TR Replies
Thanks! Yeah, all in all it was pretty good snow.
Glad it all worked out. Thought about skiing the Zipper Sunday but was worried snow would be marginal, at best. Sound like we should have gone for it!!
Thanks Zap.
I try not to preach that often but after seeing some decisions that gave me chills Saturday. That was the reason for the post Here is the full thought
"
There is nothing wrong with turning around and aborting a mission. I have done it more times than I can count. Learn to trust that feeling, as it is normally alerting you to danger. That being said, if you always turned around when you saw a small storm cloud in the sky, or weren't feeling 100% fit and...
I try not to preach that often but after seeing some decisions that gave me chills Saturday. That was the reason for the post Here is the full thought
"
There is nothing wrong with turning around and aborting a mission. I have done it more times than I can count. Learn to trust that feeling, as it is normally alerting you to danger. That being said, if you always turned around when you saw a small storm cloud in the sky, or weren't feeling 100% fit and...
Great report and photos for Cerise Creek. The last time I was there was Victoria Day by mistake.
Good thoughts at "powdergangster.ca"
;)
"So don't turn around the moment you feel scared, but evaluate the situation objectively when that little alarm goes off. It is all about your risk tolerance - the more you are willing to risk, the more you ignore your epic alarm. The mountains will still be there next week so sometimes waiting is the best cours...
Good thoughts at "powdergangster.ca"
;)
"So don't turn around the moment you feel scared, but evaluate the situation objectively when that little alarm goes off. It is all about your risk tolerance - the more you are willing to risk, the more you ignore your epic alarm. The mountains will still be there next week so sometimes waiting is the best cours...
At least you got above the cloud! What a difference a day makes. After all the fun Saturday, I KNEW that it would be the frozen nasty on Sunday - but went anyway. Lucky to not break a leg on frozen snow shoe holes in the fog.
Sounds very familiar. We got a little bit later start due to parking pass shenanigans, but had a pretty similar day. Found the steep skin track up the face - stayed on it for a while but bailed to the west ridge at ~5k and called it off due to horrid conditions. Ski crampons were a godsend.
The south face was less than appealing, so we skied down the west ridge. Found some decent skiing between 3700 and 4400, so we did an extra lap there. Tree skiing below tha...
The south face was less than appealing, so we skied down the west ridge. Found some decent skiing between 3700 and 4400, so we did an extra lap there. Tree skiing below tha...
author=RyanPete81 link=topic=27339.msg115044#msg115044 date=1359958119]
...and skinned and booted our way to the high point north of Roosevelt's true summit (Roosevelt 'skier's summit'?).
So nice to see (rare) accuracy regarding Roosevelt's summit proper!
Definitely an ambitious route for Saturday, with all those diverse aspects... good day for recon though! Thanks for the report.
Got a late start knowing that we missed "the day" on Saturday. Grey parking lot at 10am, went out towards Edith Creek and enjoyed views above the clouds all the way to Hood. Had lunch at 7000' beneath McClure Rock... no wind, bluebird, but cloud level was rising so we rode 500 feet on hard snow then stumbled back to the parking lot in a whiteout.
Still had fun.
Still had fun.
Holy Diver, that is some strong work!!!!
Do you still have a link available to your Picasa site?
Missed your report in April thanks for the great beta.
John
Do you still have a link available to your Picasa site?
Missed your report in April thanks for the great beta.
John
That first shot was worth your entire day.
Sick.
Sick.
Thanks for the report. It looks great up there!
Wife & I had a hilarious time dodging slow rolling, 4 foot, wet snow pinwheels on the back side of Silver King one spring day. After stopping (several times) to rest our old legs we had to immediately face up hill to see which dance moves to make to avoid getting bowled over. We laughed so hard at the ridiculousness of it that it was hard to dodge 'em fast enough.
Good choice and very nice first picture !
Great pic's heinzsd - really like the first one that shows the open wormflow at the foot of the mountain. BTW - is your right pole bent or were you traveling faster than the camera could capture you. :)
Blower over inversion! Gorgeous! To the viewer it looks bottomless.
author=telemack link=topic=27302.msg114969#msg114969 date=1359832373]
It's still cloudy down here on Hood Canal. Are you riding your new used Goode skis? 8)
More like the Goodes are riding me :)
Fairly stiff East wind up high kept things reasonably cool. We skied pretty much to the end of the slide path where the summer trail first hits the slide path and switches back to the left. There was a bit of bushwaking involved to get this far down though. The summer trail is quite annoying with skis right now because of all the exposed creeks to navigate, so we took our chances fighting the slide alder.
author=altasnob link=topic=27311.msg114984#msg114984 date=1359854984]
thanks to TBill's intense skin track straight up
Yup, sounds familiar. Thanks for the report! Any wind? How far down did you ski?
Granite was a shmoo fest for the lower 2/3 before becoming more consolidated, but it all skied surprisingly well. First time I've skinned the entire thing thanks to TBill's intense skin track straight up the face. Massive wet slide looks like it came down yesterday but we had no issues other than the occasional pinwheel.
Saw your tracks off Mastiff today and didn't see an uptrack. Said, "hmm did they do the traverse!" Nice work.
It's still cloudy down here on Hood Canal. Are you riding your new used Goode skis? 8)
"Gotta go to know" is right . Stayed home thinking slop.
Nice Video Andy and Regine!
Nice Video Andy and Regine!
Looks to me like 0.5-3" ski penetration, increasing with elevation, over a ski-supportable, but somewhat scratchy crust. Snow looked like slightly heavy pow, getting lightly roasted, especially down low/in the sun. Looks like they skied from ~8k to the road, and had more fun than a day at work.
Looks better than I'd have guessed from the telemetry; I thought the crust might be breakable/hooky from ganders tonight. Gotta go to know!
Looks better than I'd have guessed from the telemetry; I thought the crust might be breakable/hooky from ganders tonight. Gotta go to know!
conditions in the video look like fast, buttery, spring-like conditions under full sun :) looking forward to some touring tomorrow. thanks for the stoke.
Can't open the video. What were conditions like?
author=gfunk link=topic=27092.msg114871#msg114871 date=1359673212]
Hi John,
Yes, there are two large north facing bowls that you can ski back into Crystal Lakes basin. Locals know them as smoke-a-bowl and pack-a-bowl, with pretty heady references. Another excellent circuit back is to go to the high point northeast of Chinook to access Sheep Lake couloir, putting you in Sheep Lake basin. From here skin over the west ridge to Crystal Lakes or northeast t...
Hi John,
Yes, there are two large north facing bowls that you can ski back into Crystal Lakes basin. Locals know them as smoke-a-bowl and pack-a-bowl, with pretty heady references. Another excellent circuit back is to go to the high point northeast of Chinook to access Sheep Lake couloir, putting you in Sheep Lake basin. From here skin over the west ridge to Crystal Lakes or northeast to Sourdough Gap and into Morse Creek. Here's a shot of that coully:
Yes, there are two large north facing bowls that you can ski back into Crystal Lakes basin. Locals know them as smoke-a-bowl and pack-a-bowl, with pretty heady references. Another excellent circuit back is to go to the high point northeast of Chinook to access Sheep Lake couloir, putting you in Sheep Lake basin. From here skin over the west ridge to Crystal Lakes or northeast to Sourdough Gap and into Morse Creek. Here's a shot of that coully:
author=airpoppoff link=topic=27243.msg114845#msg114845 date=1359606909]
Wheres that gopro vid!???
Locked in the vault of footage never to be seen by anyone ::)
author=PetraSkis link=topic=27200.msg114623#msg114623 date=1359346846]
We decided for a short tour out of Alpental today. Since we got a late start, we just skinned out to Source Lake and then up the ridge towards Chair Peak. It was snowing continuously and visibility was not great, but we were rewarded with some great turns in untracked chest deep powder.
Really nice and fairly light snow. We had a blast! :)
It...
author=lrudholm link=topic=27266.msg114853#msg114853 date=1359651146]
Wish I had dual citizenship.
I wish we had cheap beer.
It was great running into you guys Aaron, will definitely know when we head out there again. I have a feeling we will be out there quite a bit more ;)
I would use the word tranquil over lonesome, it's a great to be away from the crowds I&#...
author=trees4me link=topic=27243.msg114805#msg114805 date=1359521851]
That looks nice back in there! Gotta be pretty lonesome in winter, even with other sledders out.
I would use the word tranquil over lonesome, it's a great to be away from the crowds I&#...
Hey Ron--We hit that area sunday morning, slab layer failed on isolation. Could not get anything to move with ski cuts. We were not to keen on the snow pack up there, took a few turns on the edge of the trees decided to bail for groomers. --j
To add a few points of data:
On Saturday (Jan 26) I was riding a few of the lift accessed side country lines and dug a couple of hasty pits. With a hand shear I was able to pop off a consolidated slab of snow on a planar layer about 14" down from the surface. This was not on the previouse crust. The snow density fell very similar above and below the layer that failed. Ski cutting did not produce any results and we did not observe any propagation but sluff was running fat and fast.&...
On Saturday (Jan 26) I was riding a few of the lift accessed side country lines and dug a couple of hasty pits. With a hand shear I was able to pop off a consolidated slab of snow on a planar layer about 14" down from the surface. This was not on the previouse crust. The snow density fell very similar above and below the layer that failed. Ski cutting did not produce any results and we did not observe any propagation but sluff was running fat and fast.&...
author=trees4me link=topic=27243.msg114805#msg114805 date=1359521851]Spirit Lake is wilderness, and for snowmobiles to get in and out would be pretty complicated.
That looks nice back in there! Gotta be pretty lonesome in winter, even with other sledders out.
Nice meeting you guys up there Aaron & Kendall, thanks for knocking in the skin track, I wish we would have started out there in the morning with you. Cant w...
That looks nice back in there! Gotta be pretty lonesome in winter, even with other sledders out.
author=joke link=topic=27172.msg114772#msg114772 date=1359500899]
To be fair - my friend is kind of an idiot. ;)
That's gracious. I like to think there is a real sense of community amongst backcountry folk. That being said I probably over- reacted. I think I may have been bullied as a small child so maybe I have unresolved issues. Time to move on.
Didn't see it, zestysticks -- you can feel free to PM me, Jim or Ron if you want to get in touch with us about something.
And yeah, drive-by comments like that don't really add anything, in my opinion. Glad your friend is okay, joke.
And yeah, drive-by comments like that don't really add anything, in my opinion. Glad your friend is okay, joke.
author=zestysticks link=topic=27172.msg114677#msg114677 date=1359412475]
???
For the past several days I have been mulling over your comment and in the end I must say that I am a little surprised that Marcus didn't delete your comment. Your comment is not in the right spirit. What are you trying to imply? That natural selection culls out the weak and genetically inferior? The guy is an idiot or retarded somehow because he went skiing alone? How s...
Hey ND -
My buddy Kendall and I (Aaron) were the other skiers you ran into up there. We managed to get 3 laps, each one being better than the last due to the falling/blowing snow. Hit me up the next time you're heading out there. Would be great to get out with some new folks. Here's a pic of Kendall dropping into the central line:
My buddy Kendall and I (Aaron) were the other skiers you ran into up there. We managed to get 3 laps, each one being better than the last due to the falling/blowing snow. Hit me up the next time you're heading out there. Would be great to get out with some new folks. Here's a pic of Kendall dropping into the central line:
