TR Replies
I thought that was you we bumped into in the parking lot JD. I was surprised also at the low "folks" count, but no complaints, we saw but 10 people and one canine all day! Thanks is due to whom ever set the nice up-track! Great pit profile, we found similar results way out the ridge to the east.
What a lunch break! Nice work on the traverse over to the couloir. Looked a little airy.
Thanks for the stoke. The Alps are beautiful.
Thanks for the stoke. The Alps are beautiful.
author=Bandit link=topic=11700.msg48675#msg48675 date=1230688779]
Ok. Case closed. Down lift. Power out Diesal engines are hard to start in the cold. Since it's a new lift, Crystal probably called a mechanic to zoom up on a snowmobile to make sure the expensive engine was operated correctly.
No harm, no foul as I see it.
I had always thought back-up motors were run as part of start-up procedures everyday.
author=Stugie link=topic=11773.msg48970#msg48970 date=1231178783]
Orion, how did Goat Lake basin look? Our thoughts were that it needed some more time to fill in a bit, but those north facing lines will be ready soon. Thoughts?
Most of the chutes were filled in and ready to go! Let me know when you head up there so I can poach your uptrack ;D. I think I'm going to wait for a little more stability...
Those pics spell pure fun. Right on, thanks for the beta.
Boot, nice. Great pics. Looks like N.P.W.A. would have been an excellent choice. We were considering headin over towards Lake Basin, but opted for extra lines instead of using the time to traverse.
Orion, how did Goat Lake basin look? Our thoughts were that it needed some more time to fill in a bit, but those north facing lines will be ready soon. Thoughts?
Orion, how did Goat Lake basin look? Our thoughts were that it needed some more time to fill in a bit, but those north facing lines will be ready soon. Thoughts?
Oh, and by the way, I ended up with someone's Marmot shirt (blue long sleeved). Sorry, I brought the same one. I'll call around to see who it belongs to and put it in the mail. Peace.
I love the pictures! Thanks for sharing some goodness from the homeland! I hope you guys had a wonderful holiday! Regards,
Stugie
ps- jkieler, thanks. I'd still be looking had you not said anything. ;)
Stugie
ps- jkieler, thanks. I'd still be looking had you not said anything. ;)
Great to meet and ride with you guys and thanks for waiting up for an out of shape knuckledragger! Let's do it again soon.
author=CookieMonster link=topic=11737.msg48851#msg48851 date=1231003091]
Question: the first failure was in new snow. Looked like the surface snow didn't quite have enough cohesion to form a soft slab ( but the failure was so fast I couldn't really tell ). What was the shear quality of the second failure? The second layer definitely had enough cohesion to form a soft slab but the shear, while sudden, doesn't look very clean in the video. ( Of co...
We had no stability issues. Like boot was saying in his tr, we approached the basin with extreme caution and after a number of tests, we were rewarded with some great turns. We also nailed both the A and B slots/chutes on the E side of Cement Basin with great snow, surprisingly good stability, and freshies every time.
We've been talking with the patrol and they had been bombing S before, with no results except some fracturing. I think their goal was to get the fractured s...
We've been talking with the patrol and they had been bombing S before, with no results except some fracturing. I think their goal was to get the fractured s...
Any stability issues?
I was inbounds and patrol bombed the S. Back til there were more craters than snow, did not appear to have too much move, only the very top layer in some spots.
I was inbounds and patrol bombed the S. Back til there were more craters than snow, did not appear to have too much move, only the very top layer in some spots.
Sonya and I saw your skin track on Saturday from Pick Handle Ridge and right away knew where we were headed on Sunday. We used the first half of your track to approach Goat Basin - thanks for the trail break. I had only been up that way using the summer trail as an approach and we found the route you guys used definitely more direct with less bushwacking but quite a bit steeper and in some places more exposed. We left your track after the first clearing where the trees got stee...
Thanks for the report on route selection- the slide looks like its on the north face of the steep slope just north-east of Table Mountain- correct?
author=Rusty Knees link=topic=11770.msg48944#msg48944 date=1231137682]
Dan, did you find your camera up there? ;)
Ha! Thanks for reminding me Don!!! My buddy Chris reminded me many times yesterday too! His theory for how the small fire at the top got started included my lost camera and a very strong ray of sunshine. ::) ::)
Nice pictures! I've encountered similar conditions in the past two days as well.
So cover was good overall, save for the exposed stumps down low? I've not been up there for a bunch of years - a pal and I were just talking about heading up to see how the mountain has changed in the past bunch of years - e.g. if the clearcuts where there used to be lovely mature (skiable!) forest have seen their slash settle down enough to be nicer ski slopes, and what else has been cut (sound like the lower stuff...).
author=danengel link=topic=11770.msg48930#msg48930 date=1231130888]
Overall, one of the best days at Yodelin.
Dan, did you find your camera up there? ;)
Looks fun! Way to play it safe. :).
Thanks Larry! Your resources and documentation are great. The USFS is lucky to have your help. I especially enjoyed your Scatter Creek video.
We must have seen you guys in the parking lot. Not a lot of people at Yodelin today.
Yeah, that killer tree was a little weird. Did it start the fire at the top or is it wanted for a murder?
The Snow was stable and deep. Better than expected.
Visibility...
Yeah, that killer tree was a little weird. Did it start the fire at the top or is it wanted for a murder?
The Snow was stable and deep. Better than expected.
Visibility...
I guess my early snowboarding years in the park helped with the downed tree navigation. ;) I expect that a harder left or right line might yield a more open run thru the trees.
Interesting? Many possibilities there. But how did you climb onto those downed trees with snowboards?
Thanks Jim,
I thought I might add a bit about tent lights. A number of people have told me that they don't enjoy winter ski camping even though they have all the gear, because of the long period of darkness. For me, the trick is a good tent light that puts out plenty of lumens. For winter, I'm still using the one I described here several years ago; A Coleman folding florescent light with a minor modification so it can use two rechargeable lithium ion camcorder batteries (RCR...
I thought I might add a bit about tent lights. A number of people have told me that they don't enjoy winter ski camping even though they have all the gear, because of the long period of darkness. For me, the trick is a good tent light that puts out plenty of lumens. For winter, I'm still using the one I described here several years ago; A Coleman folding florescent light with a minor modification so it can use two rechargeable lithium ion camcorder batteries (RCR...
Wow, looks good. Hopefully we can get together to ride sometime.
Nice find Andy. Sounds like Arrowhead is in shape (even if the snow pack isn't cooperating...).
author=savegondor link=topic=11700.msg48868#msg48868 date=1231027346]
Yes, still unacceptable. Good management and good customer service should have instantly and without question given out at least a free pass if not much much more. Doesn't matter whether there was a power outage, or whether the lift workers could have done better. This is a PR issue and even the mere existence of this post is evidence of a total failure of Crystal's public relat...
With a cautious eye to avy conditions we found a great day out in the lower elevation trees. Following Steve's cryptic hint here we found some fun, sometimes open, sometimes tight trees coming down from Excelsior Peak. We worked our way thru some cliffs and turned down a nice pillow line in favor of safe descent for the whole team.
We started at 10 am (1500’) and gained the 5300' ridge around 1pm.
Thanks to Steve for putting the skin track up! We followed your track down and...
We started at 10 am (1500’) and gained the 5300' ridge around 1pm.
Thanks to Steve for putting the skin track up! We followed your track down and...
So glad to see you made it out Chris!
Jcocci, amazing pics again. Eli has some great shots of all of us too!
Stability is a whole new gravy these days.
Wow I thought I would never say this....
After a week of bc in Rogers Pass and a week in Crystal's bc, I'm glad to be riding lifts for a week here in Idaho. Lookout Pass and Schweitzer are tits. Don't have to wonder far around here to find the untracked. ;D
Stability is a whole new gravy these days.
Wow I thought I would never say this....
After a week of bc in Rogers Pass and a week in Crystal's bc, I'm glad to be riding lifts for a week here in Idaho. Lookout Pass and Schweitzer are tits. Don't have to wonder far around here to find the untracked. ;D
author=SnowGirl link=topic=11700.msg48651#msg48651 date=1230671576]
Just to clear the air.... Your friends were stuck on the Northway lift because of a power outage. After 28 minutes we (yes I work for the mountain) were able to fire up the diesel engine, start the lift and get everyone off safely. I'm sure 28 minutes seemed like a lot longer when you're sitting in the cold. I am sorry this happened to your friends and it's unfortunate but,...
author=Kyle Miller link=topic=11737.msg48807#msg48807 date=1230926508">
At least the snowpit was interesting
heres the video
illustrating why on that day, bc was BAD!!!
SCARY SCARY SCARY. your vid shows nearly no bonding on those layers.
I don't know if something to this effect was posted above but it's dangeroud for ski resorts to admit fault due to potential liability.
Say Crystal says, "Okay. Here's two lift tickets to offset your lost time and suffering on the stuck chair."
Now one of the guys stuck on the lift starts noticing his nose is a little numb. It sounds lame but people have sued and won large settlements over all sorts of stupid stuff.
There's probab...
Say Crystal says, "Okay. Here's two lift tickets to offset your lost time and suffering on the stuck chair."
Now one of the guys stuck on the lift starts noticing his nose is a little numb. It sounds lame but people have sued and won large settlements over all sorts of stupid stuff.
There's probab...
Thanks for sharing the video - this is fantastic information. Question: the first failure was in new snow. Looked like the surface snow didn't quite have enough cohesion to form a soft slab ( but the failure was so fast I couldn't really tell ). What was the shear quality of the second failure? The second layer definitely had enough cohesion to form a soft slab but the shear, while sudden, doesn't look very clean in the video. ( Of course maybe the shear quality doesn't matte...
author=highflyingpilot link=topic=11741.msg48829#msg48829 date=1230953160]
I was also in the area today and I definitely agree it's pretty miserable up there. Maybe the worst part is how fantastic the snow looks and yet like russ said, not much good skiing to be had... :(
I third that....but with one exception. The sun and blue sky made quite a few appearances!
Not good news for those looking to turn. A...
author=Rusty Knees link=topic=11737.msg48810#msg48810 date=1230931049]
What will make either the 4" or that 2 foot layer safe? Does it bond over time?
I have no idea for sure. I think Aaron hit it right in that a big warmup might do the trick. I would assume that the buried layers might bond with additional pressure from added weight, but I also remember seeing pics of an avy near Snow Lake last year with like an 8'...
Nice report. You guys seem to have the winter camping systems totally wired.
Yeah, I'm very willing to trade a bit of downhill performance for uphill (and downhill trailbreaking :'() ease.
Yeah, I'm very willing to trade a bit of downhill performance for uphill (and downhill trailbreaking :'() ease.
Out there too, saw the Russmobile and uptrack. Seemed like a good day to introduce a friend to backcountry touring on low angle terrain. Traveled 3-5k on SW aspects in similar snow. Also found that the breakable crust went all the way up, to my surprise and chagrin. Didn't dig any pits, but got some fun fracture propagation on tiny open test slopes, and stomping tiny rolls got nice cohesive slabs to fail about a foot down. Stayed off anything steep. Textbook windslab atop a S ridge. Turned...
I was also in the area today and I definitely agree it's pretty miserable up there. Maybe the worst part is how fantastic the snow looks and yet like russ said, not much good skiing to be had... :(
Thanks for doing the dirty recon work today, Russ. The optimist in me wonders what it's like above your turnaround, but the realist remembers that slightly above the base of REX at Crystal was about the fun/awful dividing line - what's that at, maybe 5K-ish? Hmm...
So you think you might be getting old? Skiing down for the lead person in lots of unconsolidated snow is work. The following person just stands there, which I, as little sister, was happy to do more than my half of the time. I was comparing the aerobic work of uphill travel v.s anaerobic lifting/pushing of piles of snow with each step on the descent. Going uphill, the skis tips on the Trabs float with each step. Nice. Not much weight to strain hip flexors. Downhill was no...
Thanks for the visuals.
I've been thinking about this too. Aside from a big warmup helping to stabilize the snowpack, the overall weight of new accumulation should help too.
Someone posted a very interesting article or chart on this subject (weigh...
author=Rusty Knees link=topic=11737.msg48810#msg48810 date=1230931049]
What will make either the 4" or that 2 foot layer safe? Does it bond over time?
I've been thinking about this too. Aside from a big warmup helping to stabilize the snowpack, the overall weight of new accumulation should help too.
Someone posted a very interesting article or chart on this subject (weigh...
Nice info, you guys. Thanks for the video, too! If a picture is worth a thousand, a vid must be worth a mil.
What will make either the 4" or that 2 foot layer safe? Does it bond over time?
What will make either the 4" or that 2 foot layer safe? Does it bond over time?
The Longmire protest photo would be even funnier if some non-caveman with photoshop skills could add a sign to the ski pole that said: "Let My People Go!"
That bottom picture is the best ever! I will be smiling all day 'cause of that!
Nice shots Jon! you guys got some goods, and if I'm judging right by the pics, looked like you picked a good place to ride as well! Nice.