TR Replies
Thanks Doug! Unfortunately Red Bull hasn't come knocking, although I did make $50 from skiing this year, so my childhood dream of becoming a pro skier was finally realized.
Amazing skiing, snow, and footage as usual Tim, my legs got tired watching these vids, those lines are bigly.
Red Bull, the North Face, Salomon, someone - sponsor this guy!
We skied the main vein and then down silver creek to a camp at gold on Saturday the second! We attempted Alaska mtn south face but turned around and skied Alaska lake drainage for fear of avalanche. We crossed your skinner on the bottom of Alaska and couldn’t believe it! Props! Y’all were waaay out there!
Wow! way to cover a ton of ground! thanks for posting the report.
yeah what Ryan said.
that line is sweet! you scored good conditions; when (coincidentally) Ryan (sorry bud) and I skied it years ago, there was a short section of sp-icy downclimbing, made spicier by some poor equipment decisions at the car...
thx for the report, good to see the snowpack is more robust up high--might bode well for bigger and higher lines this spring.
Things look surprisingly fat on the upper mountain, thanks for the report! It almost seemed casual.....
Nice work guys! Hope to see more TRs like this coming out of the Cascades. I'm not sure if hearing about the party atmosphere makes me want to ski it more ("now everyone and their grandmother has skied the Coleman Headwall, why haven't I?") or less ("Coleman Headwall is the new Muir Snowfield"). Something tells me I'll go do it anyway ;)
As far as I can tell- yeah, we're at about 100% of snowpack in the front range, we've had a few solid storms delivering around a foot/week. The part that I keep struggling with is looking on maps at what should be great, easy traverses over ridges, getting up to the top, and forgetting I'm in Colorado, where the snow falls light and gets completely blown off the top! The elevation on those high ridgelines is 11-13k in my photos, and really aren't that steep, but conditions out here aren't con...
Interesting history, thanks for the details on somewhere outside of the norm!
Is that fairly normal early/midwinter snowpack in the photos?
I really enjoy your updates and videos from the road Tim, even if I am too mired in work and family to ever dream of going on them myself! At least in the next 5-10 years....
Tremendous! I very much enjoyed that and well done!
avajane
thank you for the recent post, we're heading to the Fortune Peak Huts Monday
Unfortunately (sort of) I’m leaving for a week at Whistler, and will be leaving the skin track unattended. A few years ago Mike Rolfs called me in Maui asking for directions for the final 1500’, then posted powder pictures that had me so jealous! It really looks like perfection up there while I’m gone…It’s very rare…I hope some folks get the chance to enjoy. I will send a track if asked.
Yeah the the bottom 2” of the 12” snowpack is basically missing. Didn’t worry me there, but I made an observation that if widespread this could be a big issue later on.
My wife was snowshoeing in the Pipe Creek area of Blewett on Friday and stomped into whoomphing and shooting cracks. It's spooky out there.
Absolutely. The thing is, where those pictures were taken, the top can be good for a large portion of a normal winter, but the bottom1000’ is crap most of the time. So to have enough base at the bottom (2600’) is unusual. Right not there is barely enough for me, but not really enough to show it off. That could be Sunday, possibly, or more likely Wednesday…Or it might not happen. I’m probably going up tomorrow to see if there is more snow from 2’days ago. I'm also hoping someone has put in a t...
Things are definitely going to get better. I will be doing the resort, side country and the bc at white pass in the coming week depending on the weather.
Have never been over to Blewett touring, but maybe I could get you to hook up for a show me around sometime.
Nice pics
Boot Top Powder! Haven’t seen that since last Spring. Skintrack Expedition planed for Tuesday to a Little Ridge SE of there..Very low expectations…Good job finding that.
Woo hoo! We found some true pow there in November -- and a very welcoming and friendly local ❤️
Brilliant and rewarding! VeryNice pics!
"Enjoyed slush skiing" gotta like that!
Thanks. Unfortunately the best chance for skiing for a while will be if the crust becomes unbreakable. Someone could
still push the skin track higher on Kings Ridge.. Message if details needed.
Nice try ! 10 in the effort Column.
I was just getting ready to look at Blewitt cam and came here first.
You are the "TEAM that we needed" before we do something irrational.😀
The CBA has been a thing for about a year. We haven't talked to Martin specifically. We have gone into Pro Ski a few times to connect with Mike, who was involved in advocacy in the past, but have never managed to speak with them because they were always too busy. Maybe we should reach out to them again, since they probably has some good perspectives.
Hey Kyle - how long has the CBA been a thing? Have you connected with Martin Volkien about this? I assume yes... he has some well articulated opinions about winter access and the need for advocacy there.
No, you're not crazy- just fast! Way to go!
Skier of the Hood: Thanks for the great report and photos! I had a similar experience yesterday. Got to the parking lot at 7:00, and it was 2/3 full! But what a day- when I rounded the turn in the road where you first get a view of the Muir snowfield, I knew it was going to be great. Smooth, white, and fairly cold. And leaving early, the crowds weren't too bad on the way up. Skiing was fantastic, unbelievable how the one cycle of storms filled everything in! And the fabulous wind-buff on top...
I ended up on a Plan B hike up to Lake Serene a week ago and the snow patches there looked as good--and actually better. Low hanging fruit. Less of a drive. And you can get your September swim in too. Which is what we did.
The Lake Serene trail is sorely lacking in hikers with skis on their back...
I was up to the snowfield the last weekend of August and echo Mr. Burns, very grim, especially in the 1200ft below Camp Muir. Although the skiing from 8800 turned out to be decent. Has anyone been up to Flett/Spray Flats lately?
Greg, I skiied Palmer Sept 9 and it was long and pretty damn good. I would put a lot of money on there being some turns to be had there next weekend.
Thanks, Mr. Burns: I appreciate your info. I'm heading up next weekend, Sept 25. I originally wanted Palmer "Glacier" on Hood, but will be completely melted by then. Here's to Ice Skiing in the present and future.
Greg- I was up last Tuesday, and it was very grim. Due to time, I only went to about 8000 ft, but patches that are usually reliable this time of year above Pebble Creek and to the west near Nisqually chutes were nearly non-existent. Can't speak for Paradise Glacier, but when my buddy and I hiked up there in early June the snow level was discouragingly low. Maybe things are better around 9,000 ft, but I doubt it. Starting to fret about a gummint shutdown and implications for Octobe...
:) Your August snowpatch was the best spring snow you skied this year? You must be working (or something) too much! Hopefully the smoke wasn't too bad when you were up there... please report re: September turns soon!
I must have been drinking when I posted because I didn't compliment the beautiful snowpatch you worked for and found. Alise my August turns were on a tiny patch below the Slate Peak lookout. It was both the best spring snow I skied this year, and the goofiest little side-hill boutique ski that ever counted for a month.
That's dedication to the game for sure!
Beautiful country
Thanks for saying something, Mike! You sound like a thoughtful person. I had fun and lots of laughs messing around trying to get chatgpt to include all the details I fed it, but the end product is bad writing that's formulaic and way over the top. An interesting experiment! Now please tell us where you got your August turns...
Chat gpt comment: I probably would have read the whole prose if I thought you wrote it, (and I probably would have enjoyed it) but somehow I wasn't interested in the creative writing of AI, and I stopped after the first line. I'll have to reflect on this. I'm interested in the story. Why couldn't I read the AI version of it? Interesting situation. I'm glad you announced the AI aide. Gave me something to think about.
sweet pics! I noticed the rock ski tracks on the 3rd one and was happy to see you noticed it too :)
A fun feature of iPhone's is you can usually ask it "Hey Siri, who's phone is this?" and it should spit out some info.
Thank you for the PSA - please post this in the Forum here: https://turns-all-year.com/forum/index/random-tracks
I'll delete this post from the Trip Reports section in about a week.
Thank you so much!
-admin
Nice. Thanks for the info and pictures - hoping to get out there this weekend (it will be more crowded).
Congrats, a number of TAYers have picked up their doctorate in ski alpinism in parallel to more academic pursuitss