Mark on the ice. Llao Peak on the left.
The hours were easy to keep track of, so we just watched that. The plan was to stop each day at 3pm, two hours before sundown.
We now had three days to travel the remaining 28 miles. The snow soon got better. We made good time and saw no other tracks for the rest of the trip except for one set of ski tracks. We would follow this set of tracks the entire way around. One track, no stops or camps, except for a few places where the the skier probably paused for a water or food break. With this unknown jibbers tracks for inspiration, we jibbed on.
Merriam Point overlook.
A little zoom.
20x zoom - Rim Village
Hardly any creatures. Only saw one bird, a raven. Only a few rabbit and squirrel tracks and the occasional coyote track. Didn’t see any of the creatures that made the tracks. We had the place to ourselves. The ice layer was with us the entire time. Slide one ski forward and weight it. Only to have it suddenly break through the ice layer and into the sugary powder beneath. The annoying ice layer was a small inconvenience. We had world class views all day long. The sun was hidden behind the dark clouds, keeping the snow cold.
A little video taken from the viewpoint just past Pumice Point:
Crater Lake – January, 2012 from jibmaster on Vimeo.
My goal was to get to a place called Wineglass. We skied along following the ski track along the snow covered road. The wind had died down by afternoon and we were able to put the hard shell back in the pack.
The view from Palisade Point.
Close up view of Wizard Island and The Watchman.
Wizard Island, The Watchman, Hillman Peak, Llao Rock.
The round orb of the sun over the round lake.
We arrived at Wineglass by 2pm. It felt like we were almost there. We had gone almost halfway around on our first full day of travel. But knowing that the road leaves the crater rim and winds it’s way around with plenty of climbing yet ahead, we stopped.
We were now on the eastern side of the lake. Very little snow here. We had to take off our skis and walk certain sections. 10 feet here, 50 feet there. We set up the tents on dry ground. I had spilled my water earlier in the day and finding good, clean snow to melt for water was a challenge.
It had started to snow again by early evening. I awoke in the middle of the night to find I was out of water. The best snow for collecting was around the tents. The snow would hit the tents and slide off. So I harvested all the little drifts around both tents. It was a very slow and tedious process.
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