TR Replies

Here's a short video that I shot yesterday. I need to learn more about this new camera to get better exposures, but in the meantime this gives some feel for the day. I forgot to pull the camera out during some of the best skiing of the day, as I was having too much fun!!

Silas moved too fast to get on tape.

I believe I was the snowboarder augering in - my wife was on telemark skis. The snow was quite deep and lots of fun, as long as you kept your tip up and leaned back - like floating on a cloud.

Charles and Snoslut - thanks again for breaking trail and for sharing your knowledge. My wife and I are relatively new to the backcountry - we started last year after taking one of Gary Brill's classes. This site has been incredibly helpful and just a wealth of information - thanks Charles and all t...

Don't shake hands with tree branches unless you like looking like a yeti. ;D

Nice Eric! Glad you had fun out there!

Hmmmm...deep pow, fluffy in the morning and creamy in the afternoon.  Hmmmm.  Yeah trail breaking was tough and I now feel like a one legged man in an arse kicking contest but nothing a guinny and hot shower couldn't cure.  The Lewis n Clark forest exploration thru some killer terrain in the trees sure made the day Charles.  Them open slopes sure were bottomless as leaned back looking at the sky.  Don't shake hands with tree branches unless you like looking like a yeti. ;D

I was up there today as well. We passed the antenna tower and went out the ridge a ways. I triggered a anvalanche coming off the ridge (30 ft wide, 6 to 12 inch crown) but was able to ski right through it. We were kind of expecting the instability due to the wind loading but kind of got comitted on the line. Watch the steep pitches off the top, but everthing after that seemed fine. We packed out the pacific crest trail back to the lot.

Two friends and I were skiing in the same area that day.  We happened to top the ridge shortly before the two people that were caught in the slide made it back to the ridge after climbing out of Newton Creek.  We were glad that everyone involved was safe, and although one person had to ski out on one ski, it could have been a lot worse.

Our pre-trip planning indicated six to eight of new snow and fourty to fifty five mile an hour winds that night and morning, all the red flags w...

i agree, a good approach on high hazard day, but not the most direct route..

Or think about approaching via Smith Brook and avoid some avy exposure and nasty dogs...

Check your personal messages.

Thanks ovrthhills.  The rocks in that picture are just above the main trail where the skin track going up the two steep sections meets the main trail.  We were quite a bit away from that area, about 5-10 minutes shy of Bullion Basin.  If I remeber correctly there are some rocks/cliffs facing Southish just as you enter Bullion Basin.  It sound like that's close to where you found the slabby stuff.  The slope we were on did not seem very wind affected down low where we wer...

sweet, represent!

and some more pics.

fun times... felt like i made some good progress on my powder skiing skills that day!!
8)

We were riding quite a bit to the right (south?) of the rocks in the picture, another 10 minutes or so up the trail.  The slopes we were on are out of frame.   FWIW, we stayed near the trees, avoided the open slopes, avoided the steep rolls, etc.  No shooting cracks or sloughing or other signs of propogation, but the pit results gave us pause...

That's what makes this forum work so well for us all.
Nice to have you aboard.  ;)

Nice report. We were up that way the day before when the wind was from the west and found some 6 to 10 inch slabs on SW aspects.  Glad it stablized.  Where were you riding in relation to the rock outcropping in your picture?.

Thanks guys. It seems like I got the wrong month and year on the TR  ???

Kam, there is definitely nothing like a face plant on tele  ;)

Eric shaved his beard and now looks like the ASB president of the local high school.
Joe ;)

Whoa, wait it's still winter, I thought some guys shaved when it got warmer outside ;D.

All the recent new snow and exposed terrain in the top third of the ascent made me a bit cautious. And yes, the debris field was big enough to give pause - kind of a mini-serac field/terrain park at the bottom. It went to ground fairly recently. Good comment by MarmotMtn.

But when we got out of the trees, the snow was really surprisingly consistent. I expected worse from the hasty pit but it was really uniform down to the last major interface (almost 4 ft). The more windward exposure prob...

Nice effort! Headlee's got great terrain, good to hear someone harvested it.

Thanks for the information Mr_D.  

Are the trees you skied those just at/below treeline that frame the first main north facing slope?  (on the far right in the picture below, or even out of sight down the ridge)

top of first main slope

See here for pics.
http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/threadz/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/536550/an/0/page/0#536550

Man...you get to ski a whole month ahead of me...thats not fair! How does the snowpack look in February? Nice pic by the way. Great to see some blue sky in the background.

We were also stuck in the huge Crystal backup.  If I'd been alone, I'd have turned around.  Three hours was about right.  The worst I've ever seen.  Once at the area, a lift skier told us the access road had been closed earlier, plus there had been several accidents to clear away.

I'm glad we persevered.  The snow in Threeway Peak basin was the best I've seen in Washington.  Then the drive home was a snap.  Ironically, faster than usual.    

Nice pics! Some people are looking forward to the huge resort you speak of.

Thanks for the report Mr_D. I'm glad you made it out without injury. I was skiing at the resort yesterday. At the end of the day I went down the Heather runout and at the base was a group of 3 backcountry skiers talking to a pair of patrollers. I thought I heard them mention the avy word, maybe that was your party. How large and deep was the slide?