TR Replies
Great photos. 6,000 ft of perfect corn!? The big R is always ice transitioning immediately to grabby slop for me.
Thanks for sharing and thanks for the inspiration as always! What a fantastic sounding trip!
Just saw your excellent report. This approach was the one that inspired the Holden approach! Another friend and I attempted to do a climbing traverse from Dark to Bonanza and had our butts handed to us to say the least. But during that recon trip, plus reading a Bonanza TR from Forest here on TAY, the Holden approach seemed doable. Anyway you approach Dark Peak is a long one, so big time congratulations for a successful climb/ski.
There are several more un-...
What an odyssey! Searching the outer limits for the perfect corn. A cornucopia. Out of this world!👌💪
Major Tom's Mom: "Don't forget to pack your protein pills."
Nice one! I have experienced perfect snow conditions on both Frostbite and Sitkum as well. Maybe it's a thing.
Wow, beautiful pictures. Love that place but never brought skis up there.
As I've read more and more old reports on some of these gnarlier glacier lines, it's become clear to me that many of these lines are getting increasingly sketchy with glacial changes. Hopefully people keep this in mind as they look to push their limits. I'm all for having fun and getting rad, but it's good to recognize that a decade or two ago people were getting rad in significantly better conditions than are typical today. Look at reports on the Nisqually glacier/ice cliff, Coleman headwall...
Looks like an awesome day! What kind of time did you make from the summit back down to 6k?
I, too, really love that area but have never taken my skis. Thanks for the report.
We tried 6/24-6/25. We started and your tracks and the glacier entrance for hours trying to figure out a way. I didn't see a skis on easy one from the ridge or below. We skied a similar line to you with an earlier bail due to FIRM conditions. Deeper freeze wednesday night all the way to 6.5k camp. RAD ski all the same. Hopefully this isn't a lasting change for the glacier
Nice one! I love Gothic Basin. have been up there many times but never thought to bring skis. I'm thinking about it now.
Seems like the Emmons is in great shape. Thanks for sharing and nice work!
@Alisse - the beta we had, said go up the gully.... it's the easy class 3 way. But we got to a high point in the gully and the snow was rotten and the easiest route to "safety" at that point was to jump on the rocks to the left. But it also seemed pretty sketchy. However it did have rap stations... so we clearly aren't the only ones who've gone that route. Next time, we will consider the SE rib!
Hey! I'm wondering why y'all didn't head up the SE rib (to climber's right of the gully)? I don't know much about the left side you guys went up, but the right side is definitely fun and recommended 🙂 For next time!
Thanks for the beta, glad I didn't have to do that traverse on my splitboard! Our crew was gonna ski NFNWR 6/26, but we ended up skiing a variation of it, than skiing towards the NW ridge. We got excellent conditions dropping in at 5 pm!
For more photos and the whole story, I wrote up a trip report on my website: https://climberkyle.com/2020/06/23/the-magic-s-loop/.
The first time I did it, you could ski right across the giant gaper at the top of your photo. A few years later, you had to sidestep up the side of a serac to ski across its top. Definitely hanging out in the icefall. It looks different this time.
Looking at reports from previous years it's very different this year. I guess I expected it to be filled in given how much snow we got this year and the cool spring. It looks like last year it was in good conditi...
Nice to read your TR and photos. My last time on Mount Shuksan was in 1994. It brings back memories.😀
^would love to see Lava Ridge conditions as well!
Great video! What a classic line. looks like you timed it well. Followed two snowboard tracks down it on 6/21 and likewise got blocked by the gaper. Followed their crazy tracks down that little ramp of snow and had to boof over the gap.
Congratulations on surviving. It's crazy how much the glacier changes year to year. The first time I did it, you could ski right across the giant gaper at the top of your photo. A few years later, you had to sidestep up the side of a serac to ski across its top. Definitely hanging out in the icefall. It looks different this time.
How'd the Lava ridge look? Any photos of the exit slope and bergschrund? Thanks
You are on a roll!
We got Hotlum-Wintun on Shasta, W face of Lassen, then went north from there racing away from the blazing heat and sun cups. Adams skied oh so well today, cornucopia.
Another cool descent! Gotta get on Tahoma this season
Looks rad, thanks for sharing. North face of spider next?
She's a holding late. Thanks for the report.👊 You take any pics of Del Campo by chance?
Nice one!👍Thanks for the conditions report.👊
AR with a Jordan-esque coming out of retirement!
Cool trip. That couloir has been on the to-ski list, nice way to kick off a tour. And the NW face of Black appeared to be in good shape when you were back there! Wish I'd seen this report earlier, conditions in the area looked primo.
Sweet photos! That Plan B descent looks too good to pass up.
Very nice! I was wondering if this would still go. Looks like you guys nailed it with the conditions.
Hedonaut: This was on 6/23, lots of snow up high still!
MuradN, I assume that layer was caused by rain penetrating the upper snowpack, since we only found it between 9-10K which was basically the freezing level during the most recent storm. A couple days of freeze/thaw should consolidate everything, as long as it gets cold enough to freeze overnight at that elevation (it didn´t during the night we were there).
heck yes looks like a quality ski. hope to hit that zone next year.