TR Replies
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.
Way to het out there! I’ve been wanting to do a traverse of that tangenfor a few years now. I decided last week it was out. Maybe next year.
I didn't drive past the Pinnacle Peak Trailhead, but it looked open as far as Bench Lake TH
Looks like a gorgeous day! Any idea how far down Steven's Canyon road is open?
Last year i was finally introduced to steep, hard, ski cramponing and learned that there are bad ways to do that as well...I like boot crampons!
Thanks for the nice pictures and report.
The dynamic duo strikes again!
Quite the contrast between smooth corn and powder lower down and the surfaces you encountered up the Success route. Eek.
Thanks for taking me along for the video ride
Living on the eastside of the mountains, and skiing around 97 all season, I could tell that the lower elevation snowpack would go real fast. Glad there was enough for a little while. The North Cascades has been great!
Corvids are the smartest of the birds. You won't make that mistake again!
I like these sacks for raven and bear deterrence https://ursack.com/ in a less bulky package
Great trip and write up - congrats!
This looks like a mad tour. I would be super grateful to have a gpx file, or anything that shows the route on a map. Would you be willing to share?
Hey! I just had a raven or ravens demolish what I thought was a well-stashed food supply in the teanaway. They dug a double bagged supply out of my sleeping bag. Thankfully didn’t destroy my bag. Took 12 bars, a whole avocado (including pit), 3 huge sandwiches, a package of homemade freeze dried bananas, toothpaste. Couldn’t believe it! Props to those smart birds.
Sorry for the late reply. No GPX, but if you follow the road for 4 miles, you'll see it on you left as soon as you start taking the long switchbacks up the mountain towards Silver Peak.
Thanks for the TR. We were there on the 4th. We drove to the intersection with 2160. Skied the SW side. Really cool peak. Had a lot of fun.
Looks like fun! Thanks for the beta also, do you have a higher res version of the stuart range photo (2nd photo)? It'd be cool to zoom in and check out the snow coverage.
Do you think it is possible to drive to the end of the road at the Emerelda trailhead yet?
Sort of late to this conversation, but if there's sufficient snow cover down low there's a hazard free and straightforward way to get into Van Trump Park. Remain on the left (western) side of Van Trump Creek to the point where the creek drainage makes an obvious rightward bend to the north. In that general area veer left (west) away from the creek and easily ascend to Rampart Ridge, then follow the approximate route of the summer trail to Van Trump, crossing the deep creek swale e...
Your photo of "skiing the south face of Wallaby" hits on all cylinders...just gorgeous. Thanks for sharing.