TR Replies
no unintentional rocks ;)
Actually, coverage was pretty good. I punched out a big hole through to the ground while I was waiting past the crux of the chute (doing a little coaching...) But didn't hit any rocks along the way.
All bets are off after the latest cycle... I saw Baker had lost 15" of base by last night.
bakershredda - yes, that is on mt herman facing the ski area. It was just up valley from the ma...
Actually, coverage was pretty good. I punched out a big hole through to the ground while I was waiting past the crux of the chute (doing a little coaching...) But didn't hit any rocks along the way.
All bets are off after the latest cycle... I saw Baker had lost 15" of base by last night.
bakershredda - yes, that is on mt herman facing the ski area. It was just up valley from the ma...
is that one of the 3 (ish) chutes of mt. herman? facing the ski area?
Here are our pics from the 14th.
You can see that we optimized for Pabst and Miller High Life.
http://nofriday.smugmug.com/Other/Stevens-Pass-Hiking/10326328_PybPK#713918211_5TW5e
You can see that we optimized for Pabst and Miller High Life.
http://nofriday.smugmug.com/Other/Stevens-Pass-Hiking/10326328_PybPK#713918211_5TW5e
Congrat's Ben and Kristin! Nick and I talked to you two just as the Trekkers were coming off. Glad you made it to the top and had a nice ski down... conditions were fun, that's for sure. Way to go.
>>Quick compression test @ 4450', N aspect, CT6 found faceted snow, buried hoar (Q1-2) at approx 8".
Curious ( if you remember any extra details ):
How did you identify the faceted snow?
How did you identify the hoar?
What hardness was the slab on which you performed the compression test?
Did you find faceted snow and buried hoar at the same place?
Curious ( if you remember any extra details ):
How did you identify the faceted snow?
How did you identify the hoar?
What hardness was the slab on which you performed the compression test?
Did you find faceted snow and buried hoar at the same place?
Glad you two had some fun out there! I too had wondered why reports might be absent from the Alpental area. However, my main reason for being out there was to try to "break in" new boots I picked up over the summer. On my my last trip with them they spent more time on my backpack than on my feet!! ;) The amazingly horizontal skin out to the lake and back has broken them in for sure.
photo and videos from the jim oker pack:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/11723786@N06/sets/72157622812050590/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/11723786@N06/sets/72157622812050590/
Great report and Pics Greg. It certainly was a great way to start the season.
On the skin up yesterday I was thinking, "I should have been here Saturday". From all of the tracks on Tye Mill you might have thought the lifts were running. We did find good snow skiers left of Southern Cross, not quite to Polaris Bowl. Took that and Andromeda all the way to the base and we were quite happy with it. I was surprised to see snowmobiles tearing up Lower Gemini. Returned to find the base area a zoo with all manner of folks enjoying the snow. All in all it was a goo...
Good work, all!
We were across the road on Heather Ridge. Got only one 400' vert run on the N side due to inadequate coverage. Thanks to an early start, we got good freshie turns on the S (front) side. We saw several ascending parties during our descent, so it probably got all tracked up by the end of the day. Fun day. Nice start to the season.
We were across the road on Heather Ridge. Got only one 400' vert run on the N side due to inadequate coverage. Thanks to an early start, we got good freshie turns on the S (front) side. We saw several ascending parties during our descent, so it probably got all tracked up by the end of the day. Fun day. Nice start to the season.
One of our party members posted a few photos and videos - here's a link to one of the vidoes from his eentsy point-and-shoot, showing the fun of my first turns of this season, at the top of Aquarius.
Nice to see that the fun extended well down into OR this weekend!
This thread is reminding me of a bit of irony - back in the days when we took the dogs along on tours (when they were young and healthy - now we have a mix of one old creaky dog and one with bum hips), I recall one June tour out past Table Mountain. We started by heading up to Huntoon Point (just above the "Seattle slopes" that Silas and others appeared to have been skiing Saturday), and our two dogs kept going into the melting-out tree wells and disappearing there for a while. We fina...
Nice snow, nice shots! Will have to keep that destination in mind for a retiree road trip.
Love it, welcome to the fun.
author=Scotsman link=topic=14479.msg60530#msg60530 date=1258262201]
What about skiers who take a piss and create yellow snow, shouldn't they FOCUS as well.???
Whats the difference between a skier taking a piss off to the side and a dog taking a poopy off to the side. I agree neither should do it in the skintrack or areas where others congregate.
Why is a wolf turd in the wilderness a thing of wonder but a dog turd a thing of disgust?
...
Wow, this thread got hijacked fast, and by the original poster even!
We were up at Baker BC on Sat pm as well, got a late start, but got a couple nice runs in. Having not been to Baker in about a decade, it's always fun to "discover" the terrain. We managed to find our way down an obvious chute above the parking lot just before dusk. Great day for mid-November!
We were up at Baker BC on Sat pm as well, got a late start, but got a couple nice runs in. Having not been to Baker in about a decade, it's always fun to "discover" the terrain. We managed to find our way down an obvious chute above the parking lot just before dusk. Great day for mid-November!
Glad your fight through the low coverage was worth it! The pics look like you even had good skys on your way down!
Nason Ridge gets no love from the masses, but that's a good thing.
Nason Ridge gets no love from the masses, but that's a good thing.
author=Rusty Knees link=topic=14477.msg60576#msg60576 date=1258339886]Note to Stevens Pass: You missed the boat by not having any services for sale. As Paul said - "They left a lot of money on the table".
Our thoughts exactly. If anyone had offered us $5 plastic cups of insipid American lager to wash down our dirtbag PB&J lunches, we would probably have had 100 percent compliance in our group!
For some reason, I didn't get a lot of pictures of this outing... ;)
We (Moscawulff, Teleskichicka, and Paul) were a part of the headcount. Too bad we didn't run into any others we knew. We did two laps up the double eagle face/Big Chief/Tye Mill areas, then drank Moscawulff's surprisingly smooth first batch homebrew in the lodge till they closed the place down and kicked our small group out.
Highlights - Someone else laid in the skin track, Soft untracked snow coming down the Big Chief face, Lunch in the sun at the base, Deep pillowy...
Highlights - Someone else laid in the skin track, Soft untracked snow coming down the Big Chief face, Lunch in the sun at the base, Deep pillowy...
author=Scotsman link=topic=14479.msg60537#msg60537 date=1258265329]
So only dog poop is bad? Elk poop, wolf poop, bear poop, snow martin poop, deer poop,stoat poop, weasel poop, ptarmaging poop are OK?
Doesn't make sense to me as an argument but at least I agree that all poop near a skin track should be cleared up.
Yep. I'm just asking humans to bury underground (not just under the snow to be melted out in the spring)...
Been plenty of foxes around from the silver/cross fox color phase to the red color phase.
Another version of the same story ;).
Nice TR, fun read and great pics! Seems the only right thing to do from here as you said would be a lot more research... :)
Here are a few more pics... no action shots though...
Can't wait to get out there this year. Thanks for the report.
thanks .I was wondering about the possibility of a tour up there.
They arrived somewhere between 5:15 and 5:30. A ranger vehicle was parked in the lot. (Glad the prediction for calm wind held....)
No fox poo sightings. Last year around the same time we saw a fox in the lot at dusk.
No fox poo sightings. Last year around the same time we saw a fox in the lot at dusk.
That was likey us (Andrew, Greg and myself) skinning out that you passed Mosetick. Departed lot at about 9:30AM, we followed a lone snowshoe track in setting a skin track to Source Lake (SL), like mentioned it is not the optimal ski "exit" track... and yes way too many creek crossings and ups-downs, but too lazy to set the correct track :-[
From SL we headed up the avalanche slopes up to the ridge looking down on Snow Lake. Overall snow coverage is decent, but boulders and...
From SL we headed up the avalanche slopes up to the ridge looking down on Snow Lake. Overall snow coverage is decent, but boulders and...
Good solo short, Chris. Check your PM.
That was an amazing number of skiers and tracks at the area. Thanks to the conga-lines that put in the skin track up Cloud 9. It was interesting to see all the boulders, trees, etc. that are buried later in the season, yet still have lots of deep snow.
When we skied from the traverse track leading away from the top of 7th I entered the track of a surface slide that had run 8' wide for 50' or so; I guess it slid on the surface hoar from before the last 3" of fresh. Skipri...
When we skied from the traverse track leading away from the top of 7th I entered the track of a surface slide that had run 8' wide for 50' or so; I guess it slid on the surface hoar from before the last 3" of fresh. Skipri...
Yes, very good of you to wait for everyone's return. We felt inefficient on the way down (my friend was on a splitboard and less inclined to walk over rocks than I was with my old skis), so were surprised to see a good number of cars in the lot when we returned to the parking lot at 5. We weren't sure if the other couple made it down before us or not. Did the Park Ranger stick around with you, too? What time did the last skiers arrive?
Silas - sounds like a tough travel schedule.
Scotty - I'm with you on the poop conundrum. As for the pee, on the backside of Stevens yesterday, someone had peed right ON the uptrack. Huh. I guess we can blame it on a dog ;).
I'm glad we had mostly-bluebird at Stevens yesterday. Even as the clouds descended toward 4, we were having no problems out in the open.
Scotty - I'm with you on the poop conundrum. As for the pee, on the backside of Stevens yesterday, someone had peed right ON the uptrack. Huh. I guess we can blame it on a dog ;).
I'm glad we had mostly-bluebird at Stevens yesterday. Even as the clouds descended toward 4, we were having no problems out in the open.
Wow. What an amazing starter for the season for our small crew. We left the van at the lazy hour of 10, and had no problem finding as many fresh turns as our legs wanted to handle until we returned to the van at 4. Despite reports that the back side was "done - getting heavy and there's a crust under..." we decided to give it a shot and headed down Aquarius. As long as we stuck to skiers right, where the snow was mostly shaded by trees, we were loving the snow, and no one else had...
Baker BC was great yesterday. Way drier than earlier in the week, and way better visibility. Compared to the amount of people in the parking lot the BC was fairly empty. There were still some fresh shots in spitting distance of Austin pass at 3:00'ish.
Dude, I would rather piss not be covered up. You ever step off the skin track for something and stomp around for a second to find your wallowing in yellow snow?
Dude, I would rather piss not be covered up. You ever step off the skin track for something and stomp around for a second to find your wallowing in yellow snow?
A full ten points and good karma for the rest of the season
btw, was there any fox poop laying about..?
btw, was there any fox poop laying about..?
We sat in the parking lot and waited to make sure everyone came down...Two skier's appeared and got into the last car in the lot. YAY!
author=andyrew609 link=topic=14479.msg60535#msg60535 date=1258264092]
Urine is sterile. Poop is not. Urine also doesn't resurface in the spring.
Fantastic snow today.
So only dog poop is bad? Elk poop, wolf poop, bear poop, snow martin poop, deer poop,stoat poop, weasel poop, ptarmaging poop are OK?
Doesn't make sense to me as an argument but at least I agree that all poop near a skin track shoul...
Thanks for the skin track. I was the tele skier that said hi right at your turnaround point. We foolishly pushed on to muir, along with one other party. We were rewarded with surprisingly good conditions higher up, but paid the price trying to navigate in pea soup down low after sunset. Never thought I would be so happy to see tracked out powder which guided us back to the fairly dark parking lot.
Hopefully the couple we met at muir made it down without i...
Hopefully the couple we met at muir made it down without i...
Urine is sterile. Poop is not. Urine also doesn't resurface in the spring.
Fantastic snow today.
Fantastic snow today.
Thanks for helping me live vicariously, guys. Looks and sounds like a great time!