003

 

.... Continued  It was late morning at this point, and the sun was moving into prime baking position.  We skied up the valley and roasted while the sun’s rays worked their reflective magic in the snow-covered U-shaped cauldron.  With sunscreen-laced sweat pouring into my eyes, I led the way up the valley aiming for a tiny stand of trees (which seemed like the only trees in a ten mile radius).  On auto-pilot, I did the ski tour shuffle towards the trees and collapsed into the meager shade they offered.  Jeff and Ben followed quickly behind.  While we cooled off, a lone skier came ripping down the tight chute on the right-hand fork of Horse Creek.  I skied up and asked him about his descent.  He had already skied from his car at Twin Lakes, to the top of the Ski Dreams couloir on the east ramp of Matterhorn, and back down to this point.  Without a second’s hesitation, he skinned back up and started blazing back up the mountain.  It was only 11am, and this dude was already lapping us.  We later saw this same guy way up on the hanging snow face to the east of Ski Dreams, getting ready for another run.  Two runs from nearly 12,000 feet, after starting at the 7,100’ lake level, is pretty awesome. We followed the psycho guy's skin track up the hourglass-shaped headwall that separates the upper and lower Horse Creek Canyon.  At the top, Jeff and I curled around and climbed the hillside that led up towards the Matterhorn Glacier.  Behind us, Ben was nowhere to be found.  We continued climbing slowly, keeping in sight the spot where Ben would top out on the hourglass headwall.  In the process, we passed a couple on snowboards who were booting the entire way up the mountain.  One was on snowshoes, the other had a Burton Split, but the touring adapter on the binding had broken, requiring him to go on foot (I’ve heard a disturbing number of breakage complaints with the new Burton hardware).  Ben was still nowhere to be seen.  As we climbed above the snowboarders, Ben finally came into view.  He shouted up that his watch had fallen off and slid 200 feet back down the headwall.  He had to go back and get it, then climb back up.  In the process, his skins glopped up in the rapidly warming sun, leading him to simply carry his skis up to the top of the headwall.  Note:  clicking on any photograph will present a full screen version.
	Roasting in the Cauldron.  Jeff and Ben skiing up the U-Shaped canyon, baking in the sun.
	Tributary Chute.  This killer little chute follows a tributary of Horse Creek and drops down from the Matterhorn Glacier above.  As we rested in some shade here, the psycho skier guy ripped down the chute.  Ben and I skied it on the way out.
	Climbing the Hourglass.  Ben and Jeff climbing up the steep hourglass-shaped headwall in lower Horse Creek Canyon.
	Approaching Camp.  Here's a shot of me skinning up towards the ridge that leads to the base of Matterhorn Peak.  We camped up above the uppermost trees seen in this photo.
	The "Cleaver" and Horse Creek Tower.  The Cleaver is a huge granite spur off the main Sawtooth Ridge that spills down to Twin Lakes.  From our campsite, we could see the entire Cleaver, including Cleaver Col, the obvious cutout seen near the middle of the photo.  At far left is Horse Creek Tower, a very nifty looking pinnacle.
	Matterhorn Peak.  Once you are up this high, you get some incredible head-on views of Matterhorn Peak and its couliors.  Our goal, the Ski Dreams couloir, is hidden behind the large granite buttress on the left.

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