Home > Trip Reports > June 1, 2019, Emmons-Winthrop

June 1, 2019, Emmons-Winthrop

6/1/19
WA Cascades West Slopes North (Mt Baker)
2102
4
Posted by aaasen on 6/2/19 4:47am
Matthew and I skied the Emmons starting from White River Campground (closed) at 5pm on Friday night. We intended to ski it in a push and didn't bring overnight gear or a stove. When we got to Camp Schurman at 10pm we decided that it was far too early to go to the summit so we curled up on some bare ground and slept on and off until 3am. The night was completely calm and relatively warm, but still not at all comfortable without a sleeping bag.

Started up the Emmons at 4am following a well established boot track. Traversed to the right onto the Winthrop Glacier around 11,500' and continued straight up towards the summit. Recent thunderstorms had deposited a dusting of fresh snow above 12k. Traversed right around the summit bergschrund and then climbed S a few hundred feet to the summit.

Skied shallow powder off the summit at 10:20am and nice wind-affected snow down the Winthrop. Very smooth and consistent snow for the upper mountain with no rime or sastrugi. Great corn through the corridor and down to Camp Schurman. Side stepped up to the Inter Glacier without having to take the skis off. I had been nauseous since the summit and finally puked up all the Gu and Redbull in my system. More great corn down the Inter Glacier then mush below 7k. Skied down to 5,600'. Below that there are some bare spots and then consistently dry trail below about 5k.

If I tried this in a push again I would start at around midnight instead of 5pm, or start at 5pm and bring very light overnight gear. I would also bring a stove. We each brought 3L of water and Matthew ran out 12k. I rationed and didn't run out, but the dehydration probably contributed to altitude sickness.

I was feeling too shitty on the descent to care about taking photos but got a few on the way up.
1. Sunrise in the corridor
2. Little Tahoma at sunrise
3. Matthew traversing onto the Winthrop
Awesome. Thanks for the TR!

A nice TR  and photos. The comments of what you might due again. For folks that have not skied/board the route, it provides some great comments. ;)

Robert and I skied the same route on Saturday, starting from White River ~5:30 AM and hit the summit  ~5:30 PM (think we crossed paths with you on the Inter Glacier in the morning). We found the lovely June powder stash off the summit, but were probably about an hour or two late on the Winthrop, which had refrozen. The section of the Emmons above Schurman and the Inter Glacier were (thankfully) softer.

Next time, would plan to start an hour earlier (or skin faster). 3L of water each was also barely enough for us.

1. Robert skiing powder off the top
2. Nice corn on the Inter Glacier




author=lonnie_butthill link=topic=41988.msg165237#msg165237 date=1559770982]
Robert and I skied the same route on Saturday, starting from White River ~5:30 AM and hit the summit  ~5:30 PM (think we crossed paths with you on the Inter Glacier in the morning). We found the lovely June powder stash off the summit, but were probably about an hour or two late on the Winthrop, which had refrozen. The section of the Emmons above Schurman and the Inter Glacier were (thankfully) softer.


Haha, I guess we started 12 hours too early! A full night of sleep sounds nice, but it seems difficult to time an afternoon descent. Either the upper mountain is soft and it's mush down low or the upper mountain is ice and the lower mountain is good. Not much of a buffer if you are slower than expected. I don't think the entire 8,800' descent is in great condition at any point in the day, but I was amazed at how consistently good the snow was on Saturday. The fresh snow on the upper mountain really helped.

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june-1-2019-emmons-winthrop
aaasen
2019-06-02 11:47:56