TR Replies

Todd, this is the second time in a month or so that shared use of that little section of road has come up here: once with snow machines, now with wheels. Usually the people involved sound more clueless than malevolent. If you're involved with the Nooksack Nordics, maybe a sign to clarify things would be helpful. It sure doesn't seem like the issue is going to go away anytime soon.

Of course, some folks take signs as an invitation to vandalism. I'm jus...

1/31/11 5:10pm

T. Eastman

The local nordic ski club that pays for the limited grooming of that road and other nearby trails would appreciate you not chopping through the barrier. On low snow years there is little low elevation snow for skiing, snowshoeing, ski-joring, among other activities. Wheeled vehicles are excluded from the road when it is blocked for winter sports.

1/31/11 3:44pm

Scotsman

It's like crack!
One ride and you'd turn into Charlie Sheen.... hookers and blow and heli drops. OH my! ;D
I've read the website re heli-free wasatch before and Andrew Mcleans lobbying on straightchuter. I know its' a big issue down there.

1/31/11 2:50pm

alpymarr

Havent been on the ship before. Im sure it rocks. Im not totally anti-heli but am kind of a purist. I think they should be banned from areas whete other motorized traffic is banned. Thats really my only beef. Believe me, if I could afford heli drops all the time, it would ruin my life because it would be my life. Oh yeah, thats jealousy! Guilty. But still, i do identify with the ideals of heli-free wasatch, check it on the web sometime..

1/31/11 2:25pm

jwplotz

Oh, and props to Allen and Sam for the stoke as well. Fine video!

1/31/11 1:13pm

oftpiste

Jan 29/30 Hurricane Ridge Area and Mazama Ridge

yup. and I've been dropped in Cardiff and Cardiac from the choppers a few times. while the outfit may be loathed by some, every conversation I've ever heard on the ship with the guides, owners and pilots was pretty empathetic and considerate of the skinners.

interesting dynamic indeed, and trust me, the folks that heli in don't think it's any less spectacular.

oh yeah, bring back the Brit.

1/31/11 12:06pm

telemack

Good combo; it's good to hear there was fresh at Paradise Sunday too. Saturday we saw huge variations in snow depth, e.g. many creeks were open and uncovered but wooden bridge crossings were buried 8 feet deep.

I wonder what it would be like to ski in BOTH the Olympics and the Cascades in ONE day? :) hopefully with better vis.

1/31/11 11:54am

JKordel

Absolutely stunning photos Jason.

1/31/11 11:19am

Jason_H.

Here's a quick TR I put together with all the pics.

http://cascadecrusades.org/SkiMountaineering/larrabee/larrabee2011sfacewestface/larrabee2011.htm

1/31/11 11:00am

gorp

got to stay in glacier for the weekend. skied both days and it was great. got to tick one off the list and the sun and snow were soooooo good: video here

1/31/11 10:46am

hchagood

Nice photos folks, we are the group eating lunch on the ridge in the first shot as you all dropped in. Thanks for the boot back up the Pinnacle, it was fun watching you guys ski it. Turns out we had a very similar itinerary for the day and we were glad to share the steep and deep with you! Also, big cheers for that dog to stomp the line through the slough, I was expecting to see a real live dog-a-hawk but the K9 prevailed, nice work.

1/31/11 9:06am

Pierce

Scotty - We started on the TH around 830am and reached our high point at around 2pm (with 20min lunch on the ridge and a few picture stops along the way). We also moved a little slower due to talking through route finding and breaking trail. At our pace I'd say we turned around 30-45mins short of the summit. I'd say we hiked for ~2hrs, and skinned the rest of the way.

We started skiing down around 2:30pm and got back to the car around 5:30pm (with about 20-30mins...

1/31/11 8:20am

Scotty

Jan 30, 2011, Another video from the Barron Yurt

I'm planning on heading up that way tomorrow. I will keep an eye out for the missing skin. What time did you guys get to the trailhead and how long of a hike/skin was it?

1/31/11 7:48am

Zap

Thanks, I needed that. ;)

1/31/11 7:44am

Jeff_Ward

Jan 30, 2011, Another video from the Barron Yurt

I do feel like a crack dealer at times. Sorry about that...

1/31/11 7:32am

Scotsman

Jan 30, 2011, Another video from the Barron Yurt

Damn you Jeff!
I'm just going to have to hit the credit card again because of this.
It'll be your fault when I'm broke and homeless.

1/31/11 6:59am

Ross B

We were up there too today... skied some fabulous lines off a north face of "Shadow Mountain" (beginning of Ptarmigan ridge)

1/31/11 5:25am

markharf

We studied those tracks on our way back to the parking lot near dusk. Steep. Impressive. Not a lot of turning involved. Thanks for adding photos to the mix.

A surprisingly nice day above 4800 feet, somewhat problematic below. I showed up all prepared for heinous crust, thinking maybe it'd be a good day for a nice logging road tour down in the forest, but instead we wore ourselves out skiing stable powder.

Mark

1/31/11 4:49am

SeatownSlackey

turns in the Biznatch were sublime. Great day, great crew. I look fwd to next sunday and showing up w/ a fully functioning pair of skis :-[

-R

1/31/11 3:08am

jwplotz

Wow, Jason. Blown away by the images! And love seeing you huck with 30 lbs of camera gear and a broken binding! Thanks for posting this!

1/31/11 3:00am

gbogh93

author=Eli3 link=topic=19381.msg82086#msg82086 date=1296500042]
How was traversing from the back side of pineapple over to melakwa lake?

Not as fun as coming down from Bryant Peak Col would have been... ;-)

The traverse was fine... Nice turns just off the back of Pineapple, traversed most of the rest of the way with one quick skin to get up over the final ridge before dropping back down to Melakwa.

1/31/11 2:59am

Eli3

How was traversing from the back side of pineapple over to melakwa lake?

1/31/11 2:54am

GregLange

Thanks for posting this incredible day's journey. Great shot looking down the Biz-Natch! See you soon...

1/31/11 2:28am

Jason_H.

Wow, I made some really sloppy turns! Ha. Anyhow, good film, story and pics guys. Nice to meet you up there.

Lots of images. Here's a few...

1/31/11 2:04am

gorp

so good

1/31/11 1:27am

Zap

Great photos and location selection.

1/31/11 1:26am

Scotsman

Very Nice.
PNWBrit( Banned) and I got a few slackcountry runs yesterday as well. Hiked Hemisphere and dropped off backside with nice pow leading to virtual cliff out the Brit skillfully negotiated by traverse through avy debris. Then we skiinned up and dropped Blueberry Chutes. What a day... what views....snow great.

1/31/11 1:21am

PS44

Jan 30, 2011, Granite Pk

Nice day on the face of Granite Mt. despite weather being quite warm and soggy. Skinning up the SW rib was a workout!

Two clips of Peter (Splitter):
http://vimeo.com/19372709

http://vimeo.com/19373180

1/31/11 1:20am

Scotsman

author=alpymarr link=topic=19340.msg81957#msg81957 date=1296336402]
The only thing thing that really sucks is the heli-ski/tourer comingling. Just yesterday I was skinning up a bowl and a chopper landed on the ridge about 200 ft away from me, dumped their clients and shredded the choice line.

I have empathy but it also depends on if you are in the heli or not. Last week we landed at the top of Blue Lake Col just as a group of skinners...

1/31/11 1:17am

kath

sweet ..

1/31/11 12:39am

kath

Jan 22-30, 2011, Campbell Icefield Chalet, BC

great video .. fun to see hummel on the other side of the camera too ..

1/30/11 11:37pm

Zap

Jim, Sorry to hear that you only had 2 days in the alpine with all that fresh powder. I'll bet you had to suffer getting that white stuff flowing over your knees, up onto your waist and then regrettably on your face. Geeeeez, you must have had a terrible time. O yeah, you really missed some great weather and storm cycles here in the PNW while you were gone.

We are jealous but glad you are back to share our misery. See ya Wednesday evening - it should be blower powder. ;)

1/30/11 3:51pm

Jim_Clement

Jan 22-30, 2011, Campbell Icefield Chalet, BC

Two more photos:

1/30/11 3:30pm

Splitboard Graham

post a pic of the farmed furrows off facebook :) see you in march

1/30/11 3:13pm

chrism

Awesome work! I've wanted to ski that line for years.

1/30/11 3:07pm

allenat@ylor

I just finished the video to go with this TR

Click on the picture to go to it:

Enjoy!

1/30/11 2:07pm

nedski

I understand the preservation idea in a popular place...but I do not go into the back, or side, country to 'follow rules' or other peoples turn size. I go partly 'cause their ain't nobody tellin' me what to or not to do.

1/30/11 1:15pm

Erick Heyl

Wow...heavy duty!

1/30/11 11:34am

kath

January 29, 2011, Commonwealth basin

great report .. love the pix .. the axe (or whippet) is a really cool shot .. so is the one where you're almost near the hut .. so are the peak shots .. your american border is awesome .. nice work .. beautiful photography!

jason (ha i see you caught him in action) has posted his stuff on flickr .. i thought it looked crowded in the lookout lol .. anyhow someone of that party will prob be posting a report somewhere ..

1/30/11 4:24am

TheJuice

The new snow at 5500' was of mashed-potato quality, and generally not bonded well to the underlying crust. The sluffs we did trigger propagated until they reached flatter terrain below. In our case, since we were in the trees on rolling benches, none of these went far or had the chance to get going very fast.

There was a lot of evidence of natural slide activity in the chutes we passed on the way, both older debris and snowballing/pinwheeling of the new snow. L...

1/30/11 3:15am

Zap

January 29, 2011, - Snobirthday Pass

Thanks for the TR and beautiful images. Powder and sunshine, hmmmm. We'll be there late February.

1/29/11 11:56am

glenn_b

Happy birthday to you!

1/29/11 11:18am

alpymarr

Glad you guys enjoyed the TR. Come get some. Farming has its place, and this spot is one of them. The sheer number of people skiing around there warrents its use. A few big gs turns by 10 people would definitly change the appeal of the bowl. I remember talking of spooning turns at Paradise a while back and started a sizeable sheetstorm..Anyways keep on spooning there Joeda or else Scotsman may issue you a citation. ;)

1/29/11 10:02am

Joedabaker

author=alpymarr link=topic=19340.msg81957#msg81957 date=1296336402]
Powder farming is huge and nearly every line is farmed with precision. It makes sense because sometimes there can be weeks between good dumps and people want to leave some for the next day or even week.

See all you nay sayers, I'm not the only one who believes in powder turn preservation. 8)

Thanks for the report, gotta love Utah snow and it&...

1/29/11 9:38am

Scotsman

Sounds dreamy... thanks for the perspective..Glad you are having fun. Please post regular TR's.

1/29/11 6:15am

alpymarr

Jan 27, 2011, Spring on Red Mountain

The scene is more open. Tons of folks out in the BC and everyone seems to be nice and willing to answer my noob questions on routes, aspects, etc. Also, most people I see are great skiers. Out in LCC most people are ski bums and live up there and ski everyday and have the general ski in day drink in night attitude. I like that. Powder farming is huge and nearly every line is farmed with precision. It makes sense because sometimes there can be weeks between good dumps and people want to leave som...

1/29/11 5:26am

jpLingo

More video of turns. Silas this time.
http://vimeo.com/19327899

1/29/11 5:24am

Scotsman

Nice Alpymarr.
Whats the scene like down there and how does it differ from the PMW scene?

1/29/11 4:53am

alpymarr