Skinned up the entire Monte Cristo Creek before booting up to the Drift-Fletcher saddle. Stable snow all the way and the skinning was easy with firm, supportive snow. From the summit, we skied the SE ridge down to the top of the hanging basin (normal summer route), we found stable snow and were able to find a safe ski route. Excellent corn skiing down to the dam.
We didn't ascend the normal, winter ridge because we didn't want to bring crampons and we knew the entire area had a firm base so the long way around would be easy skinning.
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