Secret stashes, exploration, solitude, and more

Well put.

Well after the guide book of backcounty skiing along the NC highway is written, this will still be a perfect zone for personal growth.  Unless done by an encyclopediest like Beckey, I suspect it will include mostly the places that are already well known. It is a big country out there.

<br><br>Ten years ago, who'd have thought anyone could (or would want to) write an entire guidebook about backcountry skiing near Snoqualmie Pass? Fred Beckey didn't do it, and yet it changed the landscape. Imagine a similar treatment for the North Cascades highway.<br><br>

I can forsee some possible consequences of this guidebook from Hell:<br><br>1) The war horses will be more crowded... You will have to be really early to get first tracks on centeral stripe of the Birthday tour or Silver Star. The edges and alternatives will still be good.

<br><br>If that were the only consequence, maybe it wouldn't be so bad. But I doubt it. I remember the days before Silver Star was a war horse. The first few years I skied it (starting in 1979) it was not a popular tour. That was before Rainer Burgdorfer's first edition. I doubt that a more comprehensive book would affect only the war horses.<br><br>

3) Maybe, with a constituency, the N Cascade highway will no longer gated at Ross Dam...

<br><br>Again, I'm skeptical. The highway department would have to modify their procedure considerably, I think, to accommodate what you're suggesting. It's hard for me to imagine them doing it. I think they would consider recreational traffic during the clearing process a big headache. <br><br>

Lowell, <br>You're absolutely right. I was just having some fun. Too much time in the lab. I'm going skiing now,<br>Sky

Well, I for one hope that all this discussion doesn't cause people to stop writing trip reports. I really do enjoy reading them and (horror of horrors!) I've learned from them and gotten a few ideas for future trips from them as well.<br><br>I'm still of the belief that more shared knowledge can help people spread themselves out. Perhaps I'm completely naive on this one, I can accept that I guess.<br><br>I want to ask the question again: are people going to their stashes and finding them destroyed? Is it actually happening? I am still doubtful, but I guess I could be wrong. <br><br><br><br><br>

Lowell_Skoog wrote:<br>

This discussion is about the "middle trips" that are neither way out there nor well known already.  The question is whether there is any value in exercising restraint to preserve these opportunities a while longer.

<br><br>As usual, Lowell nails it squarely on the head.  It's hard to have a discussion about whether publicizing ski routes and writing guidebooks is "good" or "bad" without first defining what we mean by "good" and "bad."  This in turn asks backcountry skiers what they value and deem important.  We are making value judgments here - once these are laid out, the rest will fall into place.<br><br>So, why do you go skiing?  Do you go for exercise, to get out with your friends in the clear air, find an untracked line and indulge?  Is day of 6000 ft of yo-yo powder skiing heaven?  Sure, who doesn't love this.  But is there something more?  Something deeper?  I have a pass at Alpental - out the backcountry gate, ski one line over, point-em straight down and whoop and holler all the way to the valley floor.  But, for me, there is something missing here.  These days are grand, but they are not the ones that occupy the treasured memory spots, the ones that are remembered as the "best day of the season."  Sometimes it's about more than finding fresh lines.  There needs to be, as Lowell puts it, a personal discovery zone.  This isn't possible if an area is popular.<br><br>Backcountry skiing is growing ever more popular, the city every day encroaches on the dwindling wilderness.  Do we throw up our hands, accept it and give up?  No, we don't have to.  Mother Nature smiles broadly on backcountry skiers - she every week wipes the slate clean.  The bowls and ridges are remade pristine until they are tracked again.  It doesn't matter whether a thousand have skied there before, it looks the same to us as it did the pioneers.  We can have a similar experience.  As others have pointed out, other parties don't ruin the experience, they just change it.  Sometimes a lot.  Sometimes they enhance it too.  (And as others have also pointed out, I've yet to meet another backcountry skier I didn't like, in fact I've met partners in the backcountry, as recently as a few weeks ago).<br><br>Guidebooks certainly have their place and I use them all the time when I visit new places.  But just the same, I feel some areas should be set aside.  Others disagree.  Some feel anywhere is fair game to publicize.  That's fine, everyone is free to do as they please.  Everyone likes to share stories and photos from trips, myself included.  I post trip reports.  It builds a sense of community that can be easily lost.  But, if appropriate, I first decide if there is something innate in the experience I just had that would be compromised if there were several other parties or sets of tracks around.<br><br>Ironically, Beckey's encyclopedic description of the Cascades has preserved the out of the way places.  It's very hard to pick up the three volumes and find a hidden gem if you don't already have an idea of where to look.  The all inclusiveness also means each route is sketched, not detailed, and phrases like "obvious descent gully" become legendary.  I don't think it would be the same with the guidebook from Hell.

I thought the question was whether to exercise restraint in order to preserve these opportunities for yourself. Why else would it be repeatedly referred to as a "stash"?<br><br>If you want to put some noble motivation behind it such as preserving the sense of exploration for others, I'd suggest that there's some better word for it than stash.<br><br>For me, since the whole place is mapped, I cannot conjure up the illusion of exploration. I guess I could leave the topos at home.