Klondike Mountain Descent

Type: Backcountry or Sidecountry

Short descent with very tight trees most places on this face. Holds better snow than some of the nearby lines due to the tree coverage, but like the rest of this zone, there are rocks and stumps that can be uncovered after a big wind event.

Tight trees and occasionally sketchy coverage make this line not ideal for beginners. It helps to know the line and where the trees open up if you really want to shred it. Best way to get familiar is lap it a few times and get a feel for where to drop in and how to move down the face.

When nearing the summit, you'll first come upon a very tempting open run dotted with a few small rock drops. This line option is fun to ski and is the least obstructed by trees, but it's a short pitch and delivers you to the flats fairly quickly.

If you pass this up and continue up and along the summit ridge (heading more or less north across the fairly open ridge, with Bald Mountain in view straight ahead of you), you'll be dropping into longer, slightly steeper skiing but with quite a few more trees. A quick look at the satellite photos generally shows you where the trees open up. Try to hug the skiers-left edge of this and trend generally left when you can on the descent for the longest ride.

If you hit a good line, you'll be able to ride ~25-degree slope all the way down to the Western Skirt of Bald Mountain skin track. Be prepared to fight through a few tree branches "combat style" at the bottom to really do this correctly.

If you end up in the flats quickly, you may have skied too far to the right on your descent. When you reach the Western Skirt of Bald Mountain skin track, you can turn right to head back towards the parking area, or turn left to skin up towards Baldy's Skirt.