TR Replies
Nice to see it still went. Awesome location for skiing! Great pictures!
Beautiful trip. What a great way to explore a lovely area. Thanks for sharing.
timmyfitz1,
Sorry for delayed reply. Some people went up Grouse Creek on the day of our climb and I think it was still in for the descent. It was still a lot of snow on our trail. It's been quite warm lately so I don't know how it is now.
Remarkable! Stunning photos, thank you for inspiration.
You guys nailed it! Awesome report and beautiful pictures.
Yes! flying through the basin with no sticky stuff was a blast!
The parking and "riding the chutes" on edge explains part of the story. 😀
Ditto on the fun corn skiing, Angie. The snout was in fine form, even the lower basin seemed less sticky than usual.
That looks like fabulous day! Were you able to drive all the way to the trailhead?
What an awesome traverse! Golden Horn looks like the corn run of my dreams. Never seen that side of Hardy but damn it looks cool!
Those couloirs look stunning! Great traverse. I'll have to add this to my list.
Anytime I think we really pushed it, I will consider this post and reset. DAMN boyz, stout!
Nice work! Any idea if Grouse Creek descent is still in?
Goddamn. Worst part about you doing this is now I gotta recruit other partners next year. Best part is I can just show them this TR.
I've learned the hard way to bring epoxy in my repair kit! Always remember Murphy's Law...
@aaasen it seemed like a nice way to reduce the total vert and get around Chikamin. The north side of Chikamin did look like great skiing, but we were trying to make the day trip as reasonable as possible.
Yes! Looks like a great day. Thx for all the helpful conditions info.
Interesting route around Chikamin! Very nice way to avoid all of that steep S facing terrain and probably better skiing as well.
Way to push through that catastrophic ski failure too. Never had to use the epoxy in my repair kit but I'll keep it just in case that happens.
Killing it! ......or it would be if I attempted it in that timeframe. Always enjoy seeing these close-to-home adventures. Thanks.
The boys were already discussing how long that would take us... 😝
So, Snoqualmie to Canada should take you what, 4 days? 😂😋
@Zap, the line is actually for towing my skis behind me while I'm booting, but perhaps you're onto something here. Given the number of posts I've seen by people whose gear seemed to mysteriously jump out of their packs and hide in the snow while they were out skiing, I'd say there are plenty of folks around here who would benefit from using a safety line to keep all their gear together...
Excellent TR and photos.
I like the "safety line" at the top that kept all the gear together. 😀
Folks with the original (1977) edition of "Green Fred" may have read his comment about Ragged Ridge on p. 313: "Most of the peaks are still relatively unvisited in comparison to similar areas in the range." That was catnip for my group, and we did a bunch of trips back there in the following years. Generally never saw any people or tracks. Times change!
Thanks for the additional context Lowell (and kjohnson). The title "Icefall" now appears dated, but somehow "Mesahchie Residual Snowfield Couloir" or "...shrunken Glacier remnant couloir" just doesn't have the same ring to it.
Yeah Jason the touring around there is pretty spectacular. I should have mentioned that we enjoyed camping on the N side of Ragged Ridge -- wouldn't want to stack daytrips back there...possible, but not optimal.
Love the history in that register! And I love everything about this TR....so much good skiing you guys did in a weekend (returning to the road each day?). Impressive!
Hey Lowell, here's a photo for ya from a few years ago from Katsuk
"Up the green, down the red" - love it! What a fun line - well done, guys.
My brother Carl and I did the first ascent of what we dubbed the Mesahchie Icefall Couloir in mid-September 1984. We climbed a few short ice pitches in the icefall and had a couple of smooth 45-degree ice pitches in the couloir.
Based on your photos, it looks like there's no icefall anymore and the ice couloir probably doesn't exist in September. Sigh.
Any wet avy concern on the S Face of Castle or pretty consolidated? What time was corn o'clock? Thanks for the report!
How is the SE flank holding up? Do you have pictures?
Floodster - Do you have a GPS track down to Morrison that you'd care to share?
Fun trip and thanks for the TR Prof. Hedo! Lots of good stuff back there
We were on the success. Terrible conditions. We watched two of a group of four sit atop the kautz for over an hour waiting for the other two. Massive massive ice fall occurred off the upper Kautz while the two in the front were chillin.
Very cool, well done gents!
Was surprised by how beat up Lib ridge and Ptarmigan ridge are right now -- with all the snowfall, does anybody know if Rainier had above-avg winds this winter? Unless we get some precip stat, my plans for the nutty buddy are shot this season. Your choice to generally stay a bit lower was a good one, apparently.
Anyway, appreciate the report and visual storytelling.
A bit more beta from a separate, 5/15 ascent: Our party descended the chutes and was able to ski the Morrison Creek drainage back to meet the road at Morrison Creek Campground. Skis came off about .5 mile above campground and there was a quick section of intermittent snow crossing, bushwacking, and blowdown-jumping. Still totally worth the effort and avoiding the traverse/downhill road slog in my opinion.
Excellent TR and photos. 😀
It has been a couple years since my last tour in the area.
Heard the Finger actually has so many tracks a banked slalom has formed. Boarders, take note.
Awesome trip you guys, thanks for the cool vid!
Spring is a magical time in the mountains, you captured that well. Strong effort, congratulations! And great camera work and editing, you told the story really well. Godsped on future endeavours.