Traver, Southeast Face; McNamee, Southeast Face

A photo of this face on Traver appears in the Clinton section. I skied the SE face solo on June 2, 2007. On ascent I got involved in too many willows, which were easy to avoid on descent. The trick: As you go up the road from the parking lot, if you can ever turn left into snow, do it. Use skins wehen you can and you will probably find a continuous snow line on the (climber's) left side of the valley. Go into the fork heading to Democrat and ascent the easy slopes of Traver. The summit is 13865 so it takes a while, and offers amazing views of Democrat's N side.

To the NW of Traver lies McNamee Peak which has a fine SE face. On June 1, 2008, Dave Blakeslee, Janet Jacks, and I skied it. While the face is not too exciting, the long valley descent is pretty fun. Here Dave begins the somewhat slushy descent, caused in part by a late start, which in turn was caused by a bad decision to try Kite Lake Road.

Dave dug out an old pair of skis and bindings for this one: Ramer Alpine Touring (aka Alpine Nordic). They even have a wax pocket and double camber.