Sled skiers unite?

Aaron, as I'm sure you are aware, Stewie/Stu/StUart, is in Wilderness. We park at longs pass. Climb/skin laps.

Yeah -- every time I do a fall hike to the Ingalls lake area I think about buying a sled to cruise up the NF Teanaway road.

The cynic in me expects that snow-machine tracks don't stop at the ridgeline over longs pass and into headlight basin and all the expense and discomfort of riding the "washboards" on the snow-machine tracked road won't actually result in access to good skiing -- just more sled tracked terrain.   

What is the real story on how many sleds cross the boundary? (not your of course !)

Randy, buying a sled (or two) was the best thing I have ever done to expand quality skiing options. I have not seen a sled track in headlight basin, or bean basin, or in the basin directly over longs pass, or in the Wilderness for that matter. So, I think is is more rare than people think. However, this is not my usual sled accessed area. Good_to_go may offer some more insight, as he uses sleds to ski in the area more often. Of course, Stewie is the crown jewel of the area and I have only heard of occasional poaching by sleds up into Goat Pass. Personally, I have never seen sled tracks up there... A sled is a great  purchase, which any skier could appreciate. Just my opinion of course, but it is reinforced by experience! Just pull out a map and look at how many snow covered access roads border wilderness. The majority of those roads are yours to access the trailheads, and are not typical sledding areas. So bring a chainsaw and have fun exploring!!! Buy one and let me know! I'll bring the Barley Wine.

Hell Randy, even on the "legal" side of the ridge there is 80% of the terrain left untracked... Really!! Just stay away from Gallagher, Lake Ann, etc. and you WILL find untracked slopes. The stories of sled tracks as far as the eye can see just aren't true. Add in some funky, steep access (ie- West side of Iron Mtn., South facing slopes) which is in legal territory, and you wont find a track all season.

Everything Toby says is true. My friends and I have ski toured extensively around the south side of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness via sled access for the past 5 winters, and I can confirm that sled encroachment in the wilderness is incredibly rare. I can also say from experience that there is never a shortage of fresh turns, even outside of the wilderness areas. Sleds can go a lot of places, but skis go everywhere! And we skiers get almost all of the north faces to ourselves (the wilderness border is on the EW ridge that cuts through the entire zone). Couldn't have designed a better playground for ski tourers IMO. Here are a few pics of our favorite ski areas, to fuel that pre-winter stoke:

Absolutely buddy. Thats the whole point!!!

good!

unfortunately, there is large number of sleders who don't think like you do. For example, St Helens and Adams are quite seld infested in late spring. And skiers are supposed to have permit on these mountains? Ridiculous. I admit, that I skied a "sold out" St Helens three times without a permit.

G2G - Now that's doing it right!