Dead dog is in awesome condition right now. After reading other's reports from this weekend we decided to ski it a little later in the day so that it might be softer than what other people experienced. Definitely a good call...I skied from the summit at 12:30pm and the snow was just right. On the way up though there were was a LOT of rockfall...a few rocks came pretty close to me which was freaky, because unless you're looking up the couloir the entire time you're climbing sometimes they just fly past you and you don't notice until the last minute (by then it's too late to dodge out of the way). I'd say climber's left the entire way up the couloir since most of the rocks seemed to be coming from the right side. It's almost possible to ski the whole way from the summit back to the trailhead (bridge) if you ski down through the willows and stay in the valley by the creek instead of following the summer trail back down. There's a few dry areas above that though, near where you split off from the summer trail and head towards Dead Dog. I was able to drive pretty much to the trailhead in the morning (I have a Subaru Outback) since the snow on the road was frozen, but around 1pm it was a slush-fest and I almost ran off the road a few times on the way down...I got very lucky and didn't get stuck. In hindsight I should've parked lower down the road. But it's melting fast...I bet in a week or so most cars could make it all the way up there. I brought skins for my skis but never used them...an ice axe and crampons are a necessity though. Image # 2 shows the ski off the summit, and the rest are self-explanatory.
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