TR Replies

author=Tophervw link=topic=5679.msg23731#msg23731 date=1165193196]
Rumor of Jersan and companions (I believe a 4 legged friend's tracks were observed in the skin track)were not confirmed, However a number of other TAYers were apparent after folks bailed out from Alpy.  2 laps left me wanting a few more laps but

Those were our 4 legged friends -- duct tape dog Keller, and Phoebe the lab. We came up from the PCT, followin...

great run! one of you on the lower section;

We snomo'd from Cougar Snow-park to Climbers Bivouac.  Was that you who pulled in behind us about 7am?

Boot

Jeff,

We boarded off the summit on the west side of Monitor Ridge and found very little crust about mid-way with wind pack powder above and powder below.  I wonder if your more easterly facing slope took in more direct sun and then cooled off in late afternoon.  It was a spectacular day on St Helens!

Boot

Great thanks for the info!

author=Tophervw link=topic=5678.msg23732#msg23732 date=1165193360]
What was the time commitment of your tour?

I think we left a bit after 9 and got back around 3:30ish, though we took our time with the crust and enjoyed gawking into the crater. The summit is 5500vft above the parking lot, so plan based on that.

author=OldHouseMan]both Jeff and I vowed to never ski St Helens in the winter again....

i was wondering who put that skin track in....no trailbreaking, yet an untracked slot was quite a surprise :)   gracias.

How did you like that sweet skintrack right up to the slot entrance? I bet you were stoked when you looked over the edge and realized the slot was untouched! Or maybe our downtracks were a giveaway? Anyway, nice work!

Try regluing them.  Get an old clothes iron and a paper bag to iron off/smooth the old surface, and a cheap paint scraper to get old glue or dirt.  Then use good glue, Black Diamond for ex., and paint it on before smoothing it very thin with the scraper.  Duct tape the skins to a big piece of cardboard, be sure no glue gets on the traction surface, and expect a bit of a mess.

Nice report and pics Pete.  We did the Chair Peak circumnav today and found similar conditions.  Was thinking the slot would be good today.  pretty amazing day for early season!

No, looks like Mike's lucky; Chugash is breaking trail.

Hey Gregg,
Glad you guys had a great Thanksgiving at the hut.  Sorry we miss seeing you, but we really enjoyed the comfort of the BW.  We thought of heading up there for Sunday night, but looked like the winds were going to be pretty fierce and cold.

Nice pic there of Mike enjoying the pow  :)

Paul

Six of us from Bham were up there as well.  We were staying at the Asulkin.  Had a wonderful Thanksgiving at the cabin with all the fixin's--stuffing, turkey, mashed taters and gravey and pumpkin pie.  It took us five hours to put in the track to the Asulkin.  We were breaking trail up to our thighs in the trees below the Hut.  The skiing, as you noted, was sublime.  Pretty quiet up at the head of the Asulkin until the weekend.

Picture 1: Mke after a...

Welcome back!!  Sounds like you guys had a great Thnx trip.  Hope to see more pics sometime.

author=blitz link=topic=5650.msg23643#msg23643 date=1164912315]
spinfast - that sun rise pic was so pretty I put it in my screen saver :) thx! alisa

Thanks Alisa (and thank you for letting me know) It's amazing how quickly you forget about the 3:45 AM wake-up call when you see scenes like this.  The picture may actually be available as a some sort of thank you card (for the holidays) in the near future.

Ian

Probably most realized this but I mistated my initial destination instead of  Bear Pit, it should have read Bear Gap.  Anyway the essential points I wanted to make were that despite the low temps of that day the sun did affect the south slopes, and that there was some significate slide activity on Silver Basin. Glad everyone is ok.

Great photo Ian!  It looks almost better than it did in person.

Nice flight Tony. Where is that at?
I am fixing on a dawn partol tomorrow barring DOT ice rink.
Nice work on streaking Silas, let's dawnpatrol soon.

We were up there accross from you observing the weather and such. Must have just missed each other or something. Get in touch if you feel like riding. It would have been more like an early morning keg stand with you making turns with us.

And Base? Well under all of that POWDER there is in fact a base.  ;D

Nice work Jeff,

You're famous now (at least as a photographer!)

http://www.telemarktips.com/

Brent-

Thanks again for breaking trail for us - it was quite an effort that day.  My wife Sonya and I were part of the party that chased you up and down the ridge.  I often do reflect on how good we have it here - I'm glad you hit a particularly good one while you were here.
:)
Orion

Bottom picture - - Where the heck are your Goggles!?

Face Shots Sting me without them - they must be foggy...

ive read a tr from march of 2003 when some people skiied off the south east side of the summit(the end of the keyhole route) but that was just after an epic storm which dumped 6'+ ,,,the south and west side probally would be possible iwith an immideate a 60m+ rap,or two off the summit block,, the real treat of longs is the north face, which is definatly on my list, but did not come into shape last year,, i did ski a large portion of the notch couloir, 55dg multiple raps, over the disconcert...

Good job, eh.  Just wondering:  Did you camp or stay up at Crystal, or do the commute as Scotsman did 4x over Thanksgiving? 

The road is supposed to be open all winter. There is a parking fee system that pays for the plowing, most of the time the road is drivable with a 2WD with chains. Last winter the road was reliably plowed during and after each snowfall; the road sees a lot of cars every weekend so it is a safe bet it will be plowed on Fridays or Saturday morning. They did plow it this past Sunday afternoon to get people out, although the plow could not get the last mile or so because of cars parked on the road (s...