TR Replies
With the wind that you described (and generally inability to see necessary detail in the dark), how do you evaluate avalanche risk before committing?
Thanks for the conditions update before the long weekend!
A quality TR with a great storyline and cool ending.
It was! I guess you've probably seen the NWAC report for Snoqualmie already, but there's also an interesting user-submitted obs showing slab depth:
https://www.nwac.us/observations/pk/4487/
We were also in the Kendall area and did not observe large slab failure like this, but we didn't ski anything that open near treeline later in the day.
https://www.nwac.us/observations/pk/4487/
We were also in the Kendall area and did not observe large slab failure like this, but we didn't ski anything that open near treeline later in the day.
Looks nice! Thanks for the report, I was wondering how it was holding up with the wind.
a few more pictures from the day.
Nice! I found slab forming above chair 3 inbounds in Mission, so I suppose that jives with what you found as well.
Looks like fun - in an arduous sort of way. Very interesting snowfall pattern, thanks for the report and I appreciate reports like this with avy condition details. Yikes on that slab!
Going to check out Kings Ridge and maybe Blewett again tomorrow to see how things are...Fingers crossed...
This report is special to me since Hayrick Butte has been a summer and winter project for me for the past 20 years. There's hardly any publicly available information so you have to had talked to somebody to do it right. I did it the hard way by making 8 visits with 3 successes getting to the top for hiking. I've probed the south face and found it nice for skiing but problematic due to the sun exposure which means an icy bottom with the potential for a large dump to slide on the ice.
Thanks for sharing Andy. Fun. Unreal conditions. Maybe one day we will get powder turns in July on the summit of Mt Baker....?
Thanks Micah. Glad there is a community for turns all year skiing.
Thanks Micah. Glad there is a community for turns all year skiing.
Nice work on 160! Loved your video.
Pictures of suffering also appreciated. That aspect to the southeast skied quite nicely.
This is everything we're looking for in a TR. More like it, please!
Nice work snowymonk! Been on that sastrugi there before (and on it on Clear Creek/upper Wintun, Hotlam-Wintun, West Face) and had fantastic near top to bottom runs (short icy gnar/sastrugi to 6K of corn to suncups) but being a visitor from NW WA, I'll never get what you got there.
author=snowymonk link=topic=42409.msg166265#msg166265 date=1578248417]
I'll be chasing that unicorn day when I can ski 6k+ of pow from the summit (any TRs of a summit ski in pow of Shasta?) It gets so windy up there I wonder how often the conditions line up...
Probably not often! That's like asking to ski pow summit to car on Rainier... not likely.
Cool TR
normal parking . there is also a small lot 1/4 mile past the road parking that can be used.
We went over Herman Saddle. They are expecting a lot of new snow in the next few days. Hopefully thy are right.
For approaching Barometer did you go around Table or directly up and over the Herman saddle area? Hope coverage on those boulder fields improves with the next system
frankfrank had better food but we had sun...
with vintage boot top pow (measured in hours, not years 😉) that got very glittery in the lower chutes (large hoar crystals), a magical run that offered a degree of christmas ski redemption after traipsing around the snoqualmie crust two days...
Yep, was real good on the 27th as well. Moderately limited visibility, but easy to find soft and smooth snow below tree line. Some creeks are still open (and Nisqually bridge route is still rocky), but coverage is good for nearly everything else.
The 24th was really quite nice. There is a real base, and there *was* nice boot top pow.
Anyone been to Paradise since this report? Need to burn off some holiday calories, but could easily be convinced to stay home and consume more calories if conditions are marginal.
The picture looks amazing. Your description pretty much describes the Highway 2 corridor. Great skiing above 5,000 ft but a heavy price must be paid between the highway and 5,000 ft and that's without the parking limitations.
What a great photo. It sure looks like winter up there!
Sounds like a rough exit. I've had that same experience there. You'll laugh about it later :)
Sounds like a rough exit. I've had that same experience there. You'll laugh about it later :)
we were there today. Skied off Manama ridge, East side. Lovely conditions. Did laps from about 6k to 5200. Upper part of that was lovely, things got noticeably thicker at the bottom but still good. Vis was flat but doable. My first trip this winter, worth it. Think those conditions will last another few days at least
Yes the road improved a whole lot. I would expect good skiing tommorow as well. Given the coverage.
Thanks for the report. Did the road condition improve by the time you came down?
Hey thanks Randy ,somebody had to do this!
Forced me to go to Rainier today.
Forced me to go to Rainier today.
Skied lift served at west in the morning and then skinned some laps at Silver Fir in the afternoon. Quite a few tracks at Silver Fir already. Untracked snow had a crust that you could ignore. Was kind of fun, very breakable thin crust (probably from rain?), and you could just ignore that the crust was there and ski as normal except for the added sound effects on every turn. Hoping for some snow tonight/tomorrow/tomorrow night!
I got some fitness turns in yesterday evening after a trip to N Bend. Man, it felt good to be back on snow at the Pass, even if it was just West. Hopefully the East flow saves us this next Pineapple.
We skied Silver Basin off the king yesterday 12/17 and kicked off a slide from the wind crust over the rocks at the top of SETrees. Not deep but ran over 300' into the trees. Not reassuring.
author=IntheTrees link=topic=42331.msg166099#msg166099 date=1576524390]
the park ranger unfriendliness was a good reminder how the parks still have things they can improve on.
What was the unpleasant experience ?
Very nice to see someone outside the groomers already - sounds fun and promising
I'm not aware of any parking restrictions in the Bachelor lot for uphill travelers. If the Pine lift is running, you can skin to the Pine lodge. If the Summit lift is running, you can skin to the summit. They did move the uphill route a few years ago when the Cloudchaser lift was opened. Personally, I appreciate that Bachelor welcomes uphill travelers.
Friends in Bend. I was told that can't even park on highway shoulder to access off-season.
Yoyo, Joker and I skied Kehr's, Aquarius and Skid Row.
Snow density was somewhat lighter above 4500 -- Sharks got no core shots, but some edge tuning is in order.
Snow density was somewhat lighter above 4500 -- Sharks got no core shots, but some edge tuning is in order.
Blewett has had several fires in the last dozen years. Dead standing trees make good firewood.
Where did you get info about Bachelor's parking policy having restrictions for uphillers?
I thought about that route and starred at it on Google Earth, but I always see Iron creek and its branches along with the bush whacking as a problem. Especially in mid winter. Did you travel back the same way?
Bachelor's parking policy for uphill travelers now is essentially prohibitive, with a limited daily time slot for uphill. "Greed is good!" And I had a time crunch, so the getting there-and-back added another hour +. Besides, I was all alone, except for 1 pre-season patroller, until I came across a couple opf snow shoers on my way down! Beautiful region there...