TR Replies

We skied tatoosh on saturday.  There were some pockets of fresh hidden in the trees, but everything open was crusty.  One of my bindings decided not to return to ski mode, so I had an interesting descent and we called it an early day.  The view from the saddle between pinnacle and castle made the trip worth it, with adams, st helens and hood all visible with a yellow backdrop.

Let's hope for some more snow soon.

That is a lot of headlamp time! But the first pic is awesome. Nice run!

Thanks for the kind words. Here is a little video

Good effort and photos.  Nice to see alecapone in action; I thought he had dropped off the edge of the map.    ;D

rad!  i agree with kyle--the sunset photo of scott is one of my favorite that i've seen all season.

i think it was a good call not to join you guys as even the "all pow no shwack" day that i did instead caused me a bit of ankle pain... but i'm still feeling better each day and expecting that i'll be back to the alder thicket hikes in no time.

author=CascadeYeti link=topic=33189.msg138117#msg138117 date=1420259629]
I was told the road from Longmire to Paradise would not open that day so I turned around and went home  :'(

Follow the mount rainier national park Twitter feed. They update it almost daily in the early hours of the morning to notify visitors on expected time the gate will (or will not) be opening.

Nice one guys

Awesome!
I couldn't remember who you all were and I had a ton of great pictures from April and that trip in particular but your crew exhibited such stoke from such a great spot that you made the final cut (hope you don't mind)  :D

8 months later....how'd the turtle ski?!

Thanks for yet another great report as always, Mike.  This is exactly why I haven't liked this year's snowpack at all.  Those facets and slab are quite something.  Much more important than little snow is what persistent cold temps, shallow pack and then wind slab on top of it does.  I can only imagine how bad it has been over your way.  Hard to have fun being a "recreationista."  If I wanted to be intimidated and dumbfounded by buried surface hoa...

Thanks for the TR and excellent pics!

author=Rowan Stewart link=topic=33318.msg138138#msg138138 date=1420322096]
Excellent report Leyland, though i must take issue with this:
I wouldn't call that downward trail ski "fun" on a splitboard...   :( >:( :'( ???

Yeah... i wasn't sure how it went for you guys. Maybe it was the sleep deprivation kicking in.

Great report, thanks for taking the time to write up the details.

Seems this is an expected PWL (I saw the discussion here: http://www.nwac.us/avalanche-forecast/current/cascade-east-central/)

Super nice story.  My dad can't do stuff like that these days but we still get out hiking when I'm back East. 

He musta done all right with ya!

author=Rowan Stewart link=topic=33318.msg138138#msg138138 date=1420322096]
Excellent report Leyland, though i must take issue with this:
I wouldn't call that downward trail ski "fun" on a splitboard...   :( >:( :'( ???

LOL, I half wish I would have joined you guys, and half glad I took the wife to paradise.

Excellent report Leyland, though i must take issue with this:

author=lrudholm link=topic=33318.msg138134#msg138134 date=1420319075]
    Anyways the ski out Wildhorse creek was a fun downward traverse on trail. A little spicy by headlamp :). The split boarders skied it with skins on.

I wouldn't call that downward trail ski "fun" on a splitboard...   :( >:( :'( ???

Great photos with the new camera!

You've had the quite the four days.

Now i just want to tele!

I was told the road from Longmire to Paradise would not open that day so I turned around and went home  :'(

update 2 days later, 1-2-15, on a completely different aspect a friend triggered a slide in bounds at Mission Ridge.  The slide occurred in a small clearing in the trees about 6000' on a 34 degree slope which faces 20 degrees (NNE).   It was about 14" crown, soft slab (no wind affect perceived by me).  It was about 40 feet across, and ran about 50' on that same layer of crystals over crust.  What is similar about these is that neither involved wind slab.  The slab is so soft that...

I was up there with a friend last Sunday lapping the north side of Heather Ridge. It needs a few more feet to really ski well, but it wasn't too bad. Lots of little trees to dodge that made for slow going, especially in the upper 1/3 of the face. There are some big boulders that'll take a good bit more snow to cover up, but our bases didn't get scratched up by any small rocks or logs.

Sweet pix, Kenji. The teli style is looking freakin' artistic.

csd, We didn't but another pair did go that way.  They hoped the north side above Skyline Lake would have more wind-deposted snow.  We would have tried that side if time.  Some tracks headed that way.
I'd say the coverage is far too low to descend and exit via the PCT or Yodeiln without
brush-hell  :(

My last picture was taken last year but showed the view of the tour from the top of Lesser Flute. The first ridgeline is Obeo, and the second is Cowboy Ridge.

Returned to Baker yesterday to join my friends Kenji and David for another tour, this time towards Coleman Pinnacle. It looked like a ski-bumhood congregation out there as we ran into a bunch of people we knew, but surprisingly, there was still lots of untracked snow to ski. Apparently, it was windy on Monday so some areas were wind-affected and crusty, however, nice snow was still to be had. It was cooooold!!!

Nice work in the cold!  Were you alone?

I should have contacted you... I went with ed into the crystal BC and we enjoyed the cold air and snow very much.  First time touring in WA with two synthetic puffy layers, a helmet, and heavy gloves... ***while touring***   ;D

I love the cold