TR Replies
Way to not let a global pandemic get in the way of your pleasure travel plans!
I knew there were some other hardy souls over here. Way to enjoy the novelty of seeing the surroundings on ski's!
Yeah, skiing 2 out of 3 years isn't bad for Kitsap. An 8 hour trimming & general improvements session may keep it from becoming another lost ski area?
Perfect trip report if you replace the Drinks with “Snowshoes” Yukon Jack with a float of Schnapps...🤪
Thanks -- I wasn't suggesting to go blindly anywhere. As usual, take the typical precautions. Geesh.
Both sides of the Cascade Crest in this area are steep enough to avalanche and kill you, and it has happened in the past here. Folks should not consider this a low-hazard area, especially given current conditions.
Nice. Looks like a low key place to check out when the avy warning is up -- like the next week!
Looks like good skiing but I'd poop my pants out there alone in these conditions.
Deep slab problems are the classic situation that catches not the first skier, but the third or even the hundredth on a given slope. The only mitigation strategy is avoidance.
Hi Kyle,
Cool TR and photos! Stoked you found all time conditions!
Just curious your thought process in deciding this tour was safe last night? This is also an open question to "The Troll of North Bend" and your other partners (and the others who were skiing the steep and deep the last few days at the pass).
What sort of evidence did you find to dismiss the avalanche professionals' opinion that conditions were dangerous? Here is the avalanche forecast for F...
Good looking line. Thanks for the conditions update and photos!
We felt happy with the route we took; it minimized exposure to avy hazard, but did not eliminate it. The trees are spaced pretty wide in this zone, primarily we stuck to lower angle slopes in the trees.
This is cool. Chops to the Focus + chains. I always had the impression that the approach to Hidden Lake had some overhead hazard, but obviously I know nothing. Happy with the decision you made to go up there in retrospect? Did you travel in trees rather than the summer trail to mitigate? Thanks for any tips
Yeehaw, The Snow Troopers is back! Cool footage, as usual : )
I enjoyed some turns at Hyak on Sunday night (after the lifts closed, and the crowds were battling in the parking lot, but no longer on the slopes : ) and it was pretty fun. About 6" of fresh on groomers with refills coming in hot from the skies and thanks to side winds.
I, too, am hopeful Feb has more in store for us.
Looked great. Way to find something fun and powdery, but still on the low angle side.
Looked like a really fun filled run...Jumping for joy!
Nicely done! Rainier in winter is a true Pacific Northwest mountaineering accomplishment.
For others...one can reverse the climbing route from the the top of Gib Rock (Camp Comfort), then traverse north across the top of the Ingraham to find a place to drop into it. Though less adventurous, it has the advantage of skiing a known line...and in my experience, there is usually plenty of adventure trying to pick a route through the Ingraham Icefall just above Cadaver Gap.
Wow! My experience with Diamond Peak has been late summer only at the Rockpile TH. What I keenly remember is the very long road travel from Oakridge. The places where road 2149 gets close to the mountain is over 4K ft elevation. That elevation is well above the elevation I'd expect the road to be drivable. Snow covered roads start at about 2500 ft in the Mt Hood area.
First, where does one find the cahones to confidently plow a road with a car? Was it really a 4WD truck with a plow bl...
@avajane it’s Backcountry Ski & Snowboard Routes Washington by Martin Volken & The Guides of Pro Guiding Service. It was really helpful for me in getting oriented to different objective options around the state.
@swartzie appreciate the positive feedback!
Thanks for the good report and pictures. By the look of your track we skied the same run off or Windy Knob the week before. I will follow your track up to Diamond Head soon...What is the “Orange Book” you speak of? I want one!
Thanks for the report!
How to post pics: below the TR there are some tabs. The one that is selected while you are entering the TR text is called 'Body'. A different one is named 'Media'. Selecting that one should bring you to a place you can select 'Img Upload' (likely already selected). The browse button will let you point to the picture in your local file system.
Love seeing the routes, I'm not too familiar with the locations/slang of the skiing spots around here and I'm a visual learner. Great intel.
Thanks for the beta, snowdog1. What a strange season at the Pass this year... so much snowfall, but also getting rained on, and the woods are getting tree-bombed - I'm still hoping for a nice top-to-bottom Kendall run in soft snow (one can dream, right?).
Like your style - every proper Snoqualmie Pass tour ends in DruBru (or other local brew house) 😎
We were out there about 6 hours give or take. We also took our time and my partner was on snowshoes, so could def be done quicker.
Thanks for the report and track. How long might that tour normally take?
Rad. hope that puppers got a good victory bone for that one...I have done some big days with my doggo and the bond that forms on days like that is indescribable for me. Id love to know what is going on in my dogs head when we go on big mountain missions. Thats a good boy Charlie
also..."ski mountaineering is most enjoyable when it´s more art than science" good to...
@gerryh it would actually be pretty good with the right snow. I think an ideal day would be to ski the South-West face from the top and traverse skiers left back to the trees, where you could meet the up-track. Otherwise skiing the ridge back down to the up-track would still be enjoyable.
Great report, adventure. Since I'm looking for a new furry buddy, Charley & Marly have put a yellow lab at the front of the list. For less spicy adventure, would descending in the vicinity of your up track be as fun? Cheers!
Cool TR, ,Looked at north and west aspects for a while, great job, Video with charlie getting ear shots is great!
@joa: Charlie is a yellow lab, but people always think he´s mixed due to his unusual color and huge paws!
@kamtron: Sorry, no GPS track, I´m old school. Our route definitely seems preferable to going up Rampart and traversing the whole ridgeline, although that could be nice on a clear day.
@ski_photomatt: That´s the one! Thanks for the stoke. I would agree that ski mountaineering is most enjoyable when it´s more art than science.
Fantastic effort and adventure! Brings back memories. Before posting a GPS track, I'd ask you to reflect on how your overall experience on this trip would have changed if you had a detailed route description (or skin track) to follow. My experience 12 years ago was certainly enhanced by the complete lack of knowledge about a viable ski route, as I'd guess yours was too, based on your report.
Nice trip report and dog. Is that a Goldador? Ours (5 years) looks just like Charlie and she loves to go on ski tours. Maybe they are siblings?
Very cool, @pete-a! We appreciated that report for sure. And yes, next time we'd probably spend more days back there - there's a lot to ski!
Gnarly gnar bar doggie dar! Good thing his pawz didn't get too frozen in all those creek crossings.
I've wanted to check that out in winter, maybe do a big horseshoe loop back through Alaska & Kendall... probably not as a day trip, though!
It would be cool to see a track of how you gained Alta from Gold creek, I was contemplating going over Rampart ridge but it sounds like you found a direct way?
Awesome trip! Sounds like fun :) Way to get after it.
yup, that was me and my wife and a few of our buddies - hopefully the TR helped. Unfortunately it looks like my old TR was a victim of losing some info when TAY upgraded to thew new platform - a chunk of the report text disappeared (it was about the second chute we skied), and just about all the photo links are now broke. At least some of the trip report survived making it onto the new TAY platform.
@pete-a - We read a trip report from '07, maybe that was you?
@eatskisleep, yes, I believe the first creek crossing photo is the one from 3700´ on the SW face, although there were a couple others like it on the way out Gold Creek! Not sure what elevation we started contouring, but it´s a pretty clean break between a big, wide-open slope with a moderate...