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Trip Report    

Backcountry Ski/Snowboard - Bullion Basin

Great day skiing fresh snow in Mayvember on various lines around Bullion Basin.

Paul Brown Paul Brown
May 14, 2022
  • Road suitable for all vehicles

  •  We put skins on behind the chapel at the Crystal base area and headed up toward Bullion Basin.  Anticipating suboptimal skinning on the steeper right option, we chose the slightly longer left option that goes out toward Ted's Buttress.

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    The snow conditions above Bullion Basin were excellent in the morning with 6-8" of dry fresh snow on top of a bulletproof base.  Clouds with sun breaks kept the snow relatively cool and skiing well until the early afternoon for our last descent where we caused some small pinwheels and rollerballs.  The "luge track" back to the base  had patches of grabby snow outside of the shade but was overall in winter-like shape.

    One party of two splitboarders was ahead of us, but those were the only people we saw all day.

From the SW edge of Bullion Basin, we accessed the NW ridge of Bullion Peak (point 6479 on USGS maps) and skied a couple of highly enjoyable lines in the NNW bowl.

IMG_1805.jpgFor our third lap, we skinned back to the ridge, continuing up to Bullion Peak, descended the NNE bowl, and then followed the drainage back to Bullion Basin.

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For our fourth lap, we skinned up from the Basin to the ridge separating Bullion Basin and Cement Basin, transitioning at the high point around 6715' with the picket/ice axe memorial on a tree and the wooden cross.  To descend, we traversed briefly along the ridge to find a break in the thinly covered rocks and then skied fall line through the burned trees until we met our up track.

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It was a great day out with unusual conditions for May and a solid crew.