TR Replies
Fantabulous! What a great outing. Congrats on skiing it -- that's really cool. I've posted a link to your TR on my website. --Scott
Awesome Ema. Rainier is a big beast of a mountain and you should be happy to have gotten to ski it. I was so jealous of those who were up on rainier on monday! I went up on friday and the wind was the least I'd had since my first climb of it, but it snowed on us during our late summit. The snow could have been better up high, but the nice corn down low made up for it. What a great mountain!
We did Easy Pass Sat and Birthday Tour Sunday. Both somewhat mushy but still fine experiences. With all the clear nights this week, looks like the mush will finally consolidate. I think N Cascades had more snow and cloudier nights in last 2 weeks than South, particularly after my experience last Thursday between Chinook and Crystal.
Looks like a great time as well on Rainier Saturday. Unpredicted fine weather gift was well utilized! Scouting the Finger, eh. Are you ready?
Looks like a great time as well on Rainier Saturday. Unpredicted fine weather gift was well utilized! Scouting the Finger, eh. Are you ready?
Thanks for sharing such an amazing trip Ema and for your excellent navigation skills around the crevasses. Driving across 520 this morning was extra special with the mountain in full view thinking about having stood on it and skiied it less than 24 hours ago. http://www.mountrainierclimbing.blogspot.com/
I'm not entirely convinced it was pollen either... I was a mile from any tree, and was skiing a lot of slopes that were brown most likely from dirt & rock... although the sticky substance on my skis looked just like the pictures posted on this board, and I've never had that from skiing through fine dirt/rock.
Sounds like you two had a nice trip. What else did you do up there?
Do we know for sure if this is a pollen problem? I've never encountered anything this bad in the past. Did I just miss the event or could it be that this is some type of air pollution that cold distilled on the snow pack?
woohoo! congrats Ema! I was wondering about you gals this weekend... glad to hear that y'all were above the weather that ruined the plans that some of us (like me) had for the weekend.
Nick - some of the ski-intended citrus cleaner rips that stuff right off, but then you need to follow up with a new wax job. Still, it takes far less than 2 hours to get the skis back in shape this way.
We found some enjoyable skiing up on Silver Peak yesterday, so perhaps we're nearing the end of the event? Though we did manage to get a slight pollen coating on the lower slopes of the tour when we made the strategic error of heading into some deep forest when we coulda stayed in...
We found some enjoyable skiing up on Silver Peak yesterday, so perhaps we're nearing the end of the event? Though we did manage to get a slight pollen coating on the lower slopes of the tour when we made the strategic error of heading into some deep forest when we coulda stayed in...
author=Jim Oker link=topic=7262.msg28906#msg28906 date=1180418463]
We saw Silas and his buddy arriving at the ridge as we returned there - they had decided to have this tour as a little dessert after skiing one of the sub-peaks of Ingalls earlier in the day!!
The return through the basin was a little mushier but still fun on the right aspects.
Thanks for the steps back up, very helpful.
Snow in the basin was mus...
how rough is the road back in to silver peak? do ya need a high clearance vehicle?
Haha... awesome... it should be illegal to be on snowshoes on beautiful ski terrain like that!
Thanks for the fresh perspective with the GREAT video! The look on your face at the end sums it up. I felt like I was there. Bueno!
The corn was amazing there today... we skied Mt Ruth. The snowpack has consolidated nicely. No pollen either. A little sticky dirt down low.
I uploaded a little helmet cam footage to youtube:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=7L1dgwPgBIw
The damage to the trail was crazy... no more can you turn your brain off on the way out.
I uploaded a little helmet cam footage to youtube:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=7L1dgwPgBIw
The damage to the trail was crazy... no more can you turn your brain off on the way out.
Nice trip, Art. It appears your hip is doing just great.
I was also at Glacier Basin last saturday. Yes it is still alive and well, once you get past the wonderful new route of 1 trail-less mile. It was quite tedious at times negotiating the wreckage. The trail was totally gone! I was amazed at the extent of the damage. I would say it tacked on an extra 45 min for me each way. I talked to a group of rangers on my way back who were scouting out areas to route a new trail, they said it will likely be 2 more summers before it would be in place. Bu...
Despite the skin malfunctions, the skiing and company made it a great day out :)
I'm finding this pollen event incredibly frustrating >:(. Here we have this bountiful snowpack for the time of year, but every ski trip ends on a slow downhill note and then at least two hours after you get home is spent cleaning all the gunk off your skis. By the way I didn't find the rubbing alcohol working so well. I ended up doing a preliminary scrape with a waxing scraper to get the worst of it off, then hot wax and immediate scrape, followed by rubbing...
Good Work E! Glad to see you guys got it...I am hoping to get there later in June...
Cheers,
C
Cheers,
C
Cool video, and a good advertisement for ski mountaineering.
Don, I didn't measure this trip but I did the same approach but to 3rd Burroughs a few years ago (http://www.turns-all-year.com/goldhome/hp34/index.html) and it measured at about 18 miles RT. The snow was really fast that day and no pollen problems.
Ron, I've come to count on your faulty memory! And yes, if the Sunrise road does actually open in mid-June and the coming heat wave doesn't last until then, there should be some good skiing in Burroughs chutes. I did take so...
Ron, I've come to count on your faulty memory! And yes, if the Sunrise road does actually open in mid-June and the coming heat wave doesn't last until then, there should be some good skiing in Burroughs chutes. I did take so...
double e ,Thanks much appreciative for the road and ski info. Jeff's a good guy ,I'm glad to see him getting his share. Did pollen give you any trouble that far south?
Charles - Nice report. It's good to hear about the coverage on Burroughs. I think I was suppose to bust you about something related to this trip but I forgot what it was...
Don - Charles does these type of trips in much shorter times than mere mortals ;)
Don - Charles does these type of trips in much shorter times than mere mortals ;)
Marco - Thanks for doing the TR; Good description of the snow conditions, and thanks again for rescuing me from a solo trip. It was great to ski with you. Fun stuff.
Not much in the way of pics tho, in that we were "on instruments" the whole time.
I found this phenomenon interesting and got a shot of it:
Icicles forming from meltwater dripping off the pines...
The...
Not much in the way of pics tho, in that we were "on instruments" the whole time.
I found this phenomenon interesting and got a shot of it:
Icicles forming from meltwater dripping off the pines...
The...
Charles,
Good decision. That's a long out-and-back trip. How long a day was that?
Good decision. That's a long out-and-back trip. How long a day was that?
I seem to recall a similar TR last year. This could become an annual event for testing GPS unit accuracy. I think Joedabaker became a "believer" after your trip last year.
Ron's water treatment system is reliable if taken in small doses.
Thanks for the report. I think I'll dust the furniture today and wait for the corn. ;)
Ron's water treatment system is reliable if taken in small doses.
Thanks for the report. I think I'll dust the furniture today and wait for the corn. ;)
Having climbed that route you are officially classified as certifiable. Congratulations on pulling that off. I would never have even thought about trying to get down that. Impressive pictures.
John
John
Ours got pretty much as bad 2 weeks ago up at the Baker ski area, but they were more or less fine until we skied the last very short bit of woods below the base of chair 5 (we parked by the gate at the white salmon lodge road, walked to lodge to skin up, but skied through woods below chair 6 directly to car). Same deal as you describe in random tracks - I was basically walking downhill on skis as we approached the road.
Relying on the accuracy of the time honored old saw that a picture is worth 1000 words, I'm posting some shots which may shed further light on the exact nature of our many-faceted tour to Big Snow. (You know, Jim; it's theorized that homo sapiens started out in the forest as a tree=dweller and may in fact have evolutionary roots as an aquatic organism. ) No, really.......it was a great day in the hills.
skiied the "glacier"(snowfield) towrds the right of the picture,, off the cd, its not a very good representational shot, pics in rmnp are especially deciving of scale,, the mt to the s. does not yeild very good skiing, not much snow...
Saw you guys out there-- wished I was on skis. That'll be remedied tomorrow. Glad you had fun!
What did you ski in the borrowed picture? Something on the face on the left?
Two broken alarm clocks in a week... hmm.
Two broken alarm clocks in a week... hmm.
To find more photos with better resolution, go to my ski photo site at http://www.telemarktips.com/Photopost/showgallery.php?ppuser=61&cat=500
Enjoy,
Bob
Enjoy,
Bob
Ron, we followed your tracks west from the summit to check out the gully, a feature I'd seen on the topo's. I somehow didn't even notice the chutes. We were debating skiing the gully, but couldn't remember if the bottom was melted out. Good thing we kept to our original plan, it was as we later saw. I've also seen a line down the southwest side, dropping into the bowl east of Hester Lake. Fodder for dreams of next season.
Check out my post on random tracks with pictures. Did it get that thick on any of your skis?
[Edit: added link to referenced post. --Charles">
[Edit: added link to referenced post. --Charles">
HUH? Global Warming??!!?? Since when is springtime a result of global warming?
I skied in through Grand Park to Burroughs Mountain on Friday. No problem on the way in, when the snow was nicely frozen from overnight clear skies, but on the way out pollen accumulated and made what should have been easy gliding into real work. Seems like pollen hazards are harder to predict than avalanche hazards.
As reported by others on this page, the pollen conditions that I experienced yesterday on Goat Mt. was the worst ever. Three members of our party of six skied a few hundred yards through a deciduous covered valley floor. All had problems with their skins not attaching, while the three who had carried their skis didn't.After losing his skins 3 or 4 times, my son finally gave up and post holed up the gully and stayed behind while we climbed to the ridge line. We all had the gummy gunk...
I think I just had my first pollen experience yesteday... after a mile-long glide that supposed to be effortless, but turned into a workout to keep moving, my skis bases were covered with a dark brown tar. Blech. My skis are very un-waxed.
Circumnavigation of table mountain Mt Baker We were beset with pollen destroying any stick of skins to bases.We abandoned our intent to go out to Coleman pinnacle. I had it the worse and I had just waxed.
We were able to climb a lot low angle stuff with just pollen stick. Comically slow skiing down from Herman saddle. Ive been doing this sport 15 years and never seen it that bad.
We were able to climb a lot low angle stuff with just pollen stick. Comically slow skiing down from Herman saddle. Ive been doing this sport 15 years and never seen it that bad.
Swooz, that may be it, if you look at the 6th and 7th photos on my flckr site, the line I think would be reasonable travels off the summit, traverses skiers left just below the two big chutes, then down a treed ridgeline to the creek. The chutes are pretty dramatic looking but have enormous cornices at the entrance and awkward fall lines. I am not ambitious enough to ski those, but I will take someone elses picture if they want to.
Thanks for coming on the trip Tom. It isn't easy to find people willing to put up with my time constraints and it was nice to have company, especially that knew the trail. I made it home one minute before I needed to so it all worked out great.
Phil, the road will probably be around for another couple weeks before the gate goes up. I heard June 20th from one of the road workers a couple of weeks ago. After that, the road will be a bike ride, Big snow will be skied from Dingford,...
Phil, the road will probably be around for another couple weeks before the gate goes up. I heard June 20th from one of the road workers a couple of weeks ago. After that, the road will be a bike ride, Big snow will be skied from Dingford,...
Zap thanks for the info I was beginning to wonder if we were going to miss the corn snow this season. I've skied my fill of mush!!!
The Middle Fork is great... :) glad to see the road is still open.
Sounds like a good trip...I was thinking of heading up there next week. I have never been to Baker and would appriciate as much info as you could share. Such as, time you left the car, time to summit, how far could you skin, is there a need to rope up, etc.
Thanks,
Pawkala
Thanks,
Pawkala
Dammit, Jim, I am a skier not a traveler! (for those who remember Bones and Star Trek) Why did I have to be away again back east for this one? Got to get up there with you some year. Glad it was a great trip. I'll get details from Pico on Monday.
John
John