Newton Creek conditions

Sunday, our goal was heather canyon. neither of us had hiked in nor taken the full runout from the upper slopes so the HRM parking lot approach was a total guess on our part. judging by my 100k map (bad idea) I thought heather creek was a feeder for clark creek (which, btw, is in between heather and newton), so we headed straight north out of the lot.<br>we ran into a kindly ol' man who shook his head and suppressed his laughter long enough to give us some tips on finding heather next time.<br>oh well, we said...I had been up newton a couple of times before so we said what the hell. it was a beautiful overcast day with absolutely no one around.<br> <br>anyway...conditions. <br>3" of new snow, 6" - 1' drifts on S slopes, upper reaches of N slopes were scoured clean.<br>well packed trail all the way to timberline trail crossing. we hoofed it up about half way to the ridge (~ 5500') and stopped b/c the clouds were close and dropping.<br>from there, we had the finest powder I've had this year! E slope, 6" - 1' fresh, for a whopping 500' vert. and it was so worth it.<br><br>there are a couple pics that are worth posting, but I'll have to do that tomorrow.<br><br>-rick<br><br>note- even the small creek beds are not snow covered

from there, we had the finest powder I've had this year!  E slope, 6" - 1' fresh, for a whopping 500' vert.  and it was so worth it.<br>&lt;snip&gt;<br>note- even the small creek beds are not snow covered

<br><br>Wow, thanks for the report. I was in the HRM lot this wkend and told myself there definitely wasn't adequate snow to easily approach either of the canyons from here. Did you actually skin to the Tline trail or approach on foot?

I skinned and my friend Adam was snowshoeing. I was testing out my new approach skis! they are way better than snowshoes and it was hard refrain from pointing out all the benefits to Adam. although he had plenty to laugh at since this was my first time on skis in over 10 years.<br>Off trail had a lot of brush and small trees still showing through but it's definitely doable. <br>i'll reiterate the warning about creek crossings. clark cr. has a bridge, everything else you're on your own. i would generalize that flood plains are not passable, and small creek beds are also not fully covered. a newton cr. trib was 2' wide and exposed at ~5000'<br>i brought some pics with me...now to figure out how to post them...<br><br>

ok figured it out...<br><br>newton cr. 1/4 mile upstream from elk meadows trail<br> <br><br>here are links to the other pics since i'm new here and don't want to break the &gt;1 image rule...<br><br>newton cr. drainage from ~5500' where we turned around.  the right drainage is the smaller trib, and to the left of the ridge is newton cr.  the trail traversed along the right side (S) of the ridge in the foreground<br> xs17.xs.to/pics/05083/NewtonCrDrainage.JPG

i had to include this...check out the lichen levels.  this is at ~5300'.
xs17.xs.to/pics/05083/NCrTrib_lichenlevel.jpg

Thanks for the photos Ricardo. Your friend should get a split, there are a lot of splitboarders here.

he just started boarding last year so it might be a while before he makes that move. although a few more trips getting untracked turns may speed up that motivation. <br>hey, if you want a partner up heather, newton, etc sometime i'd love to join. i've been out of commission with a bad ankle but my 'test' last weekend tells me that it's ready for more.<br>-r