TR Replies

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

Way to slay that dragon, Scotty.
Did you get any wet boots in the lower moraine?

Happy Birthday, Jeff - looks like you got a present you'll remember all year long!

I have posted photos for the participants from The Mountaineers trip. I also posted the photo of Cooper and his snowboarding friend.
http://home.sprintmail.com/~mbdh/

Terry said he would email additional photos, which I will post when received.

Mike

Nice to connect another name and face Don_B.  The top 2.5 feet of the ruschblock 40 feet below the top of the knob to the SE was also uniform dense powder.  Trees and everything away from ridgeline was fun.  Mike, pls pm me with the photo web page, thanks.

I think a shot from Dickerman might show our route.

Here's a good excuse for me to browse through my older photos from the Mountain Loop area  ;D

Photo of Big Four from Dickerman Mtn

I took this photo near the top of Dickerman Mtn in July 1997;  I'm not certain, but the prominent downward-left slanting couloir on Big Four (near righ...

3-11 Update: Warm temps and sunshine from friday afternoon crusted the sun affected areas.  

How fleeting the glory, but the thoughtful will be rewarded.  Enjoy!

Edited to add:

Going to give the new three pics limit a test ride.  3/11/06 powder:

Larry, the highest summit doesn't really stick out too much in your photo, but I think it might be the subtle bump in between the two left-most bumps.  It's also set back a little ways from the north face (there's a small basin up on the summit ridge, and the summit is on the south side of the basin).  It's the easternmost of the two 6160ft contour lines on the map (editied: oh, I guess I mean the easternmost of the 3 6160ft lines).

Incidentally, the Dry Creek route is mostly hidde...

Beautiful pictures.
I'm a new comer, as my username suggests.
Any suggestions on how to find climbing partners, where to get the equipment and (most importantly) how to get ready to do a climb ???
I'm the kind that loves nature, but does not encounter it much in her life. So, help is appreciated ;)

And Larry, I wonder if I met you one time long ago up on the Coal Creek road? I did a few XC trips up there in the early 90s (?) and remember meeting a person who was camped at a sort of overlook along the road with a commanding view of the valley and Big Four's north face.

Charles, late 90's maybe yes. Early 90's no. Sounds like the place I liked to camp however. Just past the second and most impressive avalanche chute I can think of. N...

Hey Eli,

Got video,  yet???

~L

Eli--I thought I recognized you in the parking lot.  We were the two that were coming down the chute while you were re-grouping on the moraine.  It was a little over my head for smooth skiing, but if you recall how things were  a couple years ago, I feel pretty good about it.  We weren't prepared to ski to the bridge, but that is definitely on the list.

Great photos.

Bill DeYoung

Thanks Ross.  I had a geat time.  I very much appreciated your knowledge of the area and experience in the backcountry.  

Photos:
The north east facing glades to the left of the crown face affected slope and its runout zone:



The southeast facing glades we skied about 1/3 way up:

I was on Silver on Saturday and saw the same crown Eric_N mentioned.  I am pretty sure it was in the area of the two red arrows in the lower right side of Charles' annotated photo.  I was wondering what was underneath.  Thanks for the photo.

They don't need to write any books, all of their adventures are web-published.  But Jason's idea of a coffee-table book filled with oversized gnar-gnar ski pics is pretty cool.

Where is Big Four exactly?  It looked fab-o.

John and Gusk - thanks for sharing your trips. I have looked at Red on the map a number of times but never gotten organized to go there, but your reports and photos are a good motivation. And as John has pointed out, in a largely motorized area it may be "use it or lose it" for the designated non-motorized areas. I will definitely be making a point of letting the ranger know whenever I have enjoyed a non-motorized outing in the Cle Elum valley.

quite frankly if your not going to show up to OUR party all dressied up, then I don't want to know about your indiscretions( sob sob ) ???

Yes, some lateral touring in this area opens up a lot of possibilities. The forest in the area seems to be consistently easy to travel through - widely spaced big trees - so that with a good snowpack one can enjoyably go just about anywhere. It's a great place to practice map reading skills and get that "lost in the woods" feeling without being at too much risk of it actually happening (I know, some people don't care for that feeling, but I do - I guess that's my version of "expos...