Santa Updates Naughty And Nice List On Egypt Lake Tour

Egypt Lake Hut X-Mass Ski Tour

By John Cameron

Moderate temperatures and good snow greeted eight enthusiastic back country skiers at the Sunshine parking lot for our second mountain tour of the season.

The trail was well covered in snow and made the ascent easier as the wax and skins were holding well.  A lunch stop was made just before the last ascent on Healy Pass where 3 or more feet of snow greeted us. This made for some interesting moments on the way down to the cabin especially for yours truly having ventured out on his first real back country trip.

With the support and encouragement of the trip leaders I managed to arrive in one piece somewhat tired and wet, everybody else was in good shape it seems!!!

We then set up to prepare our Christmas dinner and what a feast it was!  Turkey, stuffing, salad, potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce and dessert sure hit the spot after a good days work. After that a surprise visit from Santa and a gift exchange capped the evening.

Quite a bit more leisurely approach to Sunday morning getaway since we had merely to step outside the door to gear up and head out. The weather had held up nicely with a light snow falling and not too windy.  A fairly quick climb had us at the top of Healy Pass again in fresh snow conditions for the long downhill slide home.

I learned a lot about back country skiing on this trip and many thanks to the tour leaders and members of the group for their kind advice and assistance which made the trip much more enjoyable for me.