Patsey Marley

I got up pretty early, downed some granola and headed for LCC. It was snowing and blowing pretty hard at the end of the road where I started hiking. I headed up the Albion summer road then up to the snow cat road toward Twin Lakes pass. Just into the upper area I followed a skin track up the ridge toward the top of Patsey Marley. I had my new Stokes but was using the skins for my Mustagh Ata skis. They left quite a bit of ski uncovered by the climbing skin so when the trail got steep I slid back. It made for slow climbing. A couple of other hiker passed me. I stopped with them as they dug a snow pack sample. I knew the conditions were pretty stable but the snow pit confirmed it. I climbed a bit more beyond that spot and then skied on back to the car. I ended up taking about a half hour longer than I had planned because of the slippery climbing. The visibiliy was bad the whole time. Got a good workout though.