TR Replies
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.
author=savegondor link=topic=31089.msg130932#msg130932 date=1395450460]
Besides the asinine practice of high-pointing (wrong for so many many reasons) and the obvious track out...it's those g*d**mned 2 stroke engines that really get me. if i were God or some kick ass deity I'd out-law two strokes without mufflers. That's right: those crap weed eaters, 7.5 HP black smoke spewing lawn mowers, and leaf blowers all need some modifications or BOOM!...
author=ADappen link=topic=31218.msg130987#msg130987 date=1395544120]
because she's got a stout, robust body powered by six-inch legs
Lightbulb just went on. You know how dogs resemble their owners?
Mike's dog -- which he calls a Pigdog because she's got a stout, robust body powered by six-inch legs -- was amazing. During the day Mox drank about three laps of water out of a mud puddle and a few bites of my bagel yet traveled half again as far as we did on those little pig legs. Some of the ground we traversed you would have needed crampons to negotiate without ski edges and Mox scampered across in a controlled skid with her four paws.
No gear, no food, now w...
No gear, no food, now w...
Amar
Your shots of the powder were definitely not hat skiing. I actually found some a couple of days ago and oodles of it in Montana.
However, you are the man and do some great photography work. How do you get all those beautiful women to pose for you? Forget the powder.....you have it made....ghost skiing and hat skiing is for us old fogies...who are over the hill or excusme me going down the hill.
Keep up the great work.
Your shots of the powder were definitely not hat skiing. I actually found some a couple of days ago and oodles of it in Montana.
However, you are the man and do some great photography work. How do you get all those beautiful women to pose for you? Forget the powder.....you have it made....ghost skiing and hat skiing is for us old fogies...who are over the hill or excusme me going down the hill.
Keep up the great work.
Amar, you are the Leo Tolstoy of turns-all-year! In my book that is a compliment. Thanks for the report.
First photo shows the slab just starting to pull away from the skier, fairly harmless on short slopes for right now.
Second photo is of the bruins glacier just below bruins ridge. Normally I believe that area of the glacier is fairly benign, however this year there is an open crevasse at the bottom of a small bowl with slopes funneling into it. Would be fairly easy to get drawn into it in low light conditions. The track to 8812 peak also has many more sags in it then normal on the wa...
Second photo is of the bruins glacier just below bruins ridge. Normally I believe that area of the glacier is fairly benign, however this year there is an open crevasse at the bottom of a small bowl with slopes funneling into it. Would be fairly easy to get drawn into it in low light conditions. The track to 8812 peak also has many more sags in it then normal on the wa...
Photos, find the skiers in the first two!
Things are a little more stable down here.
Dave Thomas and I did a redo x 3 today and it was still great powder. Open areas had crustiosous. Luge run out was heavy. Thanks again for the timely posting and both you and Bigeo you for the uptracks. We retired to the New silver Fir Bar for a cold one
Besides the asinine practice of high-pointing (wrong for so many many reasons) and the obvious track out...it's those g*d**mned 2 stroke engines that really get me. if i were God or some kick ass deity I'd out-law two strokes without mufflers. That's right: those crap weed eaters, 7.5 HP black smoke spewing lawn mowers, and leaf blowers all need some modifications or BOOM! illegal!
the devices I'm fine with, their noise and how they are often use...
the devices I'm fine with, their noise and how they are often use...
author=ND link=topic=31089.msg130922#msg130922 date=1395441619]
I'm simply stating how your post reads to the rest of us. I'm sorry if this has hurt your feelings and wish you an enjoyable life of urination in the alpine.
I can't speak for everyone on this forum, but your interpretation is not now I read plugNchug's comment. This does happen to be a forum for backcountry skiing, not backcountry sledneck...
author=plugNchug link=topic=31089.msg130916#msg130916 date=1395431985]
From general posting guidelines:
"Be civil and respectful, avoid personal attacks - that is the norm here;"
See...this is why I rarely get involved with this blog. I think the majority of you all are great folks, however, there are those who seem to develop over-zealous ownership with a bent towards their subjective justice. Get a life.
As much as...
Was that on the north or south side of the hill?