TR Replies

December 20, 2011, Smithbrook - McCausland Mt.

Forgive my ignorance... Where is Da Slot?

12/22/11 2:21am

jtack

Mike, thanks for a playing hookey and coming along.

12/22/11 12:20am

jhamaker

Dec 20, 2011, -- Tatoosh

What Randy did not mention was that conditions were stable enough to take the summer trail accross the W face of Pinnacle and ski a small gully down to the Plummer / Pinnacle gully, then a traverse out back to the nice glade skiing above Reflection Lk.

Dec. 21, 2011, Mt. Rainier, Tatoosh Corn

Yeah! We finaly got a few thousand ft of vertical happiness!
After fighting the Castle / Pinnacle Bowl, we went back up and over to the sunny side and skied the Castle / Hal...

12/21/11 11:55am

Lisa

I saw those tracks and wondered about the conditions. Thanks for the report Zach! I didn't recognize your tmobile email address last night, now I know who it was. ;)
Ditto to what pipedream said, it was stellar at Alpy with freshies and bluebird conditions.
Now let it snow!

12/21/11 9:54am

lrudholm

Nice! Sadly, wondering how it was up there today from the city. SO thanks!

12/21/11 9:21am

pipedream

Awesome job getting it while it was good! Saw your party and lines from across the street... speaking of which was also stellar. 7-8 inches of dry, light powder up top drifted to waist deep in places combined with bluebird skies made today beyond ideal!

12/21/11 8:22am

kevino

Dec 19, 2011, Mt Rainier, Edith Creek

oooooooohhhhhhhh yeah

12/21/11 8:13am

ron j

You'd be the right guy that handle that trap crust on old school Nordic boards, Randy.
I'd have been installing craters all the way bridge.
Thanks for the info.
Pray for snow.
;)

12/21/11 7:35am

cchapin

Dec 16+17, 2011, Rainier, Muir x2 and Sunset POWDER

author=Zap link=topic=22838.msg97336#msg97336 date=1324396976]
Congratulations on your century mark. That's a goal usually obtained by the unemployed or retired folks. Welcome to the club. ;)

Or by full time ski instructors making minimum wage... ahh, 2010.

Nice report Amar. We skied out from Glacier Vista area just after the sunset. Given the refreezing crust, we did lots of traversing and little tu...

12/20/11 3:12am

Zap

Dec 16+17, 2011, Rainier, Muir x2 and Sunset POWDER

Quote by Amar: "Great to enjoy such fine conditions and company along with another sunset ski on my 100th ski day of 2011, the first time I've ever broken the century mark in any calendar year or one-year period."

Congratulations on your century mark. That's a goal usually obtained by the unemployed or retired folks. Welcome to the club. ;)

12/20/11 12:02am

Paresh Kamdar

Dec 16+17, 2011, Rainier, Muir x2 and Sunset POWDER

Great day, drinking the alpine nectar with you Amar. Thanks for the great company, the fine TR, & beautiful pictures. Skiing muir snowfield in the light show of that sunset was sublime. I have to agree with Gregg_C, you are a weather rock star - way to read the UW charts!

12/19/11 2:24pm

Norseman

Dec 16+17, 2011, Rainier, Muir x2 and Sunset POWDER

author=Amar Andalkar link=topic=22838.msg97299#msg97299 date=1324337915]

Nice sunset and cool lens flare.

Thank you, Amar, for putting together such nice trip reports. I have been inspired to come out of longtime lurk mode to say so. In addition to your excellent photographs, I really appreciate your thoughtful and artic...

12/19/11 11:04am

Patarero

Dec 16+17, 2011, Rainier, Muir x2 and Sunset POWDER

I usually go up the east side of the lava flow when on AT gear. Ski the lava flow and some of the old burn. We've been touring on the skinny skis up there lately. Usually they block access above snow king.

12/19/11 9:58am

Robie

Thanks for setting the track to Pan Point on friday. Us oldsters sure appreciated it for our nordic tour to Glacier vista .
I kinda thought the snow dried out somewhat during the course of the day.

12/19/11 8:31am

Amar Andalkar

So what is that in the cirque to the right of Lake Fork Peak? It sure looks like a rock glacier up in the bowl, and extensive moraines on the slopes below, even down near treeline. A quick Google search now turned up nothing useful.

12/19/11 8:26am

Andy Bond

Sky, It looks like pretty good conditions down there right now. Nice to see Lake Fork hasn't pulled out big! You should link up Vallecito and Lake Fork in a day.

12/19/11 4:07am

freeskier

Ironically, I was on an airplane yesterday flying from Tuscon to Minneapolis before heading home to Seattle. We flew right past Wheeler, and I pointed out to the guy sitting next to me what awesome terrain that would be to ski.....glad you where down there enjoying it! It looked like a beautiful day.

12/19/11 12:58am

Kenji

The red path on the map is a popular ski route and I believe that's where you are wondering about. The blue line is the variation we took and about the half way between two bridges. I'm not sure if it is any better than the std route after all, may be viable when the side hill traverse gets steep and too icy. The meadow above is peaceful and quiet.

12/18/11 2:47pm

dkoelle

Great! Grew up skiing in northern NM. A great mix of cultures and terrains.

12/18/11 1:43pm

dkoelle

I am interested in your approach variation, after trekking in there last summer and losing the trail under snow shortly above "the bridge" (I assume you mean the second bridge up by the Falls). We tromped up the ridge ~ 300 vf above and slightly east of the bridge and then lost the trail. Straight up the fall line seemed rational but semi-cliffed out, so we then traversed east to an obvious creek drainage and straight up that to open snow (?VTP proper). Inefficient bu...

12/18/11 1:39pm

skykilo

author=Robie link=topic=22821.msg97258#msg97258 date=1324263445]
That baby has a ton of lines on it!

The terrain is quite nice and I generally don't see people up there. The snow totals are meager compared to the Cascades but the shady aspects can hold powder for a month.

author=Zap]
... Wolf Creek ...

I have been to Wolf Creek a few times over the...

12/18/11 11:05am

Marcus

author=skykilo link=topic=22821.msg97254#msg97254 date=1324257802]
That's actually Lake Fork Peak, which is directly across the valley from Wheeler. I'll post a picture of Wheeler next time I do Lake Fork. It's a sweet little alpine oasis up there. I was the only person above the lake today as far as I could tell.

Ahh, thanks -- I've sent it off to dad to see if it looks familiar... I'll have to head...

12/18/11 10:59am

Robie

That baby has a ton of lines on it!

12/18/11 10:57am

Zap

Beautiful terrain. Have you driven north to Wolf Creek Pass and one of the biggest snowpacks around this season. ;)

12/18/11 10:12am

skykilo

That's actually Lake Fork Peak, which is directly across the valley from Wheeler. I'll post a picture of Wheeler next time I do Lake Fork. It's a sweet little alpine oasis up there. I was the only person above the lake today as far as I could tell.

12/18/11 9:23am

Marcus

Wow, flashback -- Wheeler was one of my parents first hikes when we moved to New Mexico when I was six. I still have the backpack my dad took to the top.

I had no idea what it looked like, as we moved away from NM when I was 12 and I never went up it. Wonga -- that looks fantastic! Thanks Sky!

12/18/11 9:12am

cumulus

December 16, 2011, Pea Gravel Ridge, Mt. Hood

thanks for the report Andy. fun times! - good choice Trevor. (5am wasn't happening Sat. morning... did make it up to S-Pass by 8 tho)

The clouds covering the Tatoosh most of Friday seemed to protect the snow from further heaviness, but then gracefully broke by the end of the day.
By (scenic) contrast Little Tahoma right across from us seemed to hold the sun all day.

Snow was sticky starting out lower down for sure - the going definitely got better (and li...

12/18/11 7:22am

MJS

A group of us were up there yesterday. The cat track is not in, but there is a well established ski track and the creek crossings are easy.

12/18/11 6:32am

Kenji

December 17, 2011, Mt. Rainier, Paradise Glacier

Went back for a paper map left behind. I have to have my gps and a map, just like peanut-butter-and-jelly! Sounds like you had a good day too.

12/18/11 5:38am

cchapin

Similiar conditions were found on the Muir snowfield yesterday (turned around near 9500 on ice and wind blown). The crust below Pan Face and back to the lot was already 1-2" thick by 4:30.

12/18/11 4:38am

cchapin

Hah, I thought that was you as we drove past Comet Falls. What did you forget in your car? :P

12/18/11 4:32am

jhamaker

Like Robie said. Lots of goood stuff out there. I will say, however, that the shaded stuff that had powder last wk is now wet and soaked and gloppy, where as the sun-melted stuff and the thin stuff lower down in that area is thin, heavy, and only covers a few inches of the crust and made for our best skiing in that area yesterday.

Looks like the snow is on the way this wk for higher elevations (5k+). Finaly!

12/18/11 2:59am

Koda

I've skied Bennett Pass a few times, there and like most places on Hood I've learned to avoid anything below 4K... especially west of the crest. If I read your post correct it sounds similar in this area of Adams. If road access was available, I'd consider Sleeping Beauty or Steamboat. Old growth tree skiing is always a treat, and It would be nice to learn new terrain within reach of Portland.

12/18/11 2:39am

Robie

That's a money tour for sure !
Two things to add .
1) If you had skied a little farther south on your traverse from Foss you would have reached the passable saddle leading east to Unicorn Glacier/Unicorn. All doable in day by a strong party
2) The drainage you skied out to the road is the Sunbeam creek drainage .
Thanks for the report

12/18/11 2:14am

Zap

Nice TR. The use of Hillmap is a great tool.

12/18/11 1:49am

pabloson

author=Koda link=topic=22808.msg97222#msg97222 date=1324148771">
How thick is the vegetation below 4000' in this region, is it skiable? This area is typically off my radar due to access, but if logging allows there are a few places of interest along with your subject, Sleeping Beauty and especially Steamboat mountain are reaching 5K

Steamboat mtn

12/18/11 12:45am

andybrnr

December 17, 2011, Mt. Rainier, Paradise Glacier

One more pic.

12/17/11 6:56pm

FreeBird

Looks good!

12/17/11 3:37pm

Koda