TR Replies
author=mikerolfs link=topic=31270.msg131185#msg131185 date=1395779868]
Looks like a fun week. I saw from your blog that one of your partners is named Freya. That is my daughters name too! Maybe they'll tour together one day. It will be a while though, my Freya is only 9.
Freya is a photographer based in Bellingham. Here's her website: http://fennwoodphotography.com
You are so fortunate (and also highly skilled) to have experienced such spectacular conditions. I dream of skiing the Park in conditions like that. Much jealousy.......
author=runningclouds link=topic=31259.msg131187#msg131187 date=1395780569]
Were you one of the guys skiing the Stoneman?
Yep. :D
It was me and my girlfriend on splits and a couple friends of ours on skis.
jason, thanks, I completely forgot to look up at the stone man when we left. We were pretty happy with our tour, and you are right the final run on E side of Table was uneven. Were you one of the guys skiing the Stoneman?
Looks like a fun week. I saw from your blog that one of your partners is named Freya. That is my daughters name too! Maybe they'll tour together one day. It will be a while though, my Freya is only 9.
You put in an impressive time with what looks like great conditions. Kudos!
I think I'd be pretty sketched in your situation on the headwall! That bergschrund is wide. Glad everything worked out.
I think I'd be pretty sketched in your situation on the headwall! That bergschrund is wide. Glad everything worked out.
RunningClouds-
You could only see 4 tracks in the couloir from the HM parking lot when we left around 3pm. I don't think that anyone else was in there after that. I think the snow that you got was probably in better shape than anything SE facing.
You could only see 4 tracks in the couloir from the HM parking lot when we left around 3pm. I don't think that anyone else was in there after that. I think the snow that you got was probably in better shape than anything SE facing.
Nice pics! We found lots of sluffing on N aspect but overall the stability was very good (true, our booms were limited to 180 lb of flesh).
What an awesome day, I almost forgot what it is like to ski powder on a sunny day.
We planned to ski the Stoneman but by the time we got to the col on Mt. Herman S side (we followed the tour as described in the new Martin Volken guidebook) there were 4 and likely more people ahead. We turned and skied the bowl between Herman and Mazama Dome,...
What an awesome day, I almost forgot what it is like to ski powder on a sunny day.
We planned to ski the Stoneman but by the time we got to the col on Mt. Herman S side (we followed the tour as described in the new Martin Volken guidebook) there were 4 and likely more people ahead. We turned and skied the bowl between Herman and Mazama Dome,...
Thanks for sharing, and of course I'm glad your partner is OK. Your write-up reminds me of my own tendency toward goal orientation as well as the challenge of slowing down and thinking and talking before entering significant risk zones (often the most fun part of a tour which has been the aim of the goal orientation, and thus group excitement tends to be peaking).
Mike - I'm wondering if you or your partner know whether the initial pile she was riding was her sluff or if it...
Mike - I'm wondering if you or your partner know whether the initial pile she was riding was her sluff or if it...
Excellent write-up and analysis...glad everything turned out OK. Good reminder for me to not ignore my instincts and observations.
Excellent report. I was out that day as well near Stevens and it was awesome skiing. We chose other options, but it could have been us. I am leery of chutes everyone thinks due to the steepness and the chute being protected they are OK, but I find them restricting should one come.
However, I have skied this very run a couple of times so it could have been me. Glad it worked out. Your report is why I read TAY.
However, I have skied this very run a couple of times so it could have been me. Glad it worked out. Your report is why I read TAY.
You can lead a horse to water ...
Wow, so glad you're both OK. I really appreciate your detailed analysis, especially of human factors. This is the part I find so hard to become totally aware of during a tour. It takes some reflection, and that is difficult to do when in the middle of the action. Yet that's when it counts.
Nice work, always on the bleeding edge of innovation for backcountry touring!
author=bs. link=topic=31240.msg131065#msg131065 date=1395639039]
i hope there's a video coming!
There could be...
Here's the real story of what took place on this trip. Reality is not what Mike thinks it to be.
Silas thanks for the entertainment today ! Pretty sure I saw some tutu skiers going up Thunderbird . A very nice place to be while waiting for the backcountry to corn up.
Nice, John! I took in those endless views from the lift tops at Stevens all day Friday, wishing I'd made B/C plans instead.
We were up the same day and I think we saw you guys way up on the ridge top and then skiing down the east side. I drew similar conclusions regarding the snow quality, although the treed ridge on the skier's right held up well.
A few event pictures:
https://plus.google.com/photos/103727466702143735136/albums/5994519345099245841
https://plus.google.com/photos/103727466702143735136/albums/5994519345099245841
When we saw you traverse out into the bowl below your boot pack from the highway we were convinced that you were headed for the same objective that we were. We were relieved when we crested the saddle at the false summit and saw your trail go straight up to the true summit. We took a different way to gain the ridge further east of you and looked for your tracks on the north side without any luck but I'm sure it was a magnificent run. We were in the notch on Saturday just b...
Nice work. FYI there are no crevasses as long as you stay generally on the east side of the basin. You drop down right near the terminus of the glacier. There is also no need to cross the river - both sides work fine. The skier's left has a ramp just before the bridge that goes through some light shrubbery up to the road. The skier's right has a short bootpack just after the bridge to the small parking lot there.
Yes a cornice. Approx 10' long by 4' wide. Figure a very approximate 60 cubic feet at 16 lb per cubic foot. Fun stuff.
Nice pics.
Gotta love folks who follow skin tracks w/o knowing where they are going...
Gotta love folks who follow skin tracks w/o knowing where they are going...
author=the_flying_v link=topic=31147.msg130653#msg130653 date=1395027818]
Who made those baller G turns in the first photo? Theresa?!?
Haha, Josh, I like to turn too much. Must be the Midwest slalom racer in me. Super fun turns though!
That top photo is a winner.
1000 lb bomb = cornice, I presume?
1000 lb bomb = cornice, I presume?
fun summary, fantastic pics! I was there, just a little, even tho I wasn't.
The 1,000 lbs is metaphoric, yes?
I'm way late to this thread, but it will never be old.
I've done that route and it's in a zone with no trees, lots of rollers up top, then a big wide chute. I personally wouldn't have gone near terrain like that until 2 to 3 days after the storm. The lack of snow for a long period then massive amounts of snow is a huge red flag. In avalanche training we're trained to consider the entire season of snow and the constant changing of the make-up, not just how obse...
I've done that route and it's in a zone with no trees, lots of rollers up top, then a big wide chute. I personally wouldn't have gone near terrain like that until 2 to 3 days after the storm. The lack of snow for a long period then massive amounts of snow is a huge red flag. In avalanche training we're trained to consider the entire season of snow and the constant changing of the make-up, not just how obse...
author=RonL link=topic=30926.msg129511#msg129511 date=1393432472]
Thanks for stepping up when you know there will be some criticism. I don't have any criticism for what you guys did. I can only say the reasons that I chose different terrain that day and similar ones. After a few years of this sport many of us have begun to focus on what we don't know about the risks and to find ways to mitigate it more rather than to find the true barriers of what is...
Nice job getting back to it! The definition of "true grit"!
How far did you have to hike to skin-able snow?
Hi Larry,
I am so happy to hear that you had a great trip, that you skied the frontside, and that Jane was there with you!
Yes, Doc K deserves much credit but so do you for persevering through scary unknown challenges, working yourself back, and taking the chance and believing that it was possible to still do it!
Looking out from the ridgetop at the landscape you know so well, and have cared for, for so many years must have felt like coming home. Here's to a spri...
I am so happy to hear that you had a great trip, that you skied the frontside, and that Jane was there with you!
Yes, Doc K deserves much credit but so do you for persevering through scary unknown challenges, working yourself back, and taking the chance and believing that it was possible to still do it!
Looking out from the ridgetop at the landscape you know so well, and have cared for, for so many years must have felt like coming home. Here's to a spri...
author=swaterfall link=topic=31240.msg131031#msg131031 date=1395611404]
Nice! Did you have to cross the Paradise River?
Yep!
Wow...strong work guys! Nice to meet y'all
Nice! Did you have to cross the Paradise River?
She definitely gave it up yesterday!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_hUfOR2Acw
Dave
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_hUfOR2Acw
Dave
From the top:
My friend cruising out:
..and his slough ollie:
My friend cruising out:
..and his slough ollie:
We also saw what appeared to be bobcat tracks lower down where we had seen them in years past. The large hole in the snow near the end of the photos was what looked like a den of a similar sized animal, except that it was in the middle of the road. Dirty paw prints down in the hole makes it look like whoever passed through the entry went down to ground level, probably three to four feet. We wondered if the critter just curled up in a snow storm in the middle of the road and went to sleep f...
Looks like great snow Bram! Thanks for posting.
Oh Beehive---Great report!
Good to see you Silas. I think you may have gotten more laps if you weren't Tweeting and blogging trip reports while you were skinning. I've never heard or seen a person get so much electronic communication while touring in my life!
Since you left early, Saw a lot of small slide activity turn big today as the heat came on mainly SE sunny faces, sadly the powder started to get bested by the March sun later I would not doubt a zipper crust on most all aspects tomorrow. Oh well fun...
Since you left early, Saw a lot of small slide activity turn big today as the heat came on mainly SE sunny faces, sadly the powder started to get bested by the March sun later I would not doubt a zipper crust on most all aspects tomorrow. Oh well fun...
The second pic freaks me out a bit.....not sure I would want to tangle with what went on there.