TR Replies
Nice pictures, interesting report.
A buddy and I went up on Thursday 3/19, didn't post because we didn't take any pictures. Was probably about 2 miles walking past Heather Lake TH until we hit snow, able to skin from there only having to take skis off for one section that was melted out. We too turned around before the summit, but were able to find some nice sun-softened snow in places. Overall, probably was not worth the skin on the roads unless you were going to do an overnight at the lookout. ...
Great trip, Lane! You've had quite a winter so far. This was a much more sporty trip than last Tuesday...Keep those tips up, brutha!!!
Yeah, 9 people in the lookout? Yeesh. There are plenty of regulars on this forum who are, or will be putting it all on the line to save our brothers and sisters. Show some respect.
author=cumulus link=topic=42790.msg167224#msg167224 date=1584926799]
nice pictures and TR... if it weren't for the times we currently live in it would be an excellent report... but we do live in weird times, and to post a report touting Hidden L...
Hey Lane,
Great to meet you and Thomas up there, glad to hear you guys made it out of Marbles ok. Hope to run into you again soon.
Great to meet you and Thomas up there, glad to hear you guys made it out of Marbles ok. Hope to run into you again soon.
nice pictures and TR... if it weren't for the times we currently live in it would be an excellent report... but we do live in weird times, and to post a report touting Hidden Lake lookout seems just as weird. I'm certainly not one to tell anyone not to go skiing... far from it. But given that TR's promote a location (just look at Lost Marbles...more people have skied that line in the last month than in the last five years) it seems strange in these days of coronavirus to tout a lookout where...
Thanks for the great TR. Great skiing and photos.
Killer pics! The dog looks a little concerned about what's about to happen.
Fantastic trip and pics. This site is really coming around w/ the quality TRs lately. Thanks for sharing.
Great report thanks for sharing. Wow that photo of lost marbles, super sketchy!!! Glad you made it out safely.
Best week of the winter for me. Glad I got to be a part of it. So fun to have the band back together. This was one of the highlights for me:
3/21/2020
Still excellent with sunny skies!
Ive seen West be up and running and not have as much crowd as today!
Rumors of snow next week ??
Still excellent with sunny skies!
Ive seen West be up and running and not have as much crowd as today!
Rumors of snow next week ??
Awesome report, sounds like a fun trip! That shot of homeboy Lost in the Marbles, wow. Good pictures all
Here's a photo from yesterday at Mt St Helens. It felt really good to be up in the mountains for the day. Skiing back down via the main gully offered a chance for me to sample the different aspects as the snow changed with elevation. There was a friendly vibe on the mountain, even while people were being respectful of physical distance.
Freedom of the Hills.
Freedom of the Hills.
author=JimD link=topic=42786.msg167200#msg167200 date=1584808571]
thanks for the report. Afraid your pictures aren't showing up for me.
Hmm, how about now?
Our goal for the next day was to ski Lost Marbles. We left the hut at 8am and skied a traverse to 5,000', ditched our overnight gear, and skinned up a steep slope to the col at 5,800'. This required a small section of booting. We skied a traverse staying high skier's right above the lake, then a short boot to the top of the couloir.
It looked like two parties had already skied it during this weather window. It was steep, it was firm, and it was loooong. Sitting above Ma...
It looked like two parties had already skied it during this weather window. It was steep, it was firm, and it was loooong. Sitting above Ma...
The next morning we skinned up Hidden Lake Peak and skied the E ridge down to some cliffs where we found a steep couloir leading down to Hidden Lake. It was quite firm, edges barely gripped after jump turns, would have been more enjoyable a bit later in the day.
We booted up a narrow couloir on the S side of the lake and stopped when we found a thin layer of wind slab on top of some sugary unconsolidated snow. The couloir steepened and choked down to ski width about 100ft above so we...
We booted up a narrow couloir on the S side of the lake and stopped when we found a thin layer of wind slab on top of some sugary unconsolidated snow. The couloir steepened and choked down to ski width about 100ft above so we...
thanks for the report. Afraid your pictures aren't showing up for me.
A quarter of the people who read your note were up there today. Classic day with easily skiable snow from the car to the rim and the usual mix on the way down but generally good quality if you kept to the SW facing smooth areas. Clouded up at the top as I got there so quick transition and no photo. Thnx for the beta- I wish more people posted reports instead of just lurking.
Yeah Cold Creek road is a long way up or down for sure. Great for classic or skate XC endorphin burn though.
As to snowmobiles I could swear we saw tracks up in the upper basin from the highway on Tuesday late afternoon. I talked to someone who skied Silver either Monday or Tuesday (I forget which he said) and he mentioned they'd been having their way with the basin.
As to snowmobiles I could swear we saw tracks up in the upper basin from the highway on Tuesday late afternoon. I talked to someone who skied Silver either Monday or Tuesday (I forget which he said) and he mentioned they'd been having their way with the basin.
Robie:
Very Interesting! I've done Silver peak basin just about every way possible including passing over and back thru Nordic Pass and the way you skied back. My preferred route is ski down to near power lines from grand junction then one skin up from the power lines as you described and then after skiing Silver pea Basin ski back to near the same transition spot and skin back thru grand junction. Transition once in and once out, under the right conditions ve...
Good report, it was nice to see you below Chair Peak Izzy! Paragliding video is here for anyone interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2VXex7BCIQ
Sweet! Way to go guys. That's a route I'd love to ski too. Good choice skipping the Swath for the exit.
I second that "one of the best TRs in a long time" :-) Sounds and looks like an amazing trip, love that blue sky...
March 19, 2020 Summit West
We arrived at 2pm with perfect spring conditions. We parked near the Little Thunder lift and made 2 runs. At 3:30 a light wind began blowing. We saw at least 2 dozen skiers with an assortment of dogs during the time we were there. The walkers and sliders parked near the Julie's lift. When we were here Tuesday we saw a bunch of guys building some small jumps -- these had been flattened by the snowcats by today. The skiers and snowboarders were between th...
We arrived at 2pm with perfect spring conditions. We parked near the Little Thunder lift and made 2 runs. At 3:30 a light wind began blowing. We saw at least 2 dozen skiers with an assortment of dogs during the time we were there. The walkers and sliders parked near the Julie's lift. When we were here Tuesday we saw a bunch of guys building some small jumps -- these had been flattened by the snowcats by today. The skiers and snowboarders were between th...
Thursday 3/19 About as good as it gets .
10 am start perfect ! 4 laps for me ,Jeff and Ken stayed for more.
Drove up seperately per guidelines.
10 am start perfect ! 4 laps for me ,Jeff and Ken stayed for more.
Drove up seperately per guidelines.
Nice pictures! We exchanged a few words at the top of the Chair N shoulder - it was a good day to be up there.
Early spring in Vermont... The TR rocked the day with the pics and tales. Keep on skiing!
Great report, what a way to start the traverse season! That shot of the hare is gruesome, if it was a wolverine I doubt there would be that much left.
This a GREAT trip report and photos. ;)
I like breaking up the report and only 3 photos for each section. Yes, many folks can add more photos BUT breaking up the sections was great.
Thank you .
I like breaking up the report and only 3 photos for each section. Yes, many folks can add more photos BUT breaking up the sections was great.
Thank you .
Nice one Kam and co, have always wanted to check that out!
None of us had ever skied the Swath before. Standing on top, we could tell it would be a killer run in stable powder! But, unfortunately, it looked like what we had in store was more wind slabbed nastiness. We had encountered ski tracks by now and could see nice looking turns below. So we followed the tracks down the NE ridge of "Swath peak" into the forest and down. The ridge itself was sort of technical skiing, and the other guys walked down some. At one point, it looked like one of...
We skipped tagging the summit of Big Chiwaukum since we knew there'd be sunny slopes to get through and we didn't want to be in the line of fire later on. Skiing down to Cup lake was really good for a few turns before it got wind-jacked but still okay down low. Pic is of mega Jack shredding with Baker, Sloan, and a number of other peaks in the distance.
The N fork Chiwaukum drainage had more mega traversing in store. We skinned briefly through a peaceful, shady forest to lin...
The N fork Chiwaukum drainage had more mega traversing in store. We skinned briefly through a peaceful, shady forest to lin...
After crossing through another portal, we found ourselves atop a large, shady, and imposing cirque that drains into Glacier creek. From here, the brief description we had said to "maintain elevation", so we skinned northwards before getting stymied by steep terrain, backtracking, and making a descending traverse for a bit with skins off. This got us to the E buttress/ridge of peak 7804. The snow in this cirque was a lot more wind drifted than we had encountered so far, and we were on e...
Once across the cirque, we decided to climb Snowgrass peak, as described in the Volken et al. book. This is a nice ski summit from the SE side. I was leading at one point and noticed the snow stiffening into a slab and felt a "whoomph" near a rock. Luckily the slope was low angle, and I changed directions to avoid the more blasted snow.
The 360* views from Snowgrass were spectacular! We actually watched a party of 2 or 3 skiing down into the S Fork Chiwaukum drainage behind...
The 360* views from Snowgrass were spectacular! We actually watched a party of 2 or 3 skiing down into the S Fork Chiwaukum drainage behind...
The next descent was also amazing fluffy powder! I couldn't resist taking it a bit farther than optimal for traversing.
From our low point, we skinned and briefly booted up moderately steep slopes with small trees to gain the high cirque. I was somewhat apprehensive about this traverse, as I knew it faced East and we would be underneath slopes that could threaten us (and we were above cliffs). However, in retrospect the terrain is wide and only moderately steep. In any case, we m...
From our low point, we skinned and briefly booted up moderately steep slopes with small trees to gain the high cirque. I was somewhat apprehensive about this traverse, as I knew it faced East and we would be underneath slopes that could threaten us (and we were above cliffs). However, in retrospect the terrain is wide and only moderately steep. In any case, we m...
AWESOME! Way to get way out there!
Nice one!
Pretty exciting coming across that hare. Interesting how much wasn't eaten.
Nice one!
Pretty exciting coming across that hare. Interesting how much wasn't eaten.
As we climbed Chatter creek, we observed plumes blowing off the peaks above, a sure sign of high winds. The snow we skinned on was dry powder, so we knew it would be moving with the wind. After one false start stymied by fat wind drifts, we found an okay route to gain the pass to Index creek drainage. An amazing but short descent on perfect protected powder took us to a camp among the larches just across the pass.
We set up Jack's mid and enjoyed beautiful sunset colors on Icicle...
We set up Jack's mid and enjoyed beautiful sunset colors on Icicle...
I did my favorite skimo loop at Summit Central around noon today and conditions were excellent. Very smooth with just a little softening.
The Central Express chair was running as ski patrollers were removing stuff from the hill. Seemed like they must have had some friends or family up there because some non-patrollers were skiing the lifts as well.
The Central Express chair was running as ski patrollers were removing stuff from the hill. Seemed like they must have had some friends or family up there because some non-patrollers were skiing the lifts as well.
WE will pick up the slack at west on thursday . Lazy start around 10am
Aaasen and I took the same trip on St. Patty's day. Didn't leave any Green Snow, but had a helluva time!
Thanks for sharing. Earned turns all year 162. Finally reached the goal of 100 East Peak Summits. I always feel humbled by the mountains. And always come back to society in a better mood. All the best to the Turns all year and PNW skiers....and all skiers and snowboarders....all mountain riders..... I hope everyone stays healthy....even if you do not have a chance to run to the hills.
Your trip report and photos brings back great memories. :)