TR Replies

Sounds like you hit the jackpot again.  If I hadn't already commited to Paradise I'd have been there too.  I'm curious on how you're descent varied from the time we did it a few years ago.  I'm also amazed that Bill S. was able to drag himself out for his 3rd day of the week.  Talk about the energizer bunny.

Jim, snow in the basin rivaled last time.  Remember back to when we left the top of the clearcut heading to the north basin on the upper l...

Sunday was my first real test of my new rando setup (TLTs, Atomic MX 11s, Scarpa Martix boots) and the conditions were super for it.  A bit rusty after all this time, but I can see the light. All I need is a few more turns in snow like that off the top.

From what I saw you haven't forgotten a thing.  Wish I were that graceful.

Great run-who has not driven by that and wondered about skiing that slope. I used to dream of skiing the old line I think on the lookers left before they put in the one you skied.

I could be mistaken. And I don't want to be a kill joy.
There was a time when that run was off limits and illegal.
Only the highway department was allowed to access that area.
Also, skiing from Alpental chair 2 to the old highway.
Something about endangering the highway for avalanches????
The word...

guilty as charged.  although, it was only two of the three that were hollerin'.  all slot virgins.  i didn't make a peep as i was too shocked that i finally got to shred the slot-- and in those conditions.  we shoed up with boards on packs.  i think split boards may be the way to go though.  i've waited a long time to get in there and am truly stoked on the experience.  it was a lot longer of a run than i anticipated too.  so many wall slashes that i lost...

Looks like everybody hit thier secret stash this weekend and would like to keep it that way.

"North Cascades area"

that really narrows it down.

YEEEHAWWWW!!!!
;D

Nice job on hitting the chute! Sorry the conditions were, shall we say, much less than ideal.  And JibberD, I completely agree this is a fair weather tour.  When we did that the weekend prior, we were extremely thankful vis was good, thus making navigation a cinch. I would never attempt the Chutes in flat light or whiteout conditions, even with a GPS/map/compass.

~Lara

We met up with the wives of the guys who broke trail the first day, how funny that was.

hmm, they're not married last I checked.

I heard from Sky after the fact that you 2 were up there the same day.  Didn't recognize anyone, as there were a number of folks in the "apron" area of both of those runs as we exited.

There were 3 snowboarders that came out of the Slot & skied down to us that were hollerin' their entire descent.  Definitely some sick conditions  8)

There is always one....lol.....jeff.

I will say it is east of Meadows ;)

Hmm.. Must be in Utah or Colorado then. That's east of Meadows.  :)

PhilFort:
There COULD be mandatory air, depending on age and ability. I have too much of one, and not enought of the other. However, Alex seemed to think that the face, about 50' of vert, was feasible. He's a MUCH better skier than I, however.

Good Luck...

That was you guys, eh?  Hooting and hollering?  You guys should have followed our bootpack back up the slot...  I did my best Ben impression at the Crooked.

Those 2 tracks were from my wife and I on saturday.
The Slot was already tracked before we got there, so we too headed for the Crooked instead.  Getting into the Crooked couloir in flat light is funky I thought.  Did you drop off the cornice up high, or go in where we did?  The run wasn't the deep pow we were hoping for up high,
but it was good snow and a great setting.  But the lower section where it steepened and necked down was awesome.  The 3 people who did th...

Funny - we were talking about that very line this weekend.  Nice work.

Get back to work Mr. D

Scotsman, JibberD, MikeC and Robert - thanks again for letting me join you! I'll try to post some of the pictures I took tonight.

Some additional notes
* We topped out at 9,000 feet instead of lower as suggested by the rest of the gang, partially because my legs were still functioning and so I figured I might as well keep (slowly) plodding upwards. This really wasn't worthwhile. Although the snow was OK on the Muir snowfield, I probably made three turns during the traverse over to the...

I called today and it was just a rumor with no basis.
They are selling one ways for $10.

Sorry if I got anybodys pressure up.

Stability in the Tatoosh seemed good from what I saw. I didn't dig any full pits, but I did a couple hasty pits and found a shear around 18-24"; down that was fairly difficult to pull loose. Looked like a fine layer of surface hoar. Couldn't  make any test slopes move except on the obvious wind slab of a few inches thick on higher exposed areas. Nevertheless, we stayed off of steeper stuff and stuck to main bowl below the Castle and some steeper short pitches in the trees. A few folks skied...

If you could have known the conditions across the valley in the Tatoosh I think you would have been kicking yourselves.

No need to kick ourselves.  The trap crust in the chute did a fine job of that.

The Tatoosh did look beautiful yesterday.

Regarding the chute I think it needs to be noted that once you enter it's pretty gnarly avalance terrain for the majority of the run out to the bridge.  Also that keeping to skiers left a...

If you could have known the conditions across the valley in the Tatoosh I think you would have been kicking yourselves. Some of the powder over there was as light as anything I'd ever skied.

Sounds like you hit the jackpot again.  If I hadn't already commited to Paradise I'd have been there too.  I'm curious on how you're descent varied from the time we did it a few years ago.  I'm also amazed that Bill S. was able to drag himself out for his 3rd day of the week.  Talk about the energizer bunny.

Nisqually chutes and beyond!  Anyways Josh and I were part of one of the groups that hit the chute before you.  Josh and I left the lot a little after 11:00am and had our sights set on the chutes.  We had decided that if we got to paradise to bluebird skies....we'd go for the chutes....and rainier delivered wonderful sunshine.  This being our first time I was a bit nervous about finding the entrance but we kept and eye on it the whole way....a rise or so past mclure rock we l...

Thanks Ron ,  no wet boots. We kept to skier's left the whole way down and did not have to cross the creek.

Thanks for the photos Jibber ;D