TR Replies
Kudos to Hannah for getting me out, although the alternative of her & Amar coming over to make breakfast sounded good the night before. I SWEAR it was packed-powder on the upper face and the last couple hundred feet in the upper couloir; otherwise, I'd have turned around. Unfortunately, I forgot to grap my camera out of my car at N. Bend. Thanks for the fun trip.
author=Jerm link=topic=9945.msg40087#msg40087 date=1209774174]
I was in a group coming down the Phantom around that time, I think there may have been another group ahead of us. You may have heard the rather large pile of wet snow I was able to send crashing over the cliffs in the waterfall area (after checking to see that nobody was below, of course). It made a nice satisfying roar as it filled up a small moat. The top few inches on that side was sliding wit...
Hello, Darin. I'm planning to try that approach soon. But is there still a bridge for it across the Middle Fork?
Amar, thank you for the photos! We saw you and Hannah skinning up the snowbank as we drove past!
All that nice powder had a horrible breakable crust on top of it when we came down The International at 8pm. That coupled with all the wet slide debris from the cliffs made for some of the worst snow I've ever ridden :'(. The sunset was nice though 8).
I can easily imagine that, with daytime heating, the cold and light snow we encountered could've turned malevolent - the bond to the crust wasn't good. We found nothing spooky, only unconsolidated stuff atop crust, but we were back at the car by 8:30 am.
Icy tree bombs had fallen sometime early in the week and drove deep trenches into what must have been the warm base layer as they slid downhill. Neat.
Icy tree bombs had fallen sometime early in the week and drove deep trenches into what must have been the warm base layer as they slid downhill. Neat.
I was up there yesterday myself but not skiing. I did admire a lot of high quality turns, however, and got some photos of those turns from the highway, so I look forward to photos by skiers like you. Here are mine:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nordique/2458459932/in/set-72157604838162905/
--Pierre
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nordique/2458459932/in/set-72157604838162905/
--Pierre
I was in a group coming down the Phantom around that time, I think there may have been another group ahead of us. You may have heard the rather large pile of wet snow I was able to send crashing over the cliffs in the waterfall area (after checking to see that nobody was below, of course). It made a nice satisfying roar as it filled up a small moat. The top few inches on that side was sliding with some encouragement on the steeper pitches. Lots of slow moving natural activity where s...
I was poking around at the Pass yesterday too, at Alpental, and the AVALANCHE conditions seemed pretty scary to me. I always admit I'm miles from an expert but here is what I saw:
There is a lot of wet heavy snow.
As it heated there were a lot of tree bombs dropping, and decent-sized pinwheels here and there.
here and there there was rubble and little shallow "beds" where many, many small, shallow (a few inches) wet snow slides had slide in terra...
There is a lot of wet heavy snow.
As it heated there were a lot of tree bombs dropping, and decent-sized pinwheels here and there.
here and there there was rubble and little shallow "beds" where many, many small, shallow (a few inches) wet snow slides had slide in terra...
Hey Steve. Hope you're doing well.
On the east side of the range the old -growth in the bottom of Green Creek is oustanding and the upper valley could make a very good ski descent. All accessed from the Elbow Lake Trail another 5-6 miles up the Middle Fork Road. Road is gated about a mile from the trailhead until July.
Best wishes
Darin
On the east side of the range the old -growth in the bottom of Green Creek is oustanding and the upper valley could make a very good ski descent. All accessed from the Elbow Lake Trail another 5-6 miles up the Middle Fork Road. Road is gated about a mile from the trailhead until July.
Best wishes
Darin
author=Larry_R link=topic=9952.msg40075#msg40075 date=1209732870]
One advantage of going back to the same places year after year is that if one's memory is sufficiently poor, they seem fresh each time. So it was Smith Brook Road - Mt. McCausland this week. Skiing in was somewhat of a pain; 2 inches new on top of rotten older snow. All of that recent cold weather and late snow has left the snow rather immature. Teenage perhaps. By evening it was snowing a...
Awesome! Will and I chatted about how awesome those slopes would be today as we cruised back from the pass proper on our way to work. Excellent choice! :).
At least one of us got a face shot....thanks for making me drag my sorry ass up that godforsaken hill!
Sounds like another great outting up North!!!!!!! Nice pictures..what an area!
author=snoqpass link=topic=9935.msg40052#msg40052 date=1209654087]
Hello Pot....this is kettle........you're black.........over.
That's Mr. Frying pan to you bub.
Parts of me have been referred to in those terms. ;-)
Way to go get some Steve. Yah, it deteriorates fast this time of year huh? I don't suppose you saw a Blackberry laying around on the top of #1?
I saw your trip request, but I seem to be done skiing for the season. Would love to hit it with you next year. Gunsight ridge, Gnarl ridge looks really interesting, Mt Defiance? My soon-to-be wife is complaining that I ski alone too often. Of course, she is right...
I saw your trip request, but I seem to be done skiing for the season. Would love to hit it with you next year. Gunsight ridge, Gnarl ridge looks really interesting, Mt Defiance? My soon-to-be wife is complaining that I ski alone too often. Of course, she is right...
Way to get the turns in and congrats on your newborn!
"I climbed toward Silver Saddle, passing a group of climbers descending on foot. They were apparently a class, since they were roped up on terrain that didn't require it. "
Today is the first I have checked TAY in a bit and I found your post. The group of climbers descending was indeed a class. I am teaching a bunch of boy scouts basic mountaineering techniques and doing physical training for a planned climb of Mt. Rainier in July. We all admired...
Today is the first I have checked TAY in a bit and I found your post. The group of climbers descending was indeed a class. I am teaching a bunch of boy scouts basic mountaineering techniques and doing physical training for a planned climb of Mt. Rainier in July. We all admired...
author=gravitymk link=topic=9935.msg40051#msg40051 date=1209652309]
You're turing into a interweb nerd. Ha!
Hello Pot....this is kettle........you're black.........over.
author=snoqpass link=topic=9935.msg40050#msg40050 date=1209651996]
Host them on photobucket or a similar site.
You're turing into a interweb nerd. Ha!
Host them on photobucket or a similar site.
Thanks for the report. Think I'm gonna head that way.
How do you post pictures that are over 100KB? I've got a couple of photos fm this morning, but they are 400KB and I can't post. Yes, I am technologically inept.
A friend and I took a tour up on Cannon on Sunday, and there were some great turns to be had, but the snow was very unstable, we stuck to the ridges, and it was fine, but pinwheels from our turns started several slow mo sloughs. I saw another Post from this weekend were someone was in a slide. I think it will be awhile before that new snow is welded to the pack. We are probably are getting new to add to the mix.
author=goldman link=topic=9935.msg40038#msg40038 date=1209602058]
Hey Cornfed, I'm the lone path maker from this morning's dawn patrol. Thanks to you for the trail from top of Armstrong to the top of Chair 2. I ran a lap on Debbies Gold and then a lap from the top-down the Fan...all stellar. Nice to close-out April with some early morning faceshots.
Round 2 tomorrow?
Dave
Nice track.
Hey Cornfed, I'm the lone path maker from this morning's dawn patrol. Thanks to you for the trail from top of Armstrong to the top of Chair 2. I ran a lap on Debbies Gold and then a lap from the top-down the Fan...all stellar. Nice to close-out April with some early morning faceshots.
Round 2 tomorrow?
Dave
Round 2 tomorrow?
Dave
This is the jealous emoticon :j: ...and it's way green! :)
Sometimes visual help is needed. Top of 2 today.
Up at the Pass last night (post-work), for 2-3" of fresh. Sounds like you had a *much* fresher time!
Looks awesome. My friend Dave and I tried to ski this over MLK weekend this year but windslabs at the base forced us to reconsider. Nice long steep route.
Way to go Matt! Great picture of the face shot.
The missing climber is Kevin LaFleur, one of my best friends and one of my two main climbing partners. He called a friend around 10am on Saturday to say hi, but we're not sure if he was high enough on the mountain for cell reception or if he was still driving there. Either way, he would have been on the CD/Roman Wall area way after John Scurlock was flying by, hence no tracks.
If anybody who was skiing off Glacier Creek Rd. has any info whatsoever on any solo climbers they saw or...
If anybody who was skiing off Glacier Creek Rd. has any info whatsoever on any solo climbers they saw or...
And my fool ass, sitting on the frozen chairlift with a bottle of suds, thought the IPA might actually be the highlight of the trip. Proven wrong once again.
I will never again tell you that I have a light workload when snow is in the forecast. I'll be leaving early, tomorrow (yes, this is my formal, in-writing request). You know where I'll be if anything comes up at work. Don't expect me to answer the phone.
Have fun at your night mee...
I will never again tell you that I have a light workload when snow is in the forecast. I'll be leaving early, tomorrow (yes, this is my formal, in-writing request). You know where I'll be if anything comes up at work. Don't expect me to answer the phone.
Have fun at your night mee...
Face shots on April 29th!!?? Crazy! That's worth drooling over...way to get the goods!
Weather has bad up there today; 50 mph winds and poor visibility with an estimated 12-18" of new. Needless to say, the helicopter flown by Customs and Border Patrol couldn't make it in. SAR teams did OK searching in the trees, but their search area was limited, and with all the new snow, it makes it hard to find any clues. If things remain the same tomorrow (Wednesday), ground crews will be on hold.
If you pray, pray for a break in the weather so the...
If you pray, pray for a break in the weather so the...
Awesome TR and your pics are amazing as usual.
If your skin track was the one zig zagging toward the top of the White Salmon just before the plateau, then the crevasse was much lower down (fairly close to fall line from your skin track up high). I think it is a 'shrund associated with one of the rolls (aprons) climber's right of the Hanging Glacier. I've gone up the gut in February in a crappy year & know the crevasse danger doesn't exist there; however, our party chose to go climber's left of the mai...
Hello, that was us above you that day except we didn't traverse in from the arm - we ascended the ridge on climber's right and then traversed across at about 2/3rds of the way up when we decided it looked easier to get to Winnies on that side.
Where on the track did you find that crevasse? Was it before or after you joined our track? I'm glad to hear you came out ok. Crevasses were the last thing on our minds - we had neither ropes or harnesses! If you look at the p...
Where on the track did you find that crevasse? Was it before or after you joined our track? I'm glad to hear you came out ok. Crevasses were the last thing on our minds - we had neither ropes or harnesses! If you look at the p...
I did that tour this year - with a detour into Crystal Lake Basin - had a great time. Some photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/87385602@N00/page3/ - Wish I'd known about this forum sooner or I'd have toured more when I was in Washington.
1.21 gigawatts? 1.21 gigawatts? Great Scott!
Nice trip guys! I really want to get my skis on that mountain.
Wow! Thanks for the tr and pics. And congrats on the summit! In the '80's I was intending the summit but got stopped at the Vallot hut do to wet/frozen? (could not feel them.....) feet and the toe plates of my Asolo extremes had torn out (was condidering a ski from the summit...). Twas a great trip anyway and so cool to read your trs!
Very nice!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks everyone for the discussion. Ryan, I really like your picture since it shows just how much that slope gets wind loaded. I think the snow on this exposure was generally unstable this day -- we were able to easily get other much smaller test slopes to slide on the way to Prusik Pass. But, this slide was certainly avoidable by better terrain selection. My second picture was taken where the rest of us skied down to the lake out of view to the lookers left in Ryan's photo. The terrai...
Wolfs, was that you in the parking lot when I left in the morning? If so, nice to meet you. We'll have to actually introduce ourselves if we bump into each other like that again.
Sending some positive vibes ~~~~~~~~~
Hoping all is well. Keep us posted, you're all in our thoughts.
Hoping all is well. Keep us posted, you're all in our thoughts.
Thanks Jason.
The sheriff has indicated at this point that they want to limit the number of people on the mountain and let the SAR team do its job.
However, they will let us know if the search continues and they need more help.
We'll post updates if we hear anything.
The sheriff has indicated at this point that they want to limit the number of people on the mountain and let the SAR team do its job.
However, they will let us know if the search continues and they need more help.
We'll post updates if we hear anything.
Bean Creek and Beverly Creek have some nice summit-chaining options. You can go Earl-Bean-Marys-Judys without too much trouble. Or Marys-Bills-Genes-Iron. I've done the former but we did it "wrong" by doubling back for Earl @ end of day rather than starting there. The Crystal Quartet does have the notable advantage that you're touring in the sun and descending on the north sides so getting the best of the snow; that's harder on those Teanaway tours which have lots of sou...
Saw your tracks on Sun.
As soon as the sun hit Silver Basin the top 6" of snow started pinwheeling. Skiiers set off sluffs 6" down to the last wet crust. Heavy skiing.
S face is melting off fast but only has 3" snow over the wet/icy crust.
As soon as the sun hit Silver Basin the top 6" of snow started pinwheeling. Skiiers set off sluffs 6" down to the last wet crust. Heavy skiing.
S face is melting off fast but only has 3" snow over the wet/icy crust.