TR Replies

Nice tour.
skin track spacing!

3/20/12 11:34am

bobS

March 17, 2012, ONP Heather Park

Me and "solar-X" were the other group of 2 with the same plans. The upper crooked was prefect, but we decided not to explore over the ridge and took the usual hour-glass exit from the crooked. It is well filled in but kind of icyish. As mentioned the upper phantom was excellent but the lower half was like skiing on wet grout. Also, the waterfall is plenty fat, even if the snow was garbage.
I didn't have my camera so hopefully solar-X will post some photos.
Thanks, you a...

3/20/12 8:52am

Stormking

Good one! Lemonade from lemons.

It was that very trip that I did about 5 years ago that got me started on why in the hell is the road closed. Alpine start, hiked all day, got to the top just in time to turn around and ski maybe 500 vf before trying to ski 5 miles down the hiking trail which was refrozen hard pack with limbs and debris all over it. Meanwhile the road was bare and dry just around the ridge with just a locked gate and an immovable bureaucr...

3/20/12 8:17am

Robie

March 17-18, 2012, Mazama Ridge and Tatoosh

Extra nice ! Loving that last picture and route. We were Mazaming Saturday and Monday. Stable and wonderfully filled in . Nisqually season opens soon.

3/20/12 8:01am

cchapin

Great report! That's a lot of vert!

3/20/12 6:51am

Joedabaker

It's funny because we really saw nobody all day. Could hear some voices out yonder. But we kept crossing a well packed skin track between ridges and wondered where the herd was.

3/20/12 6:10am

DickL

author=Robie link=topic=24197.msg102277#msg102277 date=1332255172]
Excellent tour ! Thanks for letting us read along .
" headed west" ?

Point 6904' on the north of Gap 3 should have a name. Ive heard it called Chinook peak.
It's a great easy scramble off the Crystal peak trail and good skiing down to Deadwood lakes.

Right you are, it's west. I fixed the original post. Tha...

3/20/12 3:56am

c.horton

Nice to meet you Jan. The snow was very consistent on the north side, as you said it would be. On the front side we took a line in the trees way skiers right of the uptrack. it was nice up top but turned into thick trees and a few little cliffy bits at the bottom.

my buddy's name is Jeff.

Christian

3/20/12 1:34am

joecat2

March 18, 2012, Simcoe Mountains Indian Rock(ish)

I call gap 3 "Nat Col" because the USGS map has Nat right there, and Peak 6904 "Nat Peak"

Gap 4 could be called Nat-King Col because it's halfway between Nat Pk and Silver King.

3/20/12 1:08am

pabloson

Sure, via PM>

3/20/12 12:55am

ChuckM

Mar 18, 2012, Jim Hill Mtn NW. Face and Beyond

Here is a link to a few photos from the trip

https://picasaweb.google.com/102519030898366604944/5GapLoopCrystalMountainBackcountry3182012?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCPu4r_vJpJ_myQE&feat=directlink

3/20/12 12:39am

deeppow

Your pics are excellent. Always wanted to get that area, maybe later this season when things calm down again. Thanks for sharing!

3/20/12 12:18am

Robie

Excellent tour ! Thanks for letting us read along .

Point 6904' on the north of Gap 3 should have a name. Ive heard it called Chinook peak.
It's a great easy scramble off the Crystal peak trail and good skiing down to Deadwood lakes.

3/19/12 11:52pm

shaman

Sweet trip guys! Sounds like you squeezed every ounce of light out of that day.

3/19/12 10:40pm

John Morrow

Cool tour--in the true spirit of the word. This seems to get forgotten in the realm of turns, and yoyoing, and such. Thanks for sharing. Lowell's word "flow" comes to mind.
J

3/19/12 9:42pm

Kenji

Thanks Dick for TR and leading another successful Mountaineers trip, here are a few pictures from the trip. It's getting harder to pull out headlamps as days get longer. Great trip, thanks everyone for breaking a trail and being a great companion.

3/19/12 2:26pm

JKordel

Christian and Mike?

I was the solo skier doing a couple of laps on the phantom side. Kind of funky with the S facing crust but not a bad morning's workout. Quite a bit of snow on the waterfall finish which looks like it will be in shape for quite a while. Glad you got fun turns on the N-side.

Jan

3/19/12 2:00pm

FreeBird

Nice one Joe ;)

3/19/12 11:03am

lrudholm

March 18, 2012, Arrowhead

Thanks for the skintrack up phantom trees, went solo in the afternoon. Chickened out at about 5,000. That was my goal though.

3/19/12 11:03am

radka

Thanks, Jake! I am glad you like the picture of my crash ;D We are pushing our old Nikon D40 to its limits, but I got a brand new 10-20mm Sigma lens for my birthday that I like a lot.

3/19/12 10:09am

Joedabaker

3/16-3/18 Diamond Head and Old Blewett Pass.

Didn't even know it existed.
...The leprechaun that is...no I meant the cabin!
Nice place to hang out- pretty ritzy .
Thanks for sharing.

3/19/12 9:46am

Jake the Brit

March 18, 2012, Arrowhead

Dude, you are THE photographer, fabulous pics, even without much backdrop & mellow grade. I especially like the one of the ski, skiing on the person.
Can I ask you what camera are you using??

3/19/12 9:31am

Joedabaker

March 17, 2012; Snoqualmie conditions

author=timmyfitz link=topic=24180.msg102201#msg102201 date=1332137730] Heard from another tourer coming out when we went in that Crystal Peak was skiing great too.

Yeah...It was OK ;)

3/19/12 7:26am

John Morrow

author=Marcus link=topic=24165.msg102170#msg102170 date=1332079882]
AP, Jessica and I went to the Kendall area yesterday to see what we could find. Nasty, heavy mush with a rain crust in the top 6 inches persisted up to about 4,000 feet, but above that was some excellent heavy powder. Lightly snowing most of the day, though it was 36 degrees at the car when we left at 3. The top 6 inches of saturated snow didn't react much in a pit test, but I managed...

3/19/12 4:29am

John Morrow

March 18, 2012, Simcoe Mountains Indian Rock(ish)

author=Kyle Miller link=topic=24180.msg102204#msg102204 date=1332164858]
We put in the skin track up to the gap and were going to go for the peak but were not happy with the mini slabs.

Be safe out there peeps and there is a new slide path that took out a handfull of trees just East of there.

P.S. It is Placer Peak (Referenced because of the lake below it)

Thanks Kyle, not really knowing the area well is that...

3/19/12 4:27am

Micah

Do you mind sharing details about from where you started? I've been interested in skiing in the area but have no idea where to park. If not, no problem (I like a good sightseeing drive, esp. if there are hill people involved).

3/19/12 4:21am

March 17, 2012, ONP Heather Park

curious, do you access that area via lifts and then skin out southback? or skin from parking lots?

on a semi-related note, there was widespread surface hoar (1-1.5 cm) on top of several inches of low density snow, which was then covered with some grapel and then snow yesterday afternoon. im sure the sun took care of the hoar where it could, but something to keep track of as this next storm comes rolling through...

-mc

3/19/12 1:10am

runcle

“Let no man in the world live in delusion. Without a Guru none can cross over to the other shore.”

Thanks for the lesson in NTN. It was great to hook up with you and looking forward to some less harrowing turns in the future!

3/19/12 12:31am

Kyle Miller

We put in the skin track up to the gap and were going to go for the peak but were not happy with the mini slabs.

Be safe out there peeps and there is a new slide path that took out a handfull of trees just East of there.

P.S. It is Placer Peak (Referenced because of the lake below it)

3/18/12 10:47pm

John Morrow

March 17, 2012; Snoqualmie conditions

Which one's Prosser?
Is Crystal Peak the lookout site peak? North gully off that? Thanks,
John

3/18/12 9:50pm

cchapin

author=Marcus link=topic=24165.msg102170#msg102170 date=1332079882]excellent heavy powder.

Yep!

3/18/12 12:02am

mikerolfs

author=winterisbest link=topic=24144.msg102167#msg102167 date=1332046754]
Where is this?

That line is called 'hourglass'

3/17/12 11:41pm

aaron_wright

The closed (Tuesdays and Wednesdays) Mission Ridge ski area.

3/17/12 9:43pm

winterisbest

Where is this?

3/17/12 1:59pm

jtack

March 4-8, 2012. McCully Basin Yurtness, Wallowas

Nice picture, took me awhile to figure it out, good eye for picking such a good line.

3/17/12 2:08am

telemack

McCully and WAH are so fine. The "free" beer comes with the very reasonable trip price and CB's expertise and raconteur spirit.

3/16/12 1:17pm

cascadianwarrior

March 4-8, 2012. McCully Basin Yurtness, Wallowas

A buddy and I splitboarded up on Tuesday and found the same mixed bag of conditions and snow. And before we start the whole 'up-hill policy' debate, we checked in w/ mountain ops and got the go-ahead ;)

3/16/12 1:14pm

bwalt822

yeah the sauna yurt was pretty nice but it was super hot so we couldn't stay in it too long. The stove chimney was glowing red.

3/16/12 6:13am

aaron_wright

March 10, 2012; Maggie's, Hurricane Ridge (ONP)

I thought tuesday and wednesday were great. Today was great too. Didn't really notice the stiff slab. My dog thought the attack dog was amusing, Jamie didn't.

3/15/12 8:34am

Gary_H

Hey Marcus,

Sorry I missed you guys ........... You couldn't have had 3 better partners to show you around the area. Hopefully this won't be your last trip to the Olys.

Thanks for taking the time to be part of Greg's Second Saturday Series and for being willing to share your experience.

See you Saturday??

Gary

3/15/12 7:28am

kmh

March 14, 2012, Potato Hill, Santiam Pass

Saw that area as well going over the pass and made the gears in my head start turning. Thought it looked quite nice. Nice to see it is

3/15/12 6:40am

Telepathetic

March 9 - 11 Mt Hood Traverse

little issue with water. Streams, when open, are running low.
The challanges are the canyons. 45 degree, avy potential. Which is perhaps why the high orbit is a better choice-providing a blue bird day and soft edgable snow.
cheers
David

author=rong link=topic=24128.msg102066#msg102066 date=1331845413]
I have done the high circumnavigation in early summer on skis at ~8500', and the low one twice on foot (on the t...

3/15/12 6:12am

rong

March 9 - 11 Mt Hood Traverse

I have done the high circumnavigation in early summer on skis at ~8500', and the low one twice on foot (on the timberline trail). My hat is off to you folks for just the attempt. Very ambitious indeed.

From a terrain standpoint what did you consider to be the toughest element. In summer I always found the water crossings difficult. How are they on skis? Ron

3/15/12 6:03am

bs.

March 8,9, 2012, mini golf in the tahoe sun

it was a pretty fun trip... though i wish i'd gone after the storms that are raging down there right now.

we were actually on becker pk the first day and maggies the 2nd.... but you are still right about jake's! the emerald chute was looking a little thin.

3/15/12 4:40am

mikerolfs

Shames March 11 Cold Sweat.

I thought it was well worth the time away from work. Jamie forgot to mention that the hazard outlook included both possible stiff slabs and also vicious attack dogs.

3/15/12 4:34am

trees4me

maybe there should be a sidecountry forum for trips like this. A forum for trips where you ride the lift and call it backcountry, but still stop in for a latte and cheeseburger between laps 8)

3/15/12 3:23am

romines

March 14, 2012, Potato Hill, Santiam Pass

Thanks! Your post on the Tam McArthur hut trip was an inspiration...made me want to book a trip there and take better photos..

3/15/12 2:42am

John Morrow