TR Replies

Very glad you're okay. Slides on ice are scary.

Stable powder and soft corn will return soon; there's always a next time.

1/27/14 12:54pm

Eckels

I had a similar experience skiing on the SW side of Baker on Saturday. everything West facing was totally locked up and shiny.

While traversing above a rollover to reach a south face that would be skiable my edge gave out and I began to slide with a whippet and regular ski pole and no gloves.

The first time I dug my whippet in I was not able to stop (partly due to the awkward position having skis on my feet put me in), instead of stopping I was flipped head first.

1/27/14 12:33pm

r1de

Wow. Thanks for sharing. Glad to hear you're both okay. Having just learned of a fall-on-ice related fatality this weekend, I can say you're truly lucky.

1/27/14 12:26pm

T. Eastman

January 25-26, 2014, Lookout Mountain

Being a skilled ski mountaineer doesn't make you competent on ice and crampons. I went out there with total confidence in our abilities in the alpine, and most of my experience does not apply to ice sheets/

I am going to be harsh...

... people need to re-evaluate their evaluation of their skills. While rare in these parts, such conditions are part of ski touring and most certainly part of ski-mountaineerin...

1/27/14 12:03pm

rlsg

SWEET PHOTOS!!!!!!!!!!! YOU ARE AN ARTIST FOR SURE!!!!!!!!!!!

1/27/14 12:00pm

JoshK

1/25/2014, Goat MTN NCNP

Were you part of the group of 4 I ran in to? I was there with the 2 other guys who left that morning. If so, great to meet you all! It sure was a nice day; I ended up doing 4 laps yesterday before enjoying a wonderful sunset. I would certainly prefer powder this time of year, but hey, hard to complain about shirtless skiing temps in January. :-) As you said, Goat was definitely a great choice given the conditions we are dealing with.

1/27/14 11:58am

DB_Cooper

January 24, 2014, Nisqually Chutes Bluebird

Nice meeting you up there Cam. Glad we could help out. Some nice looking turns you were laying down up there. Was a great day!

1/27/14 11:51am

Norseman

I owe Amar (and Kamtron) thanks for the ride back to my rig at Paradise on Friday the 17th. My solo day was much improved by meeting you guys and skiing to the bridge!

Also, thanks for the photo credit above.

Here's another, but of Kamtron down below the terminus of the Nisqually that day:

-Scott

1/27/14 11:28am

DB_Cooper

Glad we could help with the shuttle, would have hated to break Amar's string. :) Actually, I'm sure he would have hitchhiked it knowing how great the conditions were.

1/27/14 11:24am

Glorificus Adventum

1/25/2014, Goat MTN NCNP

You are absolutely correct. I got lazy in trying to distinguish from the Goat at Rainier. But I wasn't too far off :).

1/27/14 11:23am

Gary Vogt

1/26/14, Mt. Baker, Boulder Glacier Julyuary

author=savegondor link=topic=30446.msg127712#msg127712 date=1390853466]
...This is clearly in my opinion an issue about how to manage whom and not about safety. On my Sunday excursion I observed NPS employees renting snowshoes. I observed them leading short snowshoe hikes. I observed people overseeing safety on the sledding hill. Then of course there were the armed officers and I'm sure also there were all the employees needed to open and staff the l...

1/27/14 10:28am

d542east

No, the seracs and cracks involved in getting back to the boulder route turned me off the idea, so I didn't bother looking very closely.

1/27/14 8:27am

kamtron

1/26/14, Mt. Baker, Boulder Glacier Julyuary

Nice! Did you get a look at whether the crack below the Park headwall is passable?

1/27/14 7:53am

danpeck

Honey Badger tour, 1/26-27/14

Forest has a way of picking the perfect adventures given the time, season, conditions etc…

Kind of like those people who are really good at picking the right sort of ice cream to go with a specific meal, or cheese with wine.

1/27/14 7:42am

Big Steve

Good work, guys. Clark is long ways in this time of year. Franklin would have loved it.

1/27/14 6:55am

blackdog102395

author=vogtski link=topic=30446.msg127615#msg127615 date=1390666994]
You need a permit for overnight camping. Parking allowed only at Narada & Paradise.
http://www.nps.gov/mora/planyourvisit/upload/Winter-Camping-Nov13-Wmap.pdf

So, if you obtain an overnight camping permit, but for whatever reason you decide to come after 5PM but prior to 9AM, have you broken the rules? Hmm...

1/27/14 6:46am

Pete A

Honey Badger tour, 1/26-27/14

camping permits are free... you get them at Longmire...and the paperwork only takes about 5 minutes. (climbing permits cost money though)

Last I heard, car camping isn't officially allowed in the parking lot (though I think the boy scouts regularly do large group campouts that are only a stones throw from the parking lot).

1/27/14 6:33am

danpeck

Nicely done and a perfect way to honor Frank's legacy!

There is definitely good skiing out there eh?

1/27/14 6:23am

clymbon

author=vogtski link=topic=30446.msg127615#msg127615 date=1390666994]
You need a permit for overnight camping. Parking allowed only at Narada & Paradise.
http://www.nps.gov/mora/planyourvisit/upload/Winter-Camping-Nov13-Wmap.pdf

Do they let you sleep in your vehicle? (I have a VW Camper.) That might be the solution to the gate problem - drive up in the evening before 5:00 pm, sleep in the van, get up early...

1/27/14 6:03am

savegondor

January 25, 2014, Heliotrope Ridge

What exactly is the 'turtle'? is that the aspect just east of Van Trump where one might slide right back into Nisqually?

1/27/14 5:52am

dberdinka

Index was amazing on Saturday. T-shirts and bone dry rock! :D

On a more somber note there was serious (but not fatal) accident on the north side of Baker Saturday near the Hogsback. A long uncontrolled slide on ice was what I heard.

1/27/14 5:17am

Jason4

January 25, 2014, Heliotrope Ridge

author=Radar link=topic=30505.msg127705#msg127705 date=1390846210]
The saying of the day was "I bet Index is really nice right now...". Still, it was a nice day out for some exercise at least.

Squamish was really nice on Saturday. :D
The rock was warm in the sun, climbing was comfortable in long sleeves as was belaying but it was a bit crowded. The only downside was the sun setting at 445.

1/27/14 4:42am

HillsHaveEyes

1/25/2014, Goat MTN NCNP

Looks like fun. Minor editorial note, Goat isn't within the boundaries of NCNP.

1/27/14 4:32am

savegondor

Was up there this weekend and every parking spot was filled. Cars were still driving up at 3pm, folks were having fun sledding and snowshoeing and the NPS was using labor hours in the form of one NPS worker to inform each and every car that went up that they had to be back down before 5pm.

In my pent up frustrations I did ask when this policy was going to end and the nice NPS gal said, "maybe not till late April. We'd like to stay open according to sunlight but w...

1/27/14 4:29am

blackdog102395

author=Floater link=topic=30520.msg127688#msg127688 date=1390832396]
Amar - I admit the skiing was quite decent, very nice corn the last two days I skied on the southerly type aspects. However, I am not going to rave about it since this is the time of the year when we should be ghost skiing, hat skiing or at least here in the Northwest getting the occasional face shot and building a decent snowpack for our water inventory.

The mountain looks like...

1/27/14 4:11am

RonL

January 25, 2014, Heliotrope Ridge

It was a terrific day to ski up there on Friday. I am glad I ran into you and the others. Thanks again for the car shuttle from the bridge.

1/27/14 3:25am

Radar

We made it up to about 9k feet on Saturday after bailing on Shuksan via WS the night before. Turned around due to time (we slept in...oops). Good styrafoam snow above the usual bench where everyone camps and skinning wasn't terrible with the ski pons on. Found a few pockets of wind deposit on the upper Coleman which made for about 5 nice turns; the rest of the descent was on some pretty amazing shine pow.

The saying of the day was "I bet Index is really nice right now...&qu...

1/27/14 2:57am

jtack

January 26, 2014, Rogers Pass, Cougar Mtn Subpeak

Looks and sounds great, thanks for the report, our fingers are crossed that we might get a flake or two of snow (in central WA), at this point, an inch would be a powder day!

1/27/14 2:10am

Charlie Hagedorn

:)! A few other parties have skied West Mac -- couldn't dig up the cascadeclimbers TR (Tony Bentley et al.?) in a minute or two.

Great choice for this weather.

1/27/14 2:09am

cstefanic

Nice meeting you up there, Amar, and thanks for all of the pictures.

1/27/14 1:30am

Jake the Brit

Rainier, Jan 24-25, up Gib Ledges, ID summit ski

The madness of it all.....
ribbon in the sky'

(Scurlock from '03 Nov...')

1/27/14 1:26am

dahu

Well done Loren and Juya! And very nice report!

1/27/14 1:13am

dahu

Excellent Forest! Petite traversee atlantique pour taquiner le nord-ouest sauvage!

1/26/14 11:50pm

skykilo

Nice one, Forest. It sure is spectacular on top of West Mac.

1/26/14 11:46pm

Oyvind_Henningsen

Way to go Forest ! Yeah, the relief exposure on W Mac is something to behold ;-)

1/26/14 11:26pm

Oyvind_Henningsen

you sure are getting after it Amar, love it !

1/26/14 11:22pm

Floater

Amar - I admit the skiing was quite decent, very nice corn the last two days I skied on the southerly type aspects. However, I am not going to rave about it since this is the time of the year when we should be ghost skiing, hat skiing or at least here in the Northwest getting the occasional face shot and building a decent snowpack for our water inventory.

The mountain looks like it normally does in September up high and the snow pack is a joke in most places here in the P...

1/26/14 11:20pm

Amar Andalkar