June 5, 2010, High Esmeralda-Fortune Traverse
6/5/10
WA Cascades East Slopes Central
2246
4
Various carpools and arrival times found all of us at De Roux Campground ready to start at a little before 9:00AM. Six of us (donb, Randy, Anita, BigSteve, Brian and myself) crossed the De Roux trail bridge and turned up the shallow valley that parallels De Roux creek to the north below the Esmeralda Peaks. In the shady forest we were able to put our skis on at about 4800 feet.
Snow stayed firm long enough for us to reach the summit of High Esmeralda 6765+. Here choices abounded and Steve and Anita skied the southside while the rest of us descended to north basin toward Fortune Peak. Conditions on the north side were less than optimal. In fact, the wet point releases we were cutting gained some considerable volume and speed on rollovers steeper than 35 degrees. It appears that above 6000 feet in the Teanaway the new snow from late May has still not consolidated.
No worries, the scenery and terrain of the tour more than made up for the snow conditions as we traversed over toward Fortune. The broad gentle west slope of Fortune stayed somewhat firm but we were breaking trail through 3 or 4 inches of wet on the final climb to the top of Fortune 7382'.
It was a short visit to the top, leaving quickly, already pretty certain we missed any opportunity for firm snow in the big SE Bowl.
It was even more dramatic than we expected. We took a smooth velvety looking canvas and unfortunately destroyed it, top to bottom, side to side. The start is just too steep for the 6 inches or so of mush, atop an older base, to stay put. No matter where we entered each of us sent big wet growlers that fanned out and eventually joined one another! Our apologies to Mike and Brenda for doing so much damage to the slope. We knew not what we do.
We were able to ski to about 5100' before booting back down to the Esmeralda Basin Trail and a short 1/2 mile back to the dramatic trailhead.
We finally got a sunny Spring ski day. This made for a really fun tour/traverse through some of the nicest scenery of the Central Cascades.
Thanks, all, for a great day in the hills!
J
Pic 1: Brian after sending sluffs on Esmeralda
Pic 2: Don ascending Fortune with Hawkins backdrop
Pic 3: Randy SE Bowl Fortune with our route across in distance.
Snow stayed firm long enough for us to reach the summit of High Esmeralda 6765+. Here choices abounded and Steve and Anita skied the southside while the rest of us descended to north basin toward Fortune Peak. Conditions on the north side were less than optimal. In fact, the wet point releases we were cutting gained some considerable volume and speed on rollovers steeper than 35 degrees. It appears that above 6000 feet in the Teanaway the new snow from late May has still not consolidated.
No worries, the scenery and terrain of the tour more than made up for the snow conditions as we traversed over toward Fortune. The broad gentle west slope of Fortune stayed somewhat firm but we were breaking trail through 3 or 4 inches of wet on the final climb to the top of Fortune 7382'.
It was a short visit to the top, leaving quickly, already pretty certain we missed any opportunity for firm snow in the big SE Bowl.
It was even more dramatic than we expected. We took a smooth velvety looking canvas and unfortunately destroyed it, top to bottom, side to side. The start is just too steep for the 6 inches or so of mush, atop an older base, to stay put. No matter where we entered each of us sent big wet growlers that fanned out and eventually joined one another! Our apologies to Mike and Brenda for doing so much damage to the slope. We knew not what we do.
We were able to ski to about 5100' before booting back down to the Esmeralda Basin Trail and a short 1/2 mile back to the dramatic trailhead.
We finally got a sunny Spring ski day. This made for a really fun tour/traverse through some of the nicest scenery of the Central Cascades.
Thanks, all, for a great day in the hills!
J
Pic 1: Brian after sending sluffs on Esmeralda
Pic 2: Don ascending Fortune with Hawkins backdrop
Pic 3: Randy SE Bowl Fortune with our route across in distance.
My partner and I skied that S bowl on Fortune about an hour after you, sending more hissers. I surprised that the untouched snow skied as well as it did. Gotta love fat skis. Fantastic terrain up there, and plenty of snow.
author=John_Morrow link=topic=16840.msg70783#msg70783 date=1275835827]
Our apologies to Mike and Brenda for doing so much damage to the slope. We knew not what we do.
no probem John. We truly appreciate good slope testers. Gotta tell you though, the rivers that started running down that face had us a bit freaked out. We ended up skiing into the east bowl a bit then climbing to the lower entrance to the southeast face. We only added to the mess, but it actually skied fairly well considering. The cleaned paths were decent until the big piles at the bottom.
I have to try your tour. Can't tell you how many times I've looked at that gap on Esmarelda.
Fun day! John's approach (which I had previously spied on the map and intended to explore someday) is a more aesthetic ascent line than De Roux Creek. Nice way to start the morning. Thanks for showing us the way, John.
FTR, Anita and I skied the SW flank of Hi E for c. 900 feet, then did a sweeping oblique traverse staying above Gallagher Head Lake, then skied down (on the jeep road for a bit) towards SF Fortune Cr. Very fun skiing on the SW flank of Hi E. I set off one mini-hisser on a small rollover, but no drama. At c. 4900', we skinned easily up thru forest and open slopes to Fortune Cr. Pass (c. 6000'), then skied down to Esm basin via low angle obstacle course skiing. Skis off at 4800' after skiing a few dirt patches. :) Walked down the road/horse trail to DeRoux TH/CG, where the NWHikers social gathering was still in progress.
We had planned to do another tour on Sunday, and thus elected forego Fortune. And Anita, the silly girl, had weary legs from a Cross Fit workout on Friday.
6 hours, 4100' verts (2800' ski, 1300' on foot). Nice loop with oodles of options.
John, I'll be rooting for the Flyers on Wed, hoping for a game 7.
FTR, Anita and I skied the SW flank of Hi E for c. 900 feet, then did a sweeping oblique traverse staying above Gallagher Head Lake, then skied down (on the jeep road for a bit) towards SF Fortune Cr. Very fun skiing on the SW flank of Hi E. I set off one mini-hisser on a small rollover, but no drama. At c. 4900', we skinned easily up thru forest and open slopes to Fortune Cr. Pass (c. 6000'), then skied down to Esm basin via low angle obstacle course skiing. Skis off at 4800' after skiing a few dirt patches. :) Walked down the road/horse trail to DeRoux TH/CG, where the NWHikers social gathering was still in progress.
We had planned to do another tour on Sunday, and thus elected forego Fortune. And Anita, the silly girl, had weary legs from a Cross Fit workout on Friday.
6 hours, 4100' verts (2800' ski, 1300' on foot). Nice loop with oodles of options.
John, I'll be rooting for the Flyers on Wed, hoping for a game 7.
Nice -- I've got to get over there with you some time. We had a great day on Silver for a mellow sickness-recovery/birthday tour.
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