It was a long day, but definitely worth the effort. The riding, the skinning and the time made it challenge in every aspect. It still counts as a side country tour but the moment you leave the boundaries, you should be aware of the conditions and the rout you want to take. Because of the low avalanche prediction and the stable snow pack we felt save going into steep terrain.
We started out by hiking to the top of McKenzie, which took ups about one hour from the top of the Stoke chair. First you head towards the sub peak and from there you just follow the rich line before you go for the summit. Just standing on top of this 2400m peak is rewarding and worth a hike. From here you can see the surrounding peaks which stick out like islands from the low clouds.
Here the adventure starts. We decided to traverse down the left side of the east face. After passing the entrance to Brown Shorts we saw the gully we wanted to end up, but because there was a lot slush coming down and the snow conditions looked better on the further left we passed the gully to ride some fresh lines. Our goal was to come out at the run out of the gully. There are several rocks and we found a nice line down. Looking up the east face of McKenzie where they hold the Freeride World Tour is definitely impressive and reveals some great lines. Maybe for the next time, but it is definitely good to get a feeling for the terrain before you go for the big ones, because they are big. From the run out of the gully we followed the bowl on the left till we reached a red flag from where we started to skin out. At the last part you go trough little tree covered area which provides some pillows and small jumps.
Here you have to make the decision ether going back to the resort or towards the highway. Because we didn’t know how to get to the highway we stuck to our plan and skinned back to the resort. The track back to the resort boundaries is steep and covers about 500m of altitude. You basically go up to the ride where you can enter the north bowl. It took us about 3 hours. I think you can go faster, but I guess it takes at least 2 hours. So start early so that you reach the Ripper chair before 2:30 when it closes. We obviously didn’t make it there till the closing time so we had to walk to the top in order to go down. By the time we were at the groomed runs it was quite dark, but we were good prepared with headlamps and enjoyed an awesome ride trough the night under an unforgettable night sky with a million stars. 
With me on the mountain where Ryan, Clara and Mitch. Thanks for a great day!
ju4splitboarding 