TR Replies
@ BCSSchonwald. I took that pic from the 4wd track between Goldmeyer & the Dutch Miller Horse Camp. Somewhere near the crystal mine.
They definitely backed-out from my read. Surely before the fall-line steepens. I do think it's ski-able if you go pretty hard left. The entrance up top looks pretty nice from the report.
I remember Lisa telling me the gold standard was Snoqualmie_Lundin_Red in a day. Giddy up boys!
I just thought about how clocks work... Whoops! I guess we did it CW- damn digital clocks taking over!
MtnPavlas- I think the dream would to ski it CCW in March and hit pow on N slopes and corn on S summits. Maybe add in Roosevelt (or Holy Diver for the extremely motivated group).
TooSlim- We did not keep track, but I remember the caltopo track was somewhere around 5.5k vert.
The hard way around - especially if you can't ski across the lake! That's a full-value circumnav.
Strong work! Did you keep track of your miles and vert for the day? Just curious.
Dang, solid work in the low-coverage conditions. I've done Chair circumnav a couple times, but not this variant - will have to put it on the list : ) Thanks for sharing.
I briefly considered this as an option for yesterday but wasn't thrilled about the lack of low elevation snow.
Hard to motivate for the hiking starts when you could just ski from the car!
Awesome pictures! Love the brushy wallowing in the first one. Sloan looks real steep from that angle.
Sounds like they reversed and climbed out from the bench above the cliffband, Jake... ?
Hey @aaasen! Yeah, that was probably us. Group of two. We looked at a couple places to drop in, but ultimately doubled back and took your chute too.
Sweet pictures!
Jake, did you take that shot in a plane or over by Price? Good effort you three!
ah that was you--the hardy crew heading up in the fading light Tuesday eve...Happy Birthday!
After exiting on heavy KRUST down low we were glad to be heading out...
Good day tho, kicked up a bit of crust--and dare I say powder--on the ski out.
Andrew
Lucas
Skiing down from snow lake devide at 5pm yesterday, I can verify that the snow did refreeze.
Freezing up at 36 F or loosening up at 30 F... Those surface fluxes consistently have me scratching my head.
Thanks again, your booter up Red was deep and solid.
I'm new to the Bellingham area, after living in Seattle, so I'm not sure what's normal. Although it's always busy in Bagley basin I suppose
That is one amazing panorama, Frank! Thanks for posting.
Stunning views from up there. I briefly considered this as an option for yesterday but wasn't thrilled about the lack of low elevation snow. Nice work!
Awesome! I went up there this spring and had a more adventurous creek crossing further up river. Glad to know there is a bridge!
Quite the grunt up there - very impressive! First descent??
Thanks for the TR -- helpful for planning a Snoqualmie Sunday.
Wow, You guys are monsters. Very impressive.
Here's the N side of Lundin shot yesterday (12.5.20). Your entrance is the notch 1/3 in from right? My read has always been you have to go hard skiers left and the line will be ski-able without a rope. Hmmmm.
Great effort fellas.
Jake the Brit: Certainly is Shuksan!
Kamtron: Have you found the herds to be larger than normal this year?
Those are some fabulous pictures! Looks like you had a lot of fun.
Brave man, Randy, to hit Pineapple today after the dry spell. Thanks for the report - a few of us were wondering what it's like up there, and now we know : )
Good on you to get out, though. Looks like the views and some company from the animal kingdom made up for the less-than-ideal snow conditions.
Lane, did you move back to Washington?
I still live in SLC, came up here for Thanksgiving and I'll probably stay until Christmas. Utah is in the midst of a month-long dry spell and the snowpack in the Wasatch is 1-2ft of facets so I'm not eager to go back!
Thanks for the comments, all. These shots were almost just a toss-off at the time of shooting, so I have been thinking all week about how I could go back to get an even better photo. (This one was 6 or 7 exposures with an old 135mm lens on a Pentax K5iis, quickly shot handheld, then stitched together on the computer with Hugin.) But I'm also realizing I was lucky to get the combination of good visibility and good light with all that interesting human activity on the beautiful snowcover. We'll...
I went back today and didn't find any stuck cars, so no huts or jumps unfortunately. After the storm on Monday there is no way someone is getting up there with a car!
Wow! I just skied that road. That was beyond foolish to have tried to drive it! Snowcats only!
Good way to get out there!
I agree, Friday was totally bust. I missed out on Saturday but had a nice ramble to finish the weekend.
Crowded in the nearby zones, I think I'll abstain from posting in those areas to not encourage the herds
Nice photo, Frank! The large shadows on the right beneath Little T closely coincide with the most active slab avalanche zones each winter.
"Does this mean we have a new hut in the Central Cascades?"
Naw -- it's a jump for for snow machines
"The road was pretty interesting - at least one person made it all the way to Smithbrook TH (probably slower than skinning). On the way out we saw 3 stuck cars carrying Christmas trees just a few hundred feet from Highway 2. There was a tow truck trying to get in from Highway 2 but it didn't look like he was having any luck."
Does this mean we have a new hut in...
...sounds like you had a stout weekend. Congrats!
That's a compelling photo of Shuksan (unless I'm wrong?) wearing it's winter outfit, with extra uptrack action.
Beautiful day out there! Wonder if we crossed paths, was there a party of two right behind you when you skied off the summit? We skied the same couloir then went over to McCausland.
The road was pretty interesting - at least one person made it all the way to Smithbrook TH (probably slower than skinning). On the way out we saw 3 stuck cars carrying Christmas trees just a few hundred feet from Highway 2. There was a tow truck trying to get in from Highway 2 but it didn't look like he wa...
Complex on the whiteout navigation scale, simple/challenging on the avalanche terrain exposure scale.
Great TR! Skied a couple of these yesterday. Such a beautiful area. Those icy volcanic cliffs are pretty unique - haven't seen anything like that in Washington before. Reminds me of Hyalite.
Also, for the exit, we started skiing W from the peak N of East Peak and gradually traversed S skiing a good bit of fall line. Intersected the road at the northernmost switchback at about 5,000'. Found some great preserved powder here - best snow of the day. Good option for the sunny days to avoid...
That's a great photo. It's no wonder people get lost on the Muir Snowfield when the clouds roll in. The photo shows how complex the terrain actually is.
Stellar, photo Frank. I reckon there's some substantial work behind the scenes, thanks.
Photography on TAY has always been so strong.
Really enjoyed the telescopic view. Thank for posting.