TR Replies

My friends and I were looking at that line last weekend but got socked in on the way up. glad to hear it goes, how was the choke?

First time skiing in the area...
Wow :D

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.450759634941314.123584.100000218445455&type=1&l=00ffefa27f

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-VL4goh8kE&feature=colike

Very enjoyable day, good conditions and company.

BTW -- if anybody finds a Scarpa "F1" shim on the lower part of the road -- I offer a six pack of beer of choice or other beverage as a reward

0.541666667

Fun video - could you tip your head up a bit higher? 

Folks in the Alpy BC reported easy shears too. Central cliffs at Alpy were sluffing all day.  Snow beneath the new is wet; tops of moguls were blue and soggy by the end of the day.  Light precip through the day, staying frozen or nearly-so at the base until 4pm.

There was talk of the Crooked but given conditions (flat light and top heavy snowpack), the built in contrast of the Slot's dual walls and reduced square footage (in terms of potential snow entrainment) made more sense.

As for skin track, I skipped the lower booting rigamarole (just trended further N. of the waterfall) and skinned all the way. Worked well (+faster).


must have been nice in the afternoon with all the fat flakes falling...

It's the ol' 95% rule, as Tremper would call it-  95% of the time it's fine, even in dangerous conditions; like playing slots at a casino and winning with each pull of the handle, but when you lose, the casino security cronies rush you, throw a sheet over your head, drag you outside, and proceed to (asphyxiate) the hell out of you...

Glad everyone is ok.

Never occurred to you guys to turn around when you heard "whomphing" under each step? Kinda surprising nothing slid with all those red flags. Then again I wasn't out there touring with you so my opinion is of little use, and you made it out alright, and got some turns while I was busy working and dreaming of riding pow. Good job getting after it. Glad to hear everyone is okay.

so where did you go up? i toured up the phantom in the late afternoon following a skin track, but never saw it tracks down. And I would agree, very reactive snow.

A quick heads up, yesterday I managed generate a point release or two on the way up, on some of the steeper slopes, not much of a problem, but it would be more worrisome with more snow.  It was fairly firm this morning.

I thought I recognized your dog from the pictures of when you and chainsaw willie (or was it flowing alpy?) went out to the Stemilt. We were happy with what we found too, what a great surprise!

the upper slopes of Mastiff

Nice write up and a nice day!  We met you guys on the road on the way out, our group had originally planned to ski the same thing, but ended up going out via Prusik Pass and down Aasgard.  I was really impressed with the distance you guys skied down the road, snow be damned!
I’ll have to get back over and hit that coulier, looks fun… 

Today was a little different with 2-3" of new spring snow. The base hadn't frozen solid but it was firm

author=telemack link=topic=24634.msg104124#msg104124 date=1335829600]

     Now when I gaze at the Brothers as I wash the dishes at home, I’ll no longer say, “ I wonder what it’d be like to ski that thing?”     8) 8) 8)

I've wondered the same thing--I look at the brothers everyday during my morning run.  I'll ski it with you if you wanna try again.  What a cool trip.

Cooking over open fires now! Let me guess... aged hickory for that savory yet zest full smokey flavor... or most likely slide alder for that traditional hardwood season.
You are taking this apre parking lot BBQ thing to a whole new level!
Love the cook sticks too :)

Yeah, it is a long haul along gentle forest roads, which although very easy waste time and energy before you get to where you want to be. And then on the return they are too gently to ski down requiring almost as much effort to get back down as going up, especially when the snow is soft. In wnter with the snow remaining firmer the return through the forest roads may be more amenable but you will still have the long approach.

Skinny XC skis could be used to improve the approach but i d...

Did you do anything to get your pooch to tolerate the "doggles"? 
My mutt -- even in really bright sun -- works hard to dislodge them and knocks them off pretty quickly.

That looks like a fun area.  Love the dog-gogs.

oooo.  Nice.

Thanks for the report. Glad you had a safe, fun trip. Any other objective snow analysis after the observed "whumpfing"? It may be "spring" but there is still a deep and reacting snow pack out there!

nice move on the splint.  Smart choice

Great work, that's a haul!  I tried it a couple years ago but bailed in the heat about halfway up stuart.  Based on you map it looks like you may have skied down the southeast route, not the Cascadian.  The Cascadian doesn't dump you that close to turnpike creek drainage.

Awesome -- I love trips like this.

FYI, you can link directly to the pictures in your Picasa album -- there are more instructions in the "Photo Posting Guidelines" at the top of each month's section.  Right-click and copy the image or picture location that you want to link, then paste it into the "IMG" tags.  If you quote this post, you can see how it should look.