As I paged through The Chuting Gallery late Saturday night, I knew one thing - I wanted to go on a long walk. A few phone calls, a beer and 30 minutes later and I landed on Sunday's mission - Coalpit Headwall.  Coalpit would provide 5,000' of skiing but would demand a grueling approach. I planned to meet up with Amanda at 4:00 am, head to the White Pine parking lot, and skin up through White Pine, over Pfeifferhorn, and up Thunder. Indeed, a very long day and the ass kicking, type 2 fun I was fiending.

A few hours later, the blaring alarm coerced my body upright, as I fumbled through the house grabbing the essentials. I went to pick up Amanda and was pleasantly surprised to see Kevin joining our day's adventure.

 

With a beautiful sunrise greeting, spirits were high and motivation flowing. It wasn't until coming out of the main basin that we were greeted with our trip's demise - a howling wind. 

As we crept along the skin track, it was soon made clear that our objective was far too ambitious given the conditions and we would need to come up with another plan. Over snacks we decided to switch our attention to the Pfief and pressed on, heads down and eyes squinting. 

We were moving at a snail's pace with the wind, which was gusting up to 40+ mph and making every step feel as though we had packs filled with bricks. After another hour of walking with little progress, we again realized we would need a new plan. Looking over at White Baldy, we realized none of us had stood atop this 11,000 footer in winter, and it became our new goal. 

Some slippery kick turns, sketchy post holing, and wind curses later and we had our summit. A failed push on Coalpit and Pfeiferhorn was tough to stomach, but this was the safe move. The riding was sub-par, but it was definitely a trip, recapped to perfection over margaritas at Spedellis while laughing at eachother's wind burnt, happy faces.