TR Replies

We were up there as well and got the first runs down the Slot. the entry was really icy but the main chute skied really well, nice blown in powder. Tons of sluff but the snow was stable.

Charlie, glad to hear you made it to the crooked and out. when we saw the exit it looked a little dicey.

1/8/12 11:13am

teletubby

January 7, 2012, Newton-Clark canyon

JPH- Thanks again for setting the skin track.

Mike- Thanks for a fun day.

1/8/12 10:53am

Koda

we really need winter to return, this seems to be a trend each year. Thankful to see what coverage we have up there... I haven't toured into Newton yet this season, and curious what coverage is like east of the crest. Nice photos.

1/8/12 8:57am

kath

january 8, 2012, slippery slab circumnav...?

scott .. where's your camera dude?

1/8/12 7:46am

alecapone

january 8, 2012, slippery slab circumnav...?

That would be a big day! I'm game, but not until the first bit of trail gets a little refresh.. Stoked that I kept my boards on all the way back to the car, but that was a bit abusive.

1/8/12 7:13am

lrudholm

january 8, 2012, slippery slab circumnav...?

Nice! What can I say... you get out a lot.

Next time.. Spark plug, Surprise mtn, Thunder, and Nimbus in a day? Counter clockwise?

1/8/12 7:05am

alecapone

Nice pics for a telephone!

I was half tempted to go and get some from the road today.

James... no snow sheds. Are there some below skyline? I'm only familiar with the sheds on Windy. We hit the hairpin @ 3,600 so we didn't go all the way down to Wellington.

testing....

1/8/12 7:00am

snoholic

Nice to get a new perspective.

1/8/12 3:20am

mikewagg

We did the phantom the 7th. Good/mixed conditions; 6" of new snow on top of firm snow, with some spots of exposed crust away from trees. Getting around waterfall at bottom pretty iced up and scraped off.

1/8/12 2:25am

JPH

January 7, 2012, Mt. Rainier ski-pole arrests

author=Charlie Hagedorn link=topic=23086.msg98152#msg98152 date=1326005486]
and was unable to see if the final roll would go.

Yeah, it was a real pu-pu platter of snow conditions out there yesterday for sure. We skied the slot, which was interesting getting into, but was pretty soft after the dogleg to the left. The bottom of the crooked looked like it could use about 10 feet of snow. I'm pretty sure...

1/8/12 1:07am

Andrew Carey

LOL. Regine and I watched Robie (we think) take the 1st run down 9-1-0. Scrape, scrape, powder--ski tips wiggling, skis wanting to go their separate ways ... so we just went as far as the Stevens-Van Trump-Sluiskin Monument and headed back and actually had very good dense powder skiing to 4th Xing. My knee is slowly getting better, not quite right yet.

1/8/12 12:08am

Charlie Hagedorn

One thread is better than two:

Susan, Gerhard, and I took a peek into the Crooked. Aspirations among the three of us included exploration, pow, and exercise. All were had, some more than others.

On the up, met several friends out and about on the mountain. Above treeline, wind had swept away the pow in places and left it in hollows. The midweek rain crust hid beneath 0-6" of new. Where bare, the crust was mostly supportable on skis, and varied from firm to eggshell wi...

1/7/12 2:51pm

Jim Oker

January 7, 2012, Mt. Rainier ski-pole arrests

Down the road a bit, we also had a blast on south facing open slopes above 4K where the new snow was as you describe, and the crust beneath quite carvable with some soft snow beneath. Moderate pitch woods above 5K were pretty fun too, especially where we were able to time turns in the drifts.

1/7/12 1:36pm

Robie

Only Robie was fool enough to follow

You can say that again! this all happened at east of golden gate
There is some good skiing to be had in wind protected areas and lower angled slopes.

1/7/12 12:50pm

jhamaker

January 6, 2012, Snoqualmie area, Lake Alaska

Good job finding your entrance! It can be tricky and getting into the wrong slot can be a royal pain.

At what point did you hit the old RR grade? Anywhere near one of the Avy sheds?

1/7/12 12:22pm

ryanl

I like gold creek ;-)

1/7/12 12:01pm

alecapone

january 6, 2012, Nimbus clouds, alpine lakes

Ps... don't follow our tracks. Not that any sensible person would. There was soooo much better snow up there. Besides, It was narrow and we left it yucky.

1/7/12 8:17am

lrudholm

Fun day. The sun stayed out just long enough to scope out the surrounding terrain. Plenty of exploring up there. Our first descent included a little bonus mandatory air into the softest powder of the day.

Skiing out the trail by headlamp wasn't to bad other than a couple icy raised log sections with no way to stop and no end in sight wit h the headlamp.

Skiing is fun!

1/7/12 8:02am

alecapone

january 6, 2012, Nimbus clouds, alpine lakes

Thanks for the pics Ben. I have none... only my stock photos.

Rad day for sure. Funt times.

1/7/12 7:51am

bs.

january 6, 2012, Nimbus clouds, alpine lakes

the wind did a great job moving all the snow from the aspect we climbed onto the one we rode. good route selection on ale's part.

here's some pictures--

the approach

1/7/12 6:55am

ron j

Hyak Recycled 1/6/12

Way to nail the goods, Dougie ;)

1/7/12 5:52am

David_Britton

Hyak Recycled 1/6/12

Hopefully they'll groom it Sunday night to lay out a nice carpet for us next week! Anyone know if they typically roll this after use when they are going to close it for a few days?

1/7/12 1:07am

alecapone

January 6, 2012, Snoqualmie area, Lake Alaska

Nice one Parick.

That is one long rolling exit.

1/6/12 10:55pm

cchapin

Hyak Recycled 1/6/12

Given that Hyak is open tomorrow for lift operations, I wonder if this slope will be groomed? I think (hope) it won't be...

1/6/12 9:52am

blackdog102395

January 3, 2011, Newton Canyon-Firm, Fast, Fun

author=Edgesport link=topic=23059.msg98087#msg98087 date=1325860707]
Wow, I am excited about tomorrow! Thanks for sharing.

I have never seen the ridge look like it does in your photo ( https://plus.google.com/photos/118025853069449417238/albums/5694342870493120993/5694342871014948066 ) Usually there is a large flat bench there.

Here's a comparison picture from about a month ago:

https://...

1/6/12 7:04am

Fall City Brian

January 5, 2012, Hyak

LTT: thanks for the skin track on the way up. I was noting your very nice turns coming down the face.
Zap: nice to see/meet you up there yesterday - the dog liked you guys a lot. The snow was surprisingly excellent.

1/6/12 1:17am

Edgesport

January 3, 2011, Newton Canyon-Firm, Fast, Fun

Wow, I am excited about tomorrow! Thanks for sharing.

I have never seen the ridge look like it does in your photo ( https://plus.google.com/photos/118025853069449417238/albums/5694342870493120993/5694342871014948066 ) Usually there is a large flat bench there.

1/5/12 10:38pm

Zap

January 5, 2012, Hyak

After stopping at Rhodies B-B-Q deli at the truck exit for lunch, Jill and I needed some exercise. We initially stopped at Summit West but the light was flat. We arrrived at Hyak at 2pm to snow showers. The skinning was pleasant and we ascended along one of the treed trails. Another couple was also skinning up and giving their pup some exercises. It snowed lightly during our tour. The skiing was enjoyable on silky smooth fresh snow.

1/5/12 10:35am

ski_photomatt

Cool pics - were the pockets of graupel below cliffs or in terrain traps? Imagine tossing a lot of tiny balls onto a slope with cliffs and some shallower angled areas or gullies below them. The balls will bounce off the cliffs and pool below in the shallower areas/depressions and a similar thing happens with graupel. It's called graupel pooling:

http://straightchuter.com/2009/10/first-day-of-the-200910-season/

1/5/12 8:01am

Marcus

Great stuff, thanks for sharing it. Looks like the dog had a blast too :)

1/5/12 12:41am

ryanl

Dec 30 - Jan 1, 2012, Hairpin + Delancy Vid

looks like a great time Gregg. snow looks amazing

1/5/12 12:28am

jtack

Jeff, thanks for the great video, they just keep getting better, of course the subject matter is nice too.

1/5/12 12:10am

Zap

Dec 30 - Jan 1, 2012, Hairpin + Delancy Vid

Great video. If the folks in The Sierra, Wasatch and Rockies see the video, Mazama will be overwhelmed. ;)

1/4/12 1:25pm

cumulus

1.04.12, Loveland Pass, Colorado

excellent attitude ("two kinds of snow conditions..."), love it! I guess the lack of snow allows one to see the stars. Or the sun, as in Alta over Christmas, shining brilliant, skis scraping over rocks... Unfortunately the immediate prognosis SE of NW still doesn't look especially white...

(sorry Kam... how's the counseling going??)

love your description of t...

1/4/12 12:40pm

counterfeitfake

Thanks, that is a great link. I have seen graupel but never in such deep stashes. I guess it probably fell that way and was just transported onto the slope.

1/4/12 12:33pm

Amar Andalkar

December 31, 2011, Snoqualmie Pass

author=counterfeitfake link=topic=23050.msg98030#msg98030 date=1325729885]
I wanted to mention one nasty condition we ran across which I'd never seen before. Deep pockets of tiny styrofoam-like balls with no cohesion. Specifically we found these coming up from Melaklawa lake to Bryant col (W-SW aspect). I don't know what causes these but they were really tough to skin in, and these pockets could be big problems when they're covered with fresh...

1/4/12 10:50am

Shred

Glad you got some!

1/4/12 10:48am

glenn_b

December 26, 2011, Crystal bc, Cement Basin

Your 2nd pic is eerily cool. Of course, I'm a sucker for tele turns. Thanks.

1/4/12 10:43am

chmnyboy

author=Marcus link=topic=22997.msg97706#msg97706 date=1325215254]
If folks become less likely to share their trip reports because they expect their decision making will be scrutinized, we lose out

Ding!

1/4/12 9:07am

Marcus

December 26, 2011, Crystal bc, Cement Basin

I would have taken care of it sooner had I been in town. Splitting out this kind of discussion is a new process, but I think it's something that has a place, for the reasons I described above.

You're probably right about the split at Gerry's original post -- I've amended the topics accordingly. I'd be happy to discuss it more via PM, or in a separate post in Random Tracks, if anyone would like.

1/4/12 7:18am

Amar Andalkar

December 26, 2011, Crystal bc, Cement Basin

Hadn't noticed this split until now. Not sure where the best place to comment about it is, so I'll do it here.

It seems like it would have been much better to split the topic starting with Gerry's reply #6 above, which began the diversion into an avy decision-making discussion. Not with my post which was made in reply to that diversion, and lacks context as it stands now -- it is clearly a reply to the discussion which was already initiated in this thread.

Ov...

1/4/12 7:03am

Zap

Dec 30 to Jan 1, CPC Yurt, Windy Mountain

Great TR and photos.

1/4/12 4:45am

Jeff_Ward

Dec 30 to Jan 1, CPC Yurt, Windy Mountain

Great video Greg/Donni. I really like the shots in the Mazama Store at the end of the day. Classic.

It was good to finally meet you. Hopefully we can get out skiing together this winter.

1/4/12 3:44am

Oyvind_Henningsen

That looked liked a great trip Marcus. Fun time with good friends. Last year was pretty sucky for me too. New Years Resolution: spend more time with friends.

1/4/12 3:43am

January 1, 2012, Santiam Pass

Edgesport,

If you're driving in from the west, the snopark (unsigned as near as we could tell) is the plowed entry to the left shortly after you pass the Benson snopark/Hoodoo entrance on the right. No GPS track - I just use the 1:24k scale USGS quad maps. We followed the general direction of the PCT trail, skinning up in a N/NE direction through the burn area to the ridgeline, and then followed that, with a bit of up and down, towards the south ridge of 3-Finger Jack. You cou...

1/3/12 11:36pm

samoon

Dec 30 - Jan 1, 2012, Hairpin + Delancy Vid

Nice update. If things ever settle down to mile post 134......might have to make a trip up from the West Side.....

1/3/12 9:40pm

Gregg_C