Mill 1 and 2 Tour

Spring certainly seems to have arrived early this year.  Despite a forecasted rain/snow line of around 6500ft, Brian, Jeffrey and I set out from the bone dry mill creek TH with plans to start with mill point and see where the day took us.

late February and we're already doing this - yikes!

After a disheartening 1500 vert of dirt walking, we finally transitioned to skis and continued up to mill point.  Once on top, Brian led the way skiing down the N ridge and through some talus to some N facing meadows.  We transitioned when the snow quality deteriorated (about 6500ft) and a little talus scrambling granted access to the basin to the west, which we crossed and continued up the N ridge of mill 2. 

E face mill 2

closing in on the gendarmes near the top of mill 2

We wrapped around the W side of the gendarmes near the summit and into the W gully.  After a little stability assessment, we continued to the top of the line, before dropping in and enjoying surprisingly good powder conditions.  

jeffrey dropping in 

brian in the W gully

choke at the bottom of W gully (steeper than it looks)

mill 2 from E sheafman point 2 weeks later, W gully is obvious run in center of frame

We then climbed up the W face of mill 2 to gain the upper N ridge and transitioned near the gendarmes near the top.  Concerned about skiing the semi-steep E face, we opted to ski down the N ridge a ways before dropping E to the basin from the morning. 

headed up mill point

We made a big push up the W side of mill point, and I unfortunately faded a bit near the top.  Once I joined Brian and Jeffrey on the summit, we discussed our next move.  I voted to head down via the E face but Brian inquired whether or not I’d yet done a 10k day this season (answer was no) so he insisted I rally for a run down to tag alder lake before the final egress run.  Jeffrey was on board so I said yes, and we dropped in for 1200ft of decent wind-effected powder down to the lake.   

Brian gave me a much-needed shot of GU (thanks!) for the last climb up to mill point before we pointed skis down the E ridge/face, skiing about 1500ft of decent snow and another 1500ft of mank (in the rain) til we ran out of snow.  We ended up further S than expected so the walk down/out to the trailhead took a bit longer than expected.  All in all a surprisingly good day of skiing given the forecast and disturbingly high snow level for this time of year. 

Stats:  about 10,500vert in 10:15 car-car

Rose: good powder in the aesthetic W gully of mill 2

Thorn: fading on the second-to-last climb up mill point

Bud: returning for the E face of mill 2