TR Replies
I've always appreciated that, Randy. The trail portion especially. Though haven't been back in more than 6 or 7 years. I've never informed my boss, by the way. Kyle M's mention of Cascade BC Alliance made me think that Rocky Run could be a trail access development worth pursuing.
Best of luck to Kyle and others involved with the Alliance. Many issues that took hold more than 20 years ago are remain unresolved to this day. I hope CBA gains much...
@bigeo Bryant Couloir was downright bad haha. Very chopped up and nasty.
@cumulus super cool to hear the history of the line!
Looks tight! Gets fatter come March (but still tight up top), which is when we skied it twelve years ago, an improvisation after skiing down the E/NE shoulder of Kaleetan down to the lake, hey look over there! let's go ski that.
I named it based on the shape of the snowfield that drops into Chair Peak Lake from the couloir in the summer looking like a little alien. I guess it caught on (i.e. got scraped from TA...
Saw you over there from the bench N of Chair Pk Lake. It must have been during your "existential crisis" as you were static for a time. We speculated on the discussion that was going on. Wish I had taken a zoomed in shot. Good to hear that it was a positive experience. How was Bryant Couloir? We had intended to do the CP circumnav, but switched to Holy Diver thinking the snow would be better. It was, in fact, Primo.
FWIW: Jim Oker and I and several other volunteers I've recruited have done brushing along that old logging road to make it easier to follow in the last several years. This route has a lot of sentimental value to me as my dad and I used to ski it on the way to Mt Margaret back when the clear cuts were fresh and wide open and our ski bases smelled of Pine Tar.
Probably 24”. Just working on Saturday. There is a facebook group called tronson non motorized trail workers. Join up with that and we can meet up some other time. Fall is when most
work parties are set up. But then after every big storm…..Thats why the roads and trails are usually cleared. FS does not do it.
Here is the link: https://youtu.be/aS_LtKEIQGg
What is "good sized"? 18, 24, 36" diameter? Can help on Sunday and have a saw if there is a crew going in then, booked on Saturday.
I can't see the iconic video!
I’m an old rock climber that grew up getting lost on climbs following bs directions that only made sense to the guy writing them. Half the time they were just wrong. The good ol days weren’t that great. When topo’s came out, many thought it would be the death of adventure, but it wasn’t. You just didn’t get lost as much, and you typically climbed harder. We follow skin tracks and most don’t complain about that. How is GPS that different? Every time something new comes out there is...
Poster discretion is the way I think about it. And for this one, jeesh, it's just a clearcut
The bowl used to see much high marking snowmobile wilderness poaching. Was the evidence of that still as apparent as in the past? it is a long way to drop in and climb out of it from Smithbrook and sad when it is rendered unskiable by deep highmark trenches after working hard to reach it.
Using a GPS app on my phone hasn't diminished my ability to get lost that much,
I appreciate the discussion. My two cents is that I am glad I was skiing the I-90 and Hwy 2 corridors in a time when there was scant information out there. Mostly the Burgdorpher guidebook. We found such an awesome sense of discovery by remembering how potential openings and spaced trees looked on summer hikes and translating them into very fun winter adventures. Then furthering our understanding by passing through and standing on top of high places looking out at futu...
Right on everyone. This isn't the first TAY post about that area either, maybe just the first with a map.
Who knew the Rampart paragliding launch was also the top of a ski run?!
Civil, thoughtful discourse on a divisive issue?! Pinch me. What would happen if such a thing caught on?
Thanks to all of you for restoring some faith, and especially to Kyle for providing abundant inspiration (and beta) for getting out to enjoy what we got around here
I have mixed feelings about giving out detailed GPX tracks (which is different than posting a map, like this). GPX allows people to follow your path to the foot. I try not to encourage people to follow GPX tracks in alpine environments, especially in the summer, where foot impact is higher. If the GPX track is helping people find an efficient approach on snow and avoid a bunch of BS (like in this case), I'm more likely to share it. I only really ever look at my phone below treeline because th...
I don't hear anybody shaming anybody here. I see a respectful exchange of opinion. And that's a valuable thing... it's how we get access to other viewpoints and open things up for learning.
I'm with Darin and AJ...and Kyle. I don't have a problem with this one. It makes sense...and I'm glad Darin said something so that it gave Kyle the opportunity to articulate his curation. Win-win.
In general I do find that GPS seriously detracts from the wilderness experience on many levels...
Maybe im old fashion, but I tend to agree with Darin here. Fred Beckey already wrote our ski guide books decades ago and when new ski guide books come out (or a website) it tends to just crowd up different areas with more people. This new generation of explorers miss out on the opportunity to learn how to explore, they just stare at their phones following gps tracks and miss the lessons to be learned by ol Fred's creative descriptions. Just gotta head for the "obvious gully!" I personally lik...
Thanks Kyle! I've had a few failed (and some successful) attempts to explore for myself around the pass, from the Gold Creek TH even! It's nice to have a track like this to use with partners who have PTSD from Alpental Valley shenanigans 🤣
Nice work. We need to encourage people to spread out. Well said. I have looked at this glade for years as well. Maybe I’ll stop by some time.
Accessed via sled analog (tracked atv), road is plowed to just after the gravel pit from the lake Wenatchee side, so the approach is approximately 13 miles each way from that side. Without a sled I would have come in from Smith Brook, but that would be a lot of flat skining with big skis!
@darin-berdinka I understand where you are coming from. I think that there are plenty of opportunities for adventure that doesn't have detailed GPS tracks. There is not a shortage of that in the winter here in the Cascades. In many cases, I don't share detailed GPX tracks because I want people to have to put in more effort or I don't want crowding. The reason I shared more detailed beta here is because I feel that this is an underutilized zone that could take a decent amount of skiers and red...
I have never understand the mentality of keeping things secret. Backcountry skiing doesn't need to be a derivative of surfer culture. We need community in order to advocate for new trailheads, access, and ultimately to maintain our current access as developments at Mt. Rainer and the various ski resorts have shown. The way to build community is to be open and welcoming. Those who want solitude should walk a little further not shame others for sharing their experiences.
You do cool stuff and take great photos. But in this day and age maybe you don't need to post detailed gps tracks of your journeys. Let people invest a little cerebral effort to figure out the details and possibly risk their time and effort making the wrong decisions. Just a thought........
@arb looks fun! Did you access this with a sled or just skin the road? How long is the approach in winter? I'm not quite sure where the roads are plowed to.
Also, due to a gravitational anomaly we skied sideways all day.
Is there a way to manipulate image orientation within the TAY environment?
Love to find new partners Skip. I heard about all that reactive snow up there. I read the NW observations. Absolutely nothing moving at 4600’ where I was easing back into untracked snow. Funny I was warning the groups going up about coverage in the Talus, but now we know that wasn’t the issue.
i went to Mystery Ridge (a few miles north of Blewett Pass) for a couple hours this afternoon and there was a thin crust under 1” new. This sat on 12-16” of medium density snow wi...
Was waiting for a Blewett report. good for you and the knee. Getting consult on my replacement
this week
Blewett indeed was in on Sunday. It was also the most reactive storm snow I've ever seen! Nearly every little roll near 30 degrees was sliding on a weak layer of facets about 16 inches down. I never have triggered so many D1-1.5s in my life! But the snow depth is looking great and we didn't hit a single rock. It's looking good!
Avajane, love to ski with you and do some of the trail breaking. Give me a call at 206 nine nine two 6782. Thanks, Skip
@darin-berdinka there were quite a few tracks in the closer sidecountry that we eventually ran into, but remarkably no tracks in the big bowl (supposedly "Hidden Bowl") that we dropped into. Bet things would be more crowded during Splitfest!
Great photos. Sort of shocking no one had been out there. A friend recounts seeing 36? split boarders in that zone one year during splitfest.
I have seen tracks down "The Tube of Terror" (~10 yrs ago?). They in part were on very, very steep terrain on the skiers right side of the couloir itself possibly to avoid unskiable terrain at the top. It was very, very impressive looking. "Tune of Terror" seems like a wholey appropriate name.
And look...
Looks delish. I was thereabouts today and the wind had done a number on the snow! It's holding on in sheltered places, but sounds like yesterday was the day
Top-shelf TAY-stoke. Thanks for taking us along!
We didn't see any signs of instability. We did see some slide debris but it looked old. Now the tour was about a week ago and there has been lots of new snow so things are probably quite different now.
Thank you for the report! I’m curious if you experienced any areas of concern regarding avy risk.
Thanks for the report, awesome area! Hopefully the coverage will improve and we'll get some soft snow.
Fantastic trip! really cool to see the exit out the Middle Fork.
Rad! Made a similar overnighter a couple years back. We swung a left after the Holy Diver and skied a nice line into Wildcat Lake. Our route back took us over Caroline and Kaleteen. There's plenty of variations with that terrain out there, just tough to know if and when youll be getting into a shwack!
Thanks for reviving the memories.
cumulus, yes I agree!
micah, you absolutely should!
Super cool trip -- I love this kind of bush-whacky traverse. Makes me want to start looking at all the crazy lines I have drawn on maps over the years.... thanks for posting.
Nice! Great photos and I like your route. The unknown and adventure often go hand in hand. A bit more snow and those forest logs could be fun!
Thanks for the great trip report. We were skiing on Saturday and saw your skin track heading up to Roosevelt. Sounds like a great trip.