TR Replies

Nice trip, Marcus.
Thanks for sharing.

Great pics, Marcus, and good meeting you all on the heli-pad in Nelson last Saturday.  Our week was of course spring good and spring bad.  Great corn, a few big settlements under ski, many giant crowns to gawk at, no skiers caught in slides, some mush, some crust.  You may have underplayed how much the hut and terrain rock, though.  Hope we all get back here time and again (as we fly out tomorrow).
Pete

Boing, Boing, Boing. I wish I could hop like a Kangaroo.

Thanks for the data.

Great trip report and beautiful pix.

How about that couloir visible across the valley in Monika's 2nd photo? Is that the east side of Silver Star?

Nice Jess -- great TR.

thats pretty incredible. and who says the weatherman is always wrong. here in the Sierra, I hear the stories of the "over-night pow" in Utah. typically - March

Amar,
I completely agree with your analysis of the snow consistancy yesterday.  I headed to Alpy after work for a short workout and found mush (and no new snow) in the parking lot, but 8-12" around the corner in Upper International, but just on very localized aspects (better on NE side of the moguls).  You could get one good turn, then 2 turns on rock hard muce (muchy ice?), then another cascade cement pow turn. 

Very dense snow, but any snow in late April sh...

Here are my pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2075357&id=42900320&l=696c0c4cdf

fyi, though there were bare patches in the trees, you can still ski car to car.  booting was just easier coming back up the clearcut. 
i sent the ski area an email regarding the creek, haven't heard back yet...

Here is a picture of the slide(s).  It's kind of a bad picture, but...
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/-W7MrQ9U3ym2o9Con2Bq7g?feat=directlink

We did ski back down the WS.  The skiers left half of the glacier that is a little lower angle and get's more sun had not slid.  It's rolling terrain was smooth and enjoyable.  We didn't notice any significant instability.

Sunday was a gorgeous day indeed!  It was nice talking with you guys below the summit.  Glad you had fun despite Saturday's weather.

Edit: Nice Pics!

As usual Scott, you are a vertical animal.  Nice work.

Nice work guys!

And yeah, the gas smell needs to be reported. Baker ski area might want to know too - maybe they can figure out the source and limit the damage if its really their stuff.

Here's the WA DOE spills page. The local USFS ranger district might be helpful too since they may know the terrain and what facilities and operations are up there.

http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/spills/other/reportaspill.htm

Ah, got it, thanks!

Any sense of how deep the snow is in the shaded area between the guard station and  Beverly Creek?

JoshK, Thanks for the clarification. The description "Roush Creek Snowfield" refers to the lower regions.

Juan, I don't eat much on tours, because eating solid food makes me nauseous unless I get a reasonable break for digestion and have a lot of water available. I didn't even touch my ClifBars until we reached the climber's trail and began the hike down.

Alan, the trail bridge is good to go. The creek snowbridges over Grouse Cr. route never really formed this year. The road was being attempted further by people in high clearance vehicles when I came down Sunday. There are a couple of "cold corners" that will have snow, even when there is bare road above. You can probably count on the road being clear to the turn off/ first view area/ "parking permit" required sign (just shy of the TH) in two weeks if it doesn't snow belo...

Thanks for the kind words. I revised this trip report last night, because my initial scribbles made me look like an uneducated moron.

Scott, you're a great touring partner and fantastic rider. Not to mention nimble and very clever. Thanks for following my train of thought, I owe you one or two now. Hopefully we'll get one or two more trips this season. Maybe a big line somewhere exotic... but you have to supply the brain power and I have to get my skis sharpened! And those p...

Great writing.

Thanks.

Eldorado is a great peak, nice trip!

Fwiw, what you refer to as the "Roush Creek Snowfield" is actually glacier higher up. In the right season it is more heavily crevassed than the flat and uncrevassed upper sections of the Inspiration glacier.

Back in the mid 70's I worked in a small bakery with a guy named Karl Ritchie who had a cabin/home on Sunland DR,  just East of the White Pine road. He has long passed, I assume, unless he is in his early 100's. He used regale stories of hiking and skiing the Chiwaukum and Stevens Pass areas in the 40's. Way before there were any lifts, maybe a rope tow or T-bar at Stevens.
I was always amazed by this stout old euro with his sagging barrel chest and thick accent. His back ach...

Nice work getting out there Kyle et al. At least it is more successful than our last trip there. Too bad i couldn't join you, but warmer weather beckoned!

Nice write-up of a gnarly trip.  Clearly you two are going to need to be separated...

Cool! Man, either I gotta get my jealousy under control or Scott has to get a job. This is killing me!

Great effort but....7,000 feet is a long way to go to pull up just short of the summit???

Pictures

author=chmnyboy link=topic=16410.msg68616#msg68616 date=1271730973]
Joe, if I understand correctly, the new policy of the park is that if they don't need to plow the road, they'll leave the gate open; GaryJan might be able to clarify.

For the month of April, the road is open "As weather, road conditions and staffing permit". Hopefully this will mean continued extended open hours unless it storms. After M...