TR Replies
Looks like the same trip, the tags have more info, it is off Blowdown FSR...
https://www.flickr.com/photos/patmulrooney/sets/72157649818669605
https://www.flickr.com/photos/patmulrooney/sets/72157649818669605
Wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle
looks wintery! where on the duffey was that?
nice.. I am on the wrong side of the mountains!
I was up there a few weeks back and the icy road was the sketchy part... Hopefully get back up there on Sat ... Thanks for the beta and pics!
Thanks guys, I appreciate your replies. Wishing you (and myself) some significant snow dump.
Good on you! As long as there are observations to be made - to the mountains we must go! (By whatever means)
Awesome writeup man- what a day.
A few solid ones from Sat.. http://youtu.be/xHRhX717frQ
A few solid ones from Sat.. http://youtu.be/xHRhX717frQ
author=runningclouds link=topic=33072.msg137594#msg137594 date=1418780261]
Nice area! Is the trailhead accessible all year round?
Very strong parties can access this area, even when the Paradise Road is closed, with a dawn start via the Wonderland Trail west from Longmire, then north along upper Rampart Ridge. It's about five miles from Longmire to Mildred Point, where one finally breaks out of the trees. There are a couple s...
Awesome! van trump is such a beautiful place to ski in - glad you found some nice snow too.
Yes, it's the Comet Falls TH about 4 miles past the Nisqually gate.
I think we lucked out a lot with our location, which was set ahead of watching any weather forecasts. Saturday night into Sunday morning saw a big drop in the humidity, along with fairly cold temps... and little wind (I don't recall feeling any overnight, despite a small uptick at the ski area). Think those items all helped to keep the few inches there and very light.
There is skiing to be had out there! I know too many people that have stayed at home because they think it is crappy. High alpine last weekend was damn good! Way to get after it!
Tetons looking good via your map!!!
But washington is still rad!
But washington is still rad!
Nice area! Is the trailhead accessible all year round?
author=ErikT link=topic=33071.msg137583#msg137583 date=1418755091]
Are you going to do a weighted average of "fun factors" by hours of vert; or just per day?
Not to thread jack but...
I prefer to do all this ski counting (and rating now, ha) by day. Otherwise it gets too complicated, and I don't always remember or care to turn the GPS tracks on. For it to count as a day, at least one of two conditions must be m...
The knee will heal- feel like an idiot for not wearing pads- it was so windy on the ridge I didn't feel like unzipping my pants to put them on. Not surprised to read the note about a slide on Pan Point from wind slab. This was on my mind. Makes for another year with a bad , unstable base- assuming we ever get snow to cover it. Heard today that we are at 6% of normal snowpack!
Haha nice Matt, that is probably a better way to track it than straight vert. Are you going to do a weighted average of "fun factors" by hours of vert; or just per day?
I think I've signed myself up for more dawn patrols and lapping of volcanos in spring than I might normally have done. It's all better than working, though!
I think I've signed myself up for more dawn patrols and lapping of volcanos in spring than I might normally have done. It's all better than working, though!
I like your 2014/15 season goal tracking page. I have something similar, and now I'll add assigning a "type of fun value" to each day. Can I get the season average <1.5?!
coverage was quite bleak at White Salmon on the drive up. There was more than enough to comfortably skin and ski the road to AP. Dropping into the valley and climbing back out towards the parking lot didn't look worth it though... plenty of rocks poking out down there still...
Thanks for the pictures - coverage looks better than I would have expected!
Looks great, man!
Love the skins-loincloth.
Love the skins-loincloth.
You're certainly right about the width of Whistler Bowl. If his width measurements are off by more than 100 percent, it doesn't make me feel real good about the other measurements. I noticed in the pictures people did seem to be much taller than the crown in some spots. Since this was essentially an inbounds avalanche, I'm surprised that they would overstate it's size. I would have thought the opposite. Whatever...I'm glad the snow you skied didn't slide. ...
author=avajane link=topic=33049.msg137567#msg137567 date=1418704058]
It said the crown was 160 cm to 210 cm and was 70 meters wide.
Yes I did see the report on Wayne's blog. So I was prepared to see this huge crown and it was a bit of a let down. The height of the crown was quite variable. If the report writer meant 160 was the lowest and 210 the highest then I definitely disagree. The crown below the lift was not more than 50 cm....
Good beta, thanks for sharing the reminder(s).
I do think this was an interesting and valid reaction....
I do think this was an interesting and valid reaction....
author=Norseman link=topic=33069.msg137568#msg137568 date=1418707421]
Surprised you skied the wind drift shortly after triggering one...
The Avy rating went from High to Considerable to Moderate very fast. My thought at the time was they figured everything had already ran. But how could you think that - after watching a slope go natural the day after dynamite didn't do anything to it! I wonder if the rest of the corridor was a Moderate rating for the weekend, or if it was just the terrain adjacent to WB.
Nice pics as usual Martin! We should go for a tour sometime!
I was in the Circle Glacier area off of Blackcomb on Sunday. We got some decent turns in but there was a lot of wind affected stuff. I figured we wanted to get as high as possible for decent snow and didn't think musical bumps would be high enough, but it looks like I was wrong! We re-entered the resort via Bodybag and saw that avy off of Disease Ridge up close. It was huge. Wayne Fla...
I was in the Circle Glacier area off of Blackcomb on Sunday. We got some decent turns in but there was a lot of wind affected stuff. I figured we wanted to get as high as possible for decent snow and didn't think musical bumps would be high enough, but it looks like I was wrong! We re-entered the resort via Bodybag and saw that avy off of Disease Ridge up close. It was huge. Wayne Fla...
Man - Those are some stiff looking flagstone pavers! You could make a nice winter only patio from them.
Ooh! Thanks for sharing.
Surprised you skied the wind drift shortly after triggering one...
Surprised you skied the wind drift shortly after triggering one...
Looks like you had lots of good snow off Flute and Obeo. I don't know if you've seen it, but wayneflannavalancheblog.com has posted more pictures including the Whistler Ski Patrol's Fracture Line Profile. Wayne's initial comments were that it was a natural 3.0, but the profile report called it a 2.5. It said the crown was 160 cm to 210 cm and was 70 meters wide. It ran to just above the lake. It ran mostly on the November 20th bed surface.
Wayne's blog...
Wayne's blog...
I saw it from the chair on Sunday and while it is impressive the crown averaged 100 cm (my hands were freezing so no photos). There were already skiers in the bowl so my estimates are pretty close. Only one short section was approaching anywhere close to an adult height, and sections close to the chairlift were about 50-80 cm. The debris did not seem to be a lot, I'd think that avy that size would fill the crevasse slot at the bottom but it is still quite deep and open.
Skied Obo...
Skied Obo...
OUCH! Hope there is no lasting knee damage. Thanks for the report!
I had a similar, tho probably less severe, early-season injury years ago, and have seen many of the stoked hurt themselves in shallow snowpacks as well... The Paradise weather station is partially sheltered by trees, and IMO the telemetry 'Total Snow' figure exceeds the general depth of snow in many nearby areas by about 20% in mid-winter and probably even more now.
Because of the sparse coverage (...
I had a similar, tho probably less severe, early-season injury years ago, and have seen many of the stoked hurt themselves in shallow snowpacks as well... The Paradise weather station is partially sheltered by trees, and IMO the telemetry 'Total Snow' figure exceeds the general depth of snow in many nearby areas by about 20% in mid-winter and probably even more now.
Because of the sparse coverage (...
lower wind-sheltered slopes were mostly boot-top powder on a supportive, not icy, crust. Â Becky and I ventured up to about 8,000ft and bailed for better snow in Edith Creek...never seen so many folks tracking the heck out of Edith Basin before...ski tracks and zig-zagging skin tracks going every which way. Wouldn't surprise me if the sun put a zipper crust on the south aspects by days end. Coverage is still thin enough there to justify caution...we both had our ski tips ricochet off hidden...
Norseman, I hear you. It'd be nice if they kept it open 24/7. Anyone know, are they still planning to repave that road in 2015-2016? It got a "no impact" finding 2 years ago. That was before the sequester. Maybe repaving will make it quicker to clear.
ron j, your Model A mention got me wondering if they really plowed that dirt track, back when it was first built! I'll have to ask. That was long before the Paradise golf course and rope tow went in.
ron j, your Model A mention got me wondering if they really plowed that dirt track, back when it was first built! I'll have to ask. That was long before the Paradise golf course and rope tow went in.
So how the sheltered slopes skied on Sunday?
The Muir snowfield was indeed wind-scoured and there were icy sheets but definitely an improvement from 2 weeks ago.
The Muir snowfield was indeed wind-scoured and there were icy sheets but definitely an improvement from 2 weeks ago.
Yeah, I stuck to the sheltered slopes; being sandblasted by snow LOL
Sorry to hear you got knee capped. I've never skied down that way you described. I should look at it some time.
Nice work on the photos to all. Really like the high res detail from pipedream's 3rd and the first shot from Charlie. Norseman's 2nd has a nice esthetic. Looks like conditions were all they needed to be! Might be time for me to stop looking for frozen waterfalls and turn my attention to the skis.
That crevasse collapse was spooky to see. Makes me feel better about my stubbornness to rope up when on glaciers... esp. in the early season. Even on skis that thing could have gone...
That crevasse collapse was spooky to see. Makes me feel better about my stubbornness to rope up when on glaciers... esp. in the early season. Even on skis that thing could have gone...
Very fine day! We opted for a ramble over the pursuit of turns, found a little solitude and some enjoyable low-angle skiing.
Travelled to just above 7k, on E-S-W aspects. Snow was better than expected, with 1-3" of fluff atop a mostly supportable and fast crust. A little less energy in the snowpack than we'd expected, but the lee sides of nascent cornices did show a little bit of sun-driven sluff activity. Surface hoar on most aspects kept things rainbow-sparkly in the Para...
Travelled to just above 7k, on E-S-W aspects. Snow was better than expected, with 1-3" of fluff atop a mostly supportable and fast crust. A little less energy in the snowpack than we'd expected, but the lee sides of nascent cornices did show a little bit of sun-driven sluff activity. Surface hoar on most aspects kept things rainbow-sparkly in the Para...
That video is off the chain! Good decision to break free from the crowd. Be careful out there...
I had to go home yesterday but another Tay guy said he was coming up for the weekend so watch for a post. I'm sure Friday's new snow was gone fast and I wouldn't have gone out of bounds to ski at the same level of that slide. I think Callahan was a good idea. I heard about your "ditch" snow.
Strong work! We watched the pair of skiers lay the first tracks down in Edith Ck. while we were heading up the snowfield. Piqued our interest over there, but we ended-up having to save it for another day.
Hey man, would've been fun to cross paths. Let's get out some time!
Yours truly got the hole shot out the gate, setting the track up the climber's right shoulder of Pan Face, the route that Amar waxes poetic about all the time (I hate going up the middle of that damn thing, too). So funny how folks make a thousand different tracks all to the same place.
Our tour took us up the ridge b/w Muir and Paradise Gl, and down Muir through Pebble Cr to the Edith Cr be...
Yours truly got the hole shot out the gate, setting the track up the climber's right shoulder of Pan Face, the route that Amar waxes poetic about all the time (I hate going up the middle of that damn thing, too). So funny how folks make a thousand different tracks all to the same place.
Our tour took us up the ridge b/w Muir and Paradise Gl, and down Muir through Pebble Cr to the Edith Cr be...
Avajane, did you ski there today and if so, how was it? Seeing that crown and knowing Peak would be half cleaned out for opening day made me decide not to stick around today after a pretty decent yesterday.
No avy danger was observed at the Whistler Olympic Nordic Centre today, probably because we were skiing on last years snow they stockpiled and recently spred. Bleak anywhere lower than Roundhouse now.
No avy danger was observed at the Whistler Olympic Nordic Centre today, probably because we were skiing on last years snow they stockpiled and recently spred. Bleak anywhere lower than Roundhouse now.
Yes, the snow was nice; I got there early enough to see one or two heading up Pan Face, then it got hilarious with people going every which way! As they say, each to his/her own LOL
I've been waiting to see the reports today. That sounded good. Glad you got some good snow.
Great photos, especially the bug shot with the radical roofbox!!