TR Replies

How are things (like downed logs and creeks) filling in? When I went up around Xmas, it was still pretty tough going in the trees.

1/18/12 1:37am

Marcus

Nice pics Tim! Great to hook up with you guys, at least for a chunk of the day.

author=powtothepeople link=topic=23220.msg98645#msg98645 date=1326841261]
Reminds me of a day my dog bailed off the track up Alpental valley to the valley floor. Where I got to lose 150+ ft of elevation to break him a new trail after he'd been lost for 10-15 minutes wallowing down there. Very comfortable wandering...

Heh -- yup, exactly...

1/18/12 1:25am

Timmy

A couple more shots

1/17/12 2:59pm

Timmy

January 16, 2012, Mt. Hood, Newton Snow Report

Thanks for the fun tour and turns! I'll have to get Jason out there some more with the splitboard so he can figure out the system...

1/17/12 2:56pm

Edgesport

Thanks for the report - 25 inches of snow recorded at Meadows today. This storm will definitely be enough for a cat track out of Heather!

1/17/12 1:14pm

Edgesport

January 17, 2011, Mt Baker Backcountry Blower

Love the smoke in your trail. Quality snow.

1/17/12 12:48pm

djauffres

January 17, 2012, Hyak + Snoq. Avy heads-up

NW face, I follow (or at least I try to) the route proposed in Volken's guidebook (Backcountry skiing snoqualmie pass).

1/17/12 12:26pm

silaswild

What Tom said holds true in the Stevens Pass backcountry as well.

1/17/12 11:58am

alecapone

January 17, 2012, Stevens backcountry

Sorry I had to bail. I'm a bad partner.

Finally got moving but even with my rad pine branch and two straps for a skin, I was eventually hunted down. We went over to the boulder garden for shelter and made coffee, then went back the way we came.

natural crown of a foot or more thick on one of the steep boulderes. Slabs and shooting cracks around diving board. Narcid quality snow in the lee. Got one cornice ski cut near the road the propogate about 6' deep on the wa...

1/17/12 11:29am

telemack

Jan 17, 2012, Topaz Court

Your streets have a pretty good drop to them, cool runnings. Nothing here except flurries so far.
And you had already gotten January in without waiting until the last weekend ::)

1/17/12 11:07am

Cornfed

January 15, 2012; Mt. Baker (Herman)

We too ventured out from the lifts to skin/ski a couple of laps on Sunday. I was AMAZED by how much traffic was in the back-country. We were cautious initially given 25" fell in less than 2 days, but watched carefully as others ventured out ahead of us. We took a lap down towards Lake Ann and then climbed back up to Artist Point. The uptrack we set went through what looked like an in-bounds run with all the tracks coming down. We went further out for a more aggressive descent into Lake...

1/17/12 10:00am

blitz

Hopi looks like an Ewok in that picture 8)

1/17/12 9:26am

powtothepeople

Reminds me of a day my dog bailed off the track up Alpental valley to the valley floor. Where I got to lose 150+ ft of elevation to break him a new trail after he'd been lost for 10-15 minutes wallowing down there. Very comfortable wandering...

1/17/12 7:01am

Marcus

It's the Garmin Astro -- she's training as a wilderness SAR dog and it's a great tool to track her on a GPS when she ranges out of sight... which she is very, very comfortable doing. Independent pooch and as I said, sometimes stone deaf on a powder day.

It's also a semi-reasonable "poor-dog's beacon", in that we can get close to her with the GPS if she gets stuck somewhere.

1/17/12 6:51am

powtothepeople

January 17, 2012, Hyak + Snoq. Avy heads-up

I'm curious what Hopi is wearing in that last pick. Training collar? or something else?

Glad it's good. Still waiting for winter in the Sierras...

1/17/12 6:42am

Marcus

Thanks for the update Tom.

1/17/12 4:38am

Marcus

Yup, T and Hopi had a blast. It was perfect conditions for them, with that firm base... which, of course, meant that K9 "stone deaf powder fever" was in effect most of the day.

1/17/12 2:53am

fresh

We saw a big black dog at the Yodelin parking lot on Sunday morning and wondered if that was Tundra! By the time we were booted up he'd already headed off in search of powder. Looks like sweet conditions on the Yodelin side of the valley as well!

1/17/12 2:10am

ron j

January 15, 2012, Stuben am Arlberg, Austria

Good call.
Looks nice.

1/17/12 2:08am

Erik Henne

Arlberg is my favorite ski place in the world. I am in Germany for work and made it down to Austria for some skiing. We thought about Arlberg but we were afraid that the "Weisse Ring" ski race would cause crowding and closed lifts. Did youexperience any problems from the race?

We spent Saturday one valley over in Montafon and in Sunday in the Bregenzerwald.

On the train ride back to Nuremberg, I edited some video from the weekend:

1/17/12 2:07am

Marcus

Jan 14-15 Mazama/Delancey Ridge

Nice TR Pat -- sounds like a great weekend. I haven't made it over there in the winter for several years.

1/17/12 1:03am

Big Steve

Jan 16, 2012, Snoqualmie Pass Area

Lookin' good, John and Don : )

1/16/12 12:26pm

hyak_erik

January 15, 2012, Stuben am Arlberg, Austria

Sadly I am already back from vorarlberg after a too brief 2.5 day trip. That said, we squeezed a lot of skiing, eating, and Maisel's weisse bier in our a short trip.

Some learnings about the area:
1) It is massive - more than 80 lifts
2) Lots of ski lines all around the area. Lots of folks ski touring as well
3) The Stuben section of the ski area is north facing and holds its powder very nicely. 2 days after the storm we were still getting...

1/16/12 12:21pm

silaswild

January 15, 2012, Stuben am Arlberg, Austria

Wow! Thanks for reporting from the other ski area in the world with over 100" snow on the ground, along with Mt Baker. How long are you in Tirol? Please report every day with photos, skiing and eating!

1/16/12 11:50am

Zap

January 14-16, Paradise

Great sunbreak photo. ;)

1/16/12 11:49am

JibberD

Jan 16, 2012, Snoqualmie Pass Area

Wow!

I hope to meet you some day and learn (maybe??) where that line is :)

1/16/12 9:45am

Chuck C

Did you climb the north side of Catherine or go up from Nordic Pass?

1/16/12 12:37am

lrudholm

Snoqualmie Mt. Tiny Slab

Went up today. It's getting deeper! By the time I left it was about a foot (variable). Depended where you were. Stability seemed pretty good on south facing slopes. Popped around to a north facing slope. Saturdays snow is a thin slab, with todays snow on it. We chose to not ski it.

1/15/12 10:40am

djauffres

Here is quick photo from the top. The visibility was good.

1/15/12 10:39am

jhamaker

There is terrain for every taste. When I return I'm still not sure if I want to bring my Karhu Lookouts again or bring heavier gear, and use kick-wax for the flats/skins/hiking for the steeps. One could even have lots of fun on skinny skis.

1/15/12 6:51am

kath

January 10, Circus Couloir, Snoqualmie Mountain

jealous ... beautiful scenery .. we're not capable of skiing most of that .. but we have been talking about getting back there in winter ...

1/15/12 4:08am

alecapone

Snoqualmie Mt. Tiny Slab

Thanks Leyland.

Kinda bummed I missed a good bail day.

1/14/12 11:21pm

RonL

Nice job! That run shows up pretty well in pictures from people hiking green ridge or that side of Garfield that shoot one across the valley. From that far away none of them are as good as the flyover video though.

1/14/12 11:12pm

alecapone

Jan 14, 2012, Moonlight Bowl to PCT

Thanks for the report Don.

I think the surface below the snow was mostly sun crust and roller balls. I went out sans board poking around Friday, and was able to walk in shoes on top of a very solid crust. This crust had a very thin layer of surface hoar, or a light dusting of snow un top of the sun crust, left out for a clear niight.r. Probably not big enough to 'whoomph, but a really good sliding surface. Mostly the only things that had slid at stevens are steeper slide path an...

1/14/12 11:07pm

telemack

Told ya I wasn't a "real local"! ;)

1/14/12 12:37pm

Marcus

Snoqualmie Mt. Tiny Slab

Thanks for the heads up Leyland. I had a friend report some pretty reactive layers on that same crust at Stevens today.

1/14/12 12:11pm

chmnyboy

author=runcle link=topic=23161.msg98469#msg98469 date=1326564424]
Your earnest seeking through a consistent practice will enhance the value of your journey and course of your life. ;)

Brilliant!

1/14/12 3:47am

runcle

author=telemack link=topic=23161.msg98460#msg98460 date=1326526560]
Nice tracks---N side of Hurricane Hill? Where was your photo vantage point?

Your earnest seeking through a consistent practice will enhance the value of your journey and course of your life. ;)

1/14/12 2:07am

Marcus

Fantastic James -- amazing terrain back there. On the list.

1/14/12 1:33am

Andrew Carey

Great trip report!

1/14/12 12:24am

Joedabaker

Nice James--Looks like awesome terrain!!
Need to put it on the bucket list.

1/14/12 12:05am

David_Britton

January 10, Circus Couloir, Snoqualmie Mountain

Thanks for the update. Adding another question to Telemack's, which pitch is your 2nd to last photo? Doesn't look familiar from my memories of the stuff off hurricane hill blvd.

1/14/12 12:02am

Joedabaker

Keep up the good work Forest. I enjoyed visiting your blog. Pretty impressive local climbs and skis. Have to keep an eye on your work!

1/13/12 11:57pm

trees4me

January 11-12, 2012, Cadet Peak

Beautiful trip!

Amazing you could drive bare road to barlow in January!

1/13/12 4:05pm

telemack