TR Replies
Nice pics! Later in the summer, I've made that same approach only to find Gallager Head lake surrounded by jeeps and pull-behind campers!
Overcoat was a true classic Cascades adventure. (Please note, biking and suffering not included in attached gpx.) We approached from the Middle Fork and met at 6am at the Snoqualmie Lake TH, loaded three bikes onto an SUV and made the drive to Dingford Creek TH. Left the car on bikes at 720. Rough biking uphill with the skis, road is in bad shape, but we made it after 2 hours.
We used a gpx from an earlier turns post. Hiked the Dutch Miller Gap trail for 4 miles (nice trail). Forded t...
That must have been you guys in the white sprinter with lots of vegitation on the inside. I was out there that day and was wondering who got the gate trick played on them.
Zack
"We even seemed to skip mank season"
"Creamy spring powder"
Whence cometh the pow, cometh the mank.
🙃
Really enjoyed these trip reports Jens, thanks for posting them! It has been a beautiful spring indeed.
RE road washout:
Not really a hydrologic issue, per say, more straight up geology. A rock face (center-left in picture below, looking south) collapsed on the south side of the creek. The debris filled the creek bed and and rerouted the flow through the mini-campground and along the road. Expect a new parking lot at some point.
Very cool! I was wondering if this still goes this late into the season. Thanks for posting!
Mark - thanks for the concern. But I was aware of potential dangers, and am/was experienced enough to know how to handle it. I've skied muir at least a dozen times, and am aware of how to navigate in a white out. I had my compass, I had my GPS. My description was more dramatic than it was. My comment about fall line was more of a "I knew this intellectually, but experienced it empirically for the first time"...
Oh it's you two that flew passed our party of three. What a great day there!
Nice to meet you as well, Andy. Thanks for taking another look!
Sorry Neil, I didn't snap any photos of the glacier. But it looked great, no signs of any cracks that I saw.
Nice to meet you at the top. I looked for your helmet on my second lap and saw no sign of it. Nonetheless, a superb day putting fresh tracks on a blank canvas.
This is a common problem descending from Muir, and people have gone missing following the fall line in bad visibility. You should be able to find a simple map of the area with compass readings back to the parking lot--it's been posted here and elsewhere, but I forget where it originated (possibly the Park Service, who doesn't like running body recovery searches). The fact that you were up there alone and didn't already know this suggests poor preparation.
A similar thing happens...
re: whiteouts on Muir snowfield... I also learned that fall line actually takes you into the Nisqually Glacier... so don't do that!
We ended up going a couple days ago, was surprised how good coverage was! Had a couple great runs off the Naches peak false summit and also the short couloir off the back side of Yakima Pk. Might have to make one more trip up there.
Coverage is pretty good right now. First time I went to the 'false summit' with skis. Definitively time to grab it!
Speedy!
Whiteouts up there are no joke! My first experience with an absolute pure whiteout was a few years ago in Edith Basin when skiing back to Paradise. Low angle, so we were skiing slow and at points you couldn't even tell if you were moving or not. Or up from down. So trippy. At one point, after regrouping to get our bearings, my partner set off in the complete opposite direction that we were originally heading. I was doing the navigating so had to correct him, but he had no clue...
Nice fast time to Muir, dang! I hate schmoo. This helps my FOMO
Nice! You made lemonade out of lemons!
Impressive outing - great contender for the next cover image.
Well said. Fun day laying tracks down Ruth with amazing views and opportunity to scheme future trips/traverses. Grateful for the weather window (seem few and far between this past month). Thanks for the good company + beer!
Here's some more eye candy
I posted some more photos of the McAllister Glacier in Random Tracks here:
The link to "skisickness" is GREAT. Alisson was 3 "guys" at home. 😉
"Not sure why you'd go to Silver really, same driving time and fewer potholes."
Ah cmon, you're just trolling. Silver's a good deal less commitment than skiing Vesper, is my main reason.
Looks fun.
Thanks for sharing your multi-sport adventure - cool site and pix.
Toes locked and ice ax in hand. Looks like tricky conditions throughout, pre- and post-ski.
Glad to see you harvesting the corn, Zap and Jill!
Yeah buddies. You and Mike getting along these days?
Quick update on conditions. Two friends and I skied this South to North 6/6. Hiked to the upper basin above Chatter Creek at 5800' before switching to skins. A couple short carries between there and the Swath but overall route was still in decent condition. We were able to ski to about 5000' down the Swath and then struggled the final few miles in at times serious bushwhacking. I'd give it another week, maybe two before it's probably not worthwhile. Took us 15.5 hours with a few minor r...
Baller! Nice work Lane! I love the idea of long solo traverses but significant glacier crossings make me gun shy. Did you have any kind of contingency plan aside from the inReach?
BTW if you're interested in some Baker or other long tour shenanigans yet this year, shoot me a message!
I first skied that line 24 years ago -- but not that steep headwall. In my mid-60s now and haven't done it for 8 years or so - my crew and I generally just tag the summit, have lunch, and take skiers left line to the lake. That's enough these days. Nice photos and video on the blog page.
Oh man this is so inspiring, but the weather is rain as far as the report extends. BOO rain!