TR Replies

April 22, 2008, After-School Patrol at Snoqualmie

Here is what I asked tony about more snow since they stayed an extra day. Might be of interest!

Tony,
Did you get much additional snow on Sunday night. Randy and myself skied out in 3.5 hours. the areas where we skied through the woods our tracks were hard to follow. When we reached the car it was snowing hard.

Thanks for coming it was a good trip. I posted it on Turns All Year.

Kevin,
Are you k...

4/23/08 1:14am

GregSimon

Very cool. My son started his "earn your turns" life at age 10, skinning up at Alpental after the lifts closed. Even at that age, he was faster than I was going down. Now, at 15, he's faster going up, too.

Some of his favorite outings as a just-starting-out BC skier:
- The Sourdough chute-fest at Sunrise in late June: He loved the idea of joining the adult after-party
- Nisqually Chute at Paradise: We have a tradition of doing this on o...

4/23/08 12:11am

Andrew Carey

April 20, Paradise, sweet wet powder (avalanches)

Went up to paradise yesterday; they're plowing the Paradise Valley Road, down to 4th crossing now. Snow was highly variable; lots of crust, sometimes just below an inch or two of powder. That left most slope above the road (looking up, to the left of the slide) was windblown breakable crust; we went to the N slopes in the back bowl expecting powder & safe conditions; I was doing pole probing as I started up, felt the crust under 12 inches of powder and the pole tip cut in it...

4/22/08 11:35pm

Lowell_Skoog

April 12, 2008, - Vallee Blanche, France/Italy

author=Michael link=topic=9806.msg39738#msg39738 date=1208942795]
Paul - love your list - that's really funny ;D. Would have expected you to add the faces of the guys at the rental store when you returned your mud covered boots.

I remember the shop tech's words the most: "Thank you for returning the boots all muddy. Thank you very much!" Then he inspected the bases of my skis very carefully. We slunk aw...

4/22/08 6:26pm

Michael

April 12, 2008, - Vallee Blanche, France/Italy

A very memorable day indeed !! This was definitely the best run on the vallee noire I have ever had!

Paul - love your list - that's really funny ;D. Would have expected you to add the faces of the guys at the rental store when you returned your mud covered boots.

Here are some of my pictures.

Thanks for the great TR Lowell.

4/22/08 1:58pm

Paul_Russell

April 20, 2008, Granite Mountain

Thanks for the report. That was Mary and me ahead of you. I think she was the "smart" one. I ski cut the steep main slope, then skied it just before the ridge setting off a pretty good sluff behind me (I'm told). Thankfully it didn't step down to the lower crust as happened in some other areas. The snow was amazingly good. We had intended to head for the West Summit, but the visibility and weather changed our minds. Nice to have it c...

4/22/08 1:19pm

Paul_Russell

April 12, 2008, - Vallee Blanche, France/Italy

Thanks for the great report and pics Lowell. That was among my most memorable days on skis and in socks. I will never forget:

1) Being asked if I'll need a rope for dropping into the exposed steeps as we get on the last telepherique, then reminded not to fall (yikes, what am I doing). And why is everyone wearing a harness and carrying axes?
2) Being asked if I realized I had set off a slide and skied into it on the last run (now know I have no idea what I'm doing). ...

4/22/08 12:22pm

Paul_Russell

04.12 Point 9561, N. Lake Tahoe area

Glad to hear the catapult has been launched, even if a bit South of my garage. Don't forget your hibachi ;)

4/22/08 11:59am

brownc9

Could you rappel it? I've always wanted to rappel with skis on my back...

4/22/08 10:53am

skierguitarist

VERY NICE!!!!!!!!!!!!

4/22/08 10:50am

skierguitarist

April 21, 2008, Crystal Mtn and Kempers

The down- climb to the start of W'east from the summit is not too bad as I recall. You can go up to the "crows nest" start, either from Meadows or Timberline too...that fork of to Timberline lodge is a cool slope.

4/22/08 10:02am

kam

what the? you still have snow ???

4/22/08 6:38am

Animal

We started at the trail head where you would normally use if your were going to go to the Olympic Hot Springs, and we bacically followed the path the trail uses. it was fin to try to actually stay over the trail. It was about a 7.7 mile approach ski through awesome old growth. The Olympics are good. My friend Tony tried to ski the Baily Range two weeks ago, and had an adventure attempting this trip. There is a lot of snow up there so the skiing should be good for a...

4/22/08 6:13am

joeb

April 21, 2008, Crystal Mtn and Kempers

Thanks for the TR and beautiful pics. Where do you approach this route from and where did you camp? I would like to try that trip soon. Nice to see the Olympics get some attention too.

4/22/08 4:07am

David_Coleman

Yeah, but somebody's got to support the unemployed :'(

4/22/08 3:34am

skykilo

March 30, 2008, Les Courtes, Argentiere Glacier

For those interested in more Alps action
Argentiere here
Grenoble & La Grave here

4/22/08 1:51am

skierlyles

April 20, 2008, Tatoosh

Mike, was glad to run into you and Brenda. Seems we are destined to run into each other at Rainier.

A good time was had by all of the Mountaineers and some of us managed to get in a few turns as well. Again, thanks to the instructors for giving up such a great weekend of powder skiing to teach us some glacier skills.

See you guys this weekend!

Chris

4/21/08 11:52pm

skibootup

April 20, Paradise, sweet wet powder (avalanches)

I'm pretty sure we're talking about the same slope/slide. I "kind of" watched the the slide that reached down to the paradise valley road. We were in the process of skinning up to take a look at that slope and watched two skiers come in from above through the trees. They were just over a bump so all I saw was a bobbing head as the first skier started down hill. He was shortly followed by a large pile of slowly rotating debris moving along just a little slower than he was.

4/21/08 10:16pm

Snow Bell

April 21, 2008, Crystal Mtn and Kempers

Thanks for the snow info Amar. It is helpful in deciding where to ski today.

It is good to see that you and Hannah are out enjoying winter's reprieve.

4/21/08 1:44pm

Stugie

That's a nice ways in! Nice tr, those pics are great!

4/21/08 1:32pm

the T

April 19-20, 2008, Paradise

Nice! Kicking myself in the butt for not going as H. R. was closed Sunday. Looks like some great ski runs up there.

4/21/08 12:42pm

skierlyles

Thanks to all the instructors for giving up their precious powder time to teach us young bucks how to travel safely on glaciers. A great time was had, much was learned, and now I have a greater appreciation for those amazing ascents some of you all make. Hopefully I will have some epic tr's to come thanks to the invaluable lessons I learned this weekend.

Thanks again Foothills/ Seattle Mountaineers volunteers!

Chris

4/21/08 12:39pm

normanclyde

author=brownc9 link=topic=9816.msg39677#msg39677 date=1208821736]
Is there a way to ski off the summit to the right sky line in your first picture, then skiing those couloirs down to the snowfield below, and traversing back?

That is the Wy'East route. Access from the true summit requires a very steep exposed traverse. I believe most people approach it from below.
http://www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboarding/tr...

4/21/08 12:02pm

BWW

Here's a map of the area. The arrow should be reasonably close to where the slide occurred.

Eric

4/21/08 11:45am

Stugie

LOL...touché. But it beats bootpacking. :)

4/21/08 10:42am

Jim Oker

Thanks for sharing, BWW, and same to all who have shared additional thoughts. It's always nice to try to learn from the experience of others.

Stugie - besides the fact that I think these folks want telemark bindings, I have to share what Lou Dawson has to say about Trekkers on his Wild Snow site:

If you've done much backcountry skiing, the first difference yo...

4/21/08 9:30am

Stugie

Trekkers anyone? Bueller?

4/21/08 9:28am

Stugie

4-20-08, Kendall Ridge

Thanks for sharing.

4/21/08 9:20am

Robie

April 20, 2008, Tatoosh

Nice report! I knew Brenda would make you go after having to work on saturday, but running out on a good breakfast is over the top.

4/21/08 8:48am

brownc9

Is there a way to ski off the summit to the right sky line in your first picture, then skiing those couloirs down to the snowfield below, and traversing back?

4/21/08 7:30am

Marcus

Since the bindings came up once more, I'd throw out a recommendation for the 7tm tour -- it's heavy, but the tour mechanism is nice and the releasability was a big factor for me in the choice.

Of all the tour bindings out there, I think I'd pick up Voile's Switchback if I didn't care about release. It's lighter than any of the others, skis well and has a simple, well thought out design.

4/21/08 6:13am

Jason_H.

Those bindings are terrible for falling off. I have a pair I don't use often cause of that. Even though I'm not a huge fan of G3's free pivot, it does not fall off on me unless the binding breaks :). G3's bindings were the first that I'd used over the years that had a good system for clipping the cable to the boot.

4/21/08 5:56am

BWW

April 20, 2008, Sherman Pass

Excellent points natefred and peteyboy. I strongly agree. Gregg, thanks again for your local insight, and I agree- that's a very appropriate poem.

A simple stability check would likely have taken the guesswork and assumptions out of the situation and made for a much more pleasant end to our ski day. Wouldn't have taken long. Better route selection probably also would have led to a different outcome. The thing that bugs me was that at the t...

4/21/08 5:54am

BrianLee

For future reference there is plenty of snow above the pass level. I would say at least 60+ inches. Could be some excellent spring corn when it finally decides to be spring again!

4/21/08 5:52am

BrianLee

We rode south side in the morning and north side in the afternoon. I think that this could be my new favorite place. If it were only closer. At least it is close to my family's cabin!

4/21/08 5:33am

James Wells

Is it possible for someone to post a topo plot of this exact location since it is described as especially hazardous for wind loading? I think I know where it is from the photos, but a plot sure would be great. It would be instructive to look on the map and then by inspection.

4/21/08 4:56am

peteyboy

Great to see so much discussion - thanks for sharing your experience with everyone, Eric, and of course I'm glad you're ok. I've skied that slope innumerable times each year since 1999 and to be honest, when I read your description, I know that I could make the same mistake. It's a reminder to us all that the "jones factor" goodness of cold late season snow needs to be taken with a large grain of salt. I try to remember to stay the hell off the sou...

4/21/08 4:06am

Nate Frederickson

April 15, 2008; Snoqualmie Pass (Dawn Patrol)

author=BWW link=topic=9836.msg39634#msg39634 date=1208745957]
I guess that I'm concerned that we missed something that should have been an obvious red flag.

The red flag to the armchair observer is that there was no real stability assessment of that slope, your experience mistakenly allowed you to believe you could recognize slab or potentially instabilities by visual reference. I don't expect to ever have enough...

4/21/08 2:57am

carter

Here is another photo from the tour. Cass ripping it on the "Kick-Ass Blasters", aka "Vente Cocoas".

Telemack, definitely check out skibuilders.com for the run down on building your own ski's. Kelvin and Kam have done an amazing job with the shop and the website. I was on a pair modeled on the "Little Wings", and Cass' on "Space Pants".

4/21/08 2:53am

Dave S.

Jimmy, you funny. I sucks getting old doesn't it?

4/21/08 1:47am

jimmyclimbs

yeah I cleaned my glasses and see... South side.

4/21/08 1:46am

jimmyclimbs