TR Replies
Hell yeah! Looks like a great adventure and some sick pow 😍 Nice work!!
Dang! Super solid effort, especially for Charlie! That first creek crossing photo looks spicy, is that the one at 3700 you mention? Also, do you know what elevation you started contouring north, above the west couloir?
Beautiful couloir!
@kamtron - Purple would look good on you.
Really neat trip and photos. I like the purple color scheme you've got going on! 💜
Preacher as a day trip! wow! strong work. This TR makes me feel old :) its been fourteen years since i was back there - we did it as a three-day trip, one day just to get to Lake Caroline and camp, then a full day to hit two of the chutes back there, and then the ski back out on day three.
Sick!!! Wanted to ski that one for a long time but I could never motivate for the day trip! Strong work.
That's one heck of a long day, and quite the adventure to ski what was probably terrible snow back to Source Lake, especially in darkness. Thanks for sharing.
We followed your booter up later in the day, but came over via bryant. So much fun. Corn!
Amazing amazing feat, guys! This has been on my bucket list for far too long... bookmarking this TR, and who knows, maybe one day : )
Thanks for the inspiration - keep the amazing TR's coming.
There is a facebook group Im a member of called the Tronson Trails ski team - or something like that. Work groups get formed. Ski posts made...
I know this as the Upper Tronson Road. I’ll attach a map.
@moco - You got it. Here's our track. I recorded the start of the ski, all the way back to the Nordic Center
Well-done. I'm trying to figure out exactly how you returned to the Nordic Center... are you saying you traversed west above the whitepine drainage, and then climbed 2k feet or so to the notch / col due south of Lanham, and then skied down to the lake and out?
tech crampons both AT boot toes?
Seriously? A saw strapped on your ski pack? Photos please, that would be a PNW classic.
@timgibson11 - No - it's a trek going that way. Rather, a fun alternative would be to leave a car at Stevens Pass and skin/ski to the backside chairlifts! You just have to make sure you get there by last chair.
If you were to do it again would you recommend leaving a car at Cascade Meadows and exiting that way?
Enjoyed your descent narrative. That's a surprisingly sweet run.
Lane, that is indeed Chair! It sure is a badass mountain.
r1de, yup we had a car at exit 47
omg that is a long pull; it's long enough from the parking lot to the lake in the summer, let alone adding however many miles of road you had to add into the mix. And having miserable skiing conditions I guess is the cherry on the cake.
Great photos! Way to make something out of what you had that day! Obviously well prepared for everything encountered...
Great to see you getting after it. Nice to have the young,fast guys, check out places like that. Ive never been to Colchuck in the winter, and have seldom heard good reports about the trudge. I would like to do it sometime, with a fat base and new snow. SP was good today!
The long slog up the road. I am but a simple peasant without a snowmobile.
Had considered the traverse given avalanche conditions, but we opted not to due to high probability of terrible ski conditions. Definitely made the right call. Both aasgard and Colchuck had massive slides that ran almost the entirety of the slopes.
Road and parking lot were completely snow/ice free. the road had a few big potholes, but nothing to slow down about.
Outstanding description, photos and superb illustrations. Congratulations on your accomplishment!
Tell me you left a car at exit 47 to do this loop. 😂
Great write up. So nothing to report on the road or parking lot?
A January descent is a real deal accomplishment, congrats! Nice photos too.
Sweet line! So many options on that south face
Nick and I were oogling at those coolies from Big Chiwaukum. Rad!
Damn is that Chair in the second pic? Looks so badass from that angle. Awesome traverse, very creative!
Strong. I love the mid winter high pressure window. Nice photos too!
We skied it in April after some other friends had skied it in March maybe? I'm sure plenty of others have. The whole ridgeline is stacked with coulies as seen from the Chiwaukums.... pretty awesome zone!
@osean - Coverage was almost identical to the photo (pulled off wikipedia). FAT. No avalanche runnels either. Getting this in powder would be the run of a lifetime.
@will-govus - We were wondering if anyone had skied it before... Nice work!
Nice! Tom Whipple and I managed that one last spring in much less ideal conditions (rotten mank) and I’ve wanted to go back ever since.
Good job getting creative with the low tide...
I have skied it in the spring and summer but your team in the winter is fun to read and the photos. 😃
Awww yeaaa! We were just chatting yesterday about when this line would go while being worthy of a descent. Well done on the timing- I thought similar slopes would be mostly debris'ed out. How'd you find the coverage in comparison to your photo?