TR Replies

January 20, Tatoosh Crustcapades

author=blackdog102395 link=topic=30446.msg127393#msg127393 date=1390280496]
I like this idea. Here's another: Why not make the gate closing 1 hour after sunset/dark? This solves multiple problems.

The park does not want to have two shifts of LEOs on duty in one day--that means 9-5 open hours. Of course, this weekend was a 3-day no-fee weekend, so they obviously could afford multiple shifts of LEOs because even tho th...

1/21/14 2:25am

Andrew Carey

Last week, as we were driving to Paradise, we were amazed to see the amount of rime plastered on Pinnacle but especially on Stevens and Unicorn. The gleaming slopes this week did not encourage us to go to the Tatoosh.

1/21/14 2:20am

FreeBird

January 20, 2014, Mt Herman south slopes

Some more video from the day...

https://vimeo.com/84559895

1/21/14 2:14am

David_Britton

Sweet day up there and so nice not to have gated road issues.

1/21/14 1:49am

Lowell_Skoog

Nice.

Flocks of birds have flown high and away;
A solitary drift of cloud, too, has gone, wandering on.
And I sit alone with the Ching-ting Peak, towering beyond.
We never grow tired of each other, the mountain and I.

--Li Po

1/21/14 1:40am

TAndrewSki

January 18, 2014, Nisqually Chute

"....lets talk about the insanity that is the 5PM gate closing time. "

I was up there a few years ago when I tried coming back after the gate was closed. I talked to the people at the Paradise Inn, and they came out and unlocked it for me. Not sure if that is normal operating procedure though.

1/21/14 1:38am

lrudholm

Nice Photos! Skied the chute for my first time the day after you!

1/21/14 1:33am

Marcus

Awesome Larry - nice TR.

1/21/14 12:54am

Larry_R

Thanks so much Garth,

In lieu of much of a trip report, I hoped that the pictures at least gave some idea of the snowpack in the area.

Larry

1/20/14 11:31pm

Gary Vogt

author=blackdog102395 link=topic=30446.msg127384#msg127384 date=1390276796]
...lets talk about the insanity that is the 5PM gate closing time.
...for me, the 5PM closure is wholly unreasonable any day of the week, holiday or not. As the days get longer, it will become more problematic. Any ideas as to how affect change?

NPS culture is that they are in possession of holy truth and their purpose is to educate (and control)...

1/20/14 11:25pm

Kenji

The glacier had no visible openings, at least where we normally ski. We turned around mostly because of the strong wind, skiing was actually quite good despite wind sculpted hard surfaces, occasionally hitting ~1/4" packed powder! Of course the corn lower was delightfully care-free skiing.

1/20/14 10:26pm

myikat

January 18. 2014, Mt St Helens Speedski

On Sat the wind kept the higher snowfields quite firm despite the sun. I opted for drops off Mazama ridge and had wonderful skiing. Looked good in Nisqually but was pretty chunky from Pan Point up..

1/20/14 2:53pm

jtmaier

We went up today to check it out. Crampons of all sorts remained in the pack all day. We probably hit the middle and upper slopes a bit later in the day than cascadekid, but I think ski crampons would perform sufficiently. The corn was prime for lapping on the upper mountain by midday.

1/20/14 2:34pm

Edgesport

January 18. 2014, Mt St Helens Speedski

Thanks for the pics and report. I have been looking at the mountain for the last week wondering what shape the route was in. Do you think ski crampons would have sufficed through the middle and upper mountain or were boot crampons ideal?

1/20/14 2:05pm

blackdog102395

I like this idea. Here's another: Why not make the gate closing 1 hour after sunset/dark? This solves multiple problems.

1/20/14 1:43pm

Griff

december 11, mt. hood, pearly gates

Of course brother, check is on it's way. Seriously thanks a lot it was such a great shot. I look more for artistry and beauty in shots than it being the coolest or biggest or baddest. Though sometimes they both come together.

Appreciate the kind words. I enjoy sharing my long love affair of skiing with anyone that will listen.

1/20/14 1:01pm

Nehmer Story

Sound advice from someone that has put in the time and has the experience to make such an assessment; nice post Christoph, looking forward to doing some Mt Hood backcountry with you later this week.

1/20/14 12:34pm

Jim Oker

January 19, 2014, Rogers Pass, Truda

Thanks for sharing.

Sure looks like the same slope that one of my ski partners triggered with some test-stomps at the top back around '97-ish. It was a day when a few test pits nearby showed moderately easy shears, and we'd skied some mellower slopes on roughly the same aspect just a ways south of there. We decided to go check out what I think was this slope, and Dave started the stomping. Nothing. Thought about going for it, and he stepped down to put his uphill ski where...

1/20/14 12:28pm

andyski

Well played!

1/20/14 8:07am

avajane

author=calvinh4 link=topic=30424.msg127352#msg127352 date=1390251905]
I believe it is ~35 degrees. I went back and doubt checked the topi, and it appears to be 35 degree depending where you measure.
35 degrees and wind loaded. I guess that will do it. I like the looks of those trees in the middle. Especially after seeing how even those small trees seemed to provide anchorage. I remember reading about that fatality. It was during a period of instability -...

1/20/14 6:46am

Kyle Miller

Yep, that would be the one.

1/20/14 6:16am

Garth_Ferber

The area where a skier was killed in late 2002?

http://www.nwac.us/media/filer_public/e2/fb/e2fb0ee1-0994-4fb8-8a91-1095b773f491/cement_basin_report_12_29_02.pdf

1/20/14 5:22am

SilverFoxIV

author=avajane link=topic=30424.msg127350#msg127350 date=1390248021]
How steep do you think that slope was?

I believe it is ~35 degrees. I went back and doubt checked the topi, and it appears to be 35 degree depending where you measure.

SF

1/20/14 5:19am

coyote

Interesting, I've never actually seen that slope slide before.

1/20/14 5:05am

avajane

How steep do you think that slope was?

1/20/14 4:48am

Garth_Ferber

Thanks for additional info via nwac web site.

1/20/14 4:00am

Garth_Ferber

Glad you made it to your favorite mountain hang out!

1/20/14 3:35am

bbingle53

1-17-14 St Helens

Another perspective of the upper slopes of MSH as you reached the rim.
Looked like an awesome day.

1/20/14 3:23am

Robie

Jan 18, 2014, - Snoqualmie Pass to Stampede Pass

Thanks for the nice report. I said hello to Kenji at VanTrump memorial.
That cornice slide happens almost every year and more than once.
Was the crevasse covered /partially covered at 8200 ?

1/20/14 2:56am

jtack

Lowell, thanks for the report, I'll be hoping for more snow as well. If you thought some of the conditions were survival skiing, I'm not sure what they would be for me, maybe; "better stay home!". Looks like you were rigged for fast travel.

1/20/14 12:04am

Floater

My friend and I saw you folks up there and then we continued up a ways higher only to find very icy slopes. In fact he chatted with you Kenji. We skied back down sat and had some homemade hard cider about where we met you. We should have not gone up further and just shared the cider with you. It made the ski out really enjoyable. We hardly noticed the ice after that. The snow felt great all the way back to the parking lot and it skied fast. :)

1/19/14 11:42pm

myikat

Jan 18, 2014, - Snoqualmie Pass to Stampede Pass

Interesting how the crown goes right around the trees. Scary. Have traversed that slope many times .

1/19/14 3:28pm

nsteere

Thanks for the great post Lowell. Let's keep our fingers crossed for more snow to make things a little more enjoyable. It looks like the "snow crux" that I was worried about (the Lodge Lake trees area) is still quite thin.

1/19/14 2:22pm

Kenji

Jan 18, 2014, - Snoqualmie Pass to Stampede Pass

Thanks for sharing your trip, Dick. Here are a few pics including the slide. More here

1/19/14 1:59pm

runcle

Nice report! Conditions like that really make every step count!

Conditions were pretty ripe for skating today along the west shoulder of Hurricane Hill ...fairly rare this time of year :) Cougar tracks in the foreground.

1/19/14 12:50pm

johndonee

Jan 17 - Mount Baker Backcountry

We got lucky with this one - To think we almost went to Snoqualmie! (sorry guys) :)

I'll add that the lower slopes were pretty trashed by rain, full of runnels that when frozen were no fun to climb or ski on. Bring your ski crampons!! Good news is that these conditions only existed on the lowest 600' or so above the creek on the eastern aspect and could easily be avoided by s...

1/19/14 9:55am

Shred

01-18-14 - Schrieber's Meadow

Scott; I here "turtle" soup is quite tasty. Not as good as "Shark Fin" soup, though... ;D
Griff; That is a Rad page! You can use the pic, if I get 50% of all royalties produced by said picture. :D Actually, my friends took way better pics...
Here's a shaggy little video edit:
https://vimeo.com/84618730?utm_source=email&utm_medium=clip-transcode_complete-finished-20120100&utm_campaign=7701&email_id=Y2xpcF90cmFuc2NvZGVkfDVmNTE5MGY4ZDBmOGRhOWRlZ...

1/19/14 3:05am

Shred

Great shots, Chris! How high did you ski from? Looks like there was little wind ( with the wing pic).

1/19/14 1:45am

mikerolfs

1-17-14 St Helens

That looks great. Long drive from Wenatchee, but it's on my list. You guys sure hit the weather right.

1/19/14 1:27am

melchap

January 16, 2014, Hyuk

I took a little adventure ski starting from Silver Fir to check things out. I started from the nordic trails Silver Streak to Grand Junction to White Rabbit, and then I tried to ski the upper cross over. Things were nicely groomed on the nordic trails, but once I got to the cross over it was all crusty lumpy. It was warm enough that the snow softened a bit. Wasn't too hard to make careful turns, but it was tedious to get back to Hyak including two creek crossings.&nb...

1/18/14 11:15pm

jtack

Mt St Helen's winter climbing route Jan 16

Thanks for the report, great to hear that you had good skiing.

1/18/14 3:03pm

Griff

Thanks for sharing and the great pictures. That sunset snowboard shot was so pretty and I shared it on my Freeride Facebook page. Let me know if you want credit ;)

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Shot-8-Freeride-Team/561702940520155

1/18/14 11:43am

FreeBird

January 12, 2014, Stevens pass area

All vehicles were retrived that evening :)

Awesome day everyone!

Here are a few more pics from the day...

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.797981960219078.1073741912.100000218445455&type=1&l=171bdf8515

1/18/14 10:40am

bs.

it was cool running into you guys up at the trailhead. what a day for a first tour of the year.... that was some crazy heavy snow!

i still think you guys missed out... the real fun of the day was wading across smith brook on the way back to the car!

i've never heard that glitch mob tune with those vocals before, but i like it. the time lapse at the beginning was especially rad.

1/18/14 9:58am

danpeck

Jan 17, Hurricane, ONP

David, Great news on conditions. Glad you could get out. I'm jealous I couldn't join you as I'm imprisoned for the entire weekend in doors. :'(

1/18/14 1:38am

alecapone