TR Replies

Kam and Greg,
great reports from an incredible trip. Thanks for getting your pictures up while travelling.
Btw, Kam: nice form on the AT gear.

1/8/06 8:25pm

cascadesfreak

Kam skiing down with a LOCKED heel

Hell has frozen over ;D Way to turn back to the dark side Toe!!...
Great photos Michael and Kam!

1/8/06 9:37am

Michael

Nice pictures Kam! It was a fun day - Christian always manages to add some spice to these types of trips ;-)

Here are my pictures:
Kam skinning up to Bel Oiseau
Greg enjoying the ridge
Kam and Greg on the ridge with a nice view on Mont Blanc in the back<...

1/8/06 7:32am

Double E

Very nice! sounds like a fun time folks.

I went lift-skiing up at Crystal today... killer weather, visibility, views... and snow wasn't too bad either. Kinda icy in the afternoon i suppose.

Also kinda "gloppy" in places too.... which believe it or not I was going out my way to seek out now and then!! Definitely need more practice with that glop stuff. :)

Ethan

1/8/06 4:13am

philfort

Sounds cool... I'm headed to the Alps in April. Keep writing the TR's, it's building stoke.

1/8/06 2:41am

allyson

kam--even when you're gripped because the terrain is sketch, you still seem to have some laughable moments. here are a few of my favorites:

the tip of my ski swung up and clocked me in the pr*vate area. ouch. note to self: watch that tip.

yeah, ouch.

i think i can't wait to go back to Virginia and sit in my office in front of the computer for 10 hours a day, where it's flat. ;)

<...

1/7/06 4:39pm

Paul Belitz

VERY cool trip, guys. 8)

1/7/06 3:32pm

ron j

Nice report, gang. Thanks.
Looks like the usual, better skiing on this side rather than the other, eh?

1/7/06 10:03am

David_Coleman

Way to work it in the infamous Cascade concrete - I'm sure your quads were thanking you ;).

1/7/06 9:13am

sheispiste

allySON, cinnaMON, and Cass... nice work.
glad you had a nice, safe adventure. sure nice to see you on two planks allyson. way to go!

ski ya,
jessica

1/7/06 8:52am

cascadesfreak

... found a mix of heavy, hard-to-turn-in glop.

I rather enjoyed all that glop ;D
Cinnamon made that glop skiing look easy! :)

The glades were sure nice on the Crystal Mtn side of Bear Gap though (ok, gloppy snow notwithstanding); and much nicer than the jungle land on the Morse Creek drainage side...

Recent natural wet slides...

1/7/06 8:24am

Charles

Thanks for the additional info, and nice snowpack profile in the photo. It sounds like the area is already in pretty good shape, and if we could just get a higher percentage of all this precip to be snow we'd be all set for the winter.

1/6/06 12:35pm

sag

Jaunary 1, 2006, Bennett Pass (OR)

I was not there myself but, I did see pics of him waxing his skis with fancy cheese(mmmm fancy cheese). When I asked him about it he claimed it worked great.

ok here is the link to the whole story.

http://www.leang.com/kam/mountains/tr/goat_mnt/

1/6/06 11:14am

Jeff Huber

What kind of hair gel do you use?

I don't think the shinny stuff in Jason's hair is hairgel. I think it's nervous sweat, from the shear mental intensity of the game.

1/6/06 8:41am

Jimmy Row

Jaunary 1, 2006, Bennett Pass (OR)

What kind of hair gel do you use?

1/6/06 2:07am

weekendclimber

January 2, 2006, Kendall Peak Lakes

I'm there if you didn't get my message yet!! ;D

1/5/06 8:45pm

md2020

We've been spending quite a few days up around Nordic Pass since Christmas and it has been getting progressively better. I haven't been reporting because we're keeping it a secret.;)Mostly we've been skiing the trees below the radio tower and I think coverage is pretty good. I think last Fri and Sat were the two best days for snow quality so far but Mon 1-2 was pretty good too. We did a tour to the Summit of Mt Catherine Mon from Nordic Pass. Not knowing the way down the treed north steeps we pr...

1/5/06 6:39pm

ema

January 2, 2006, Kendall Peak Lakes

Thanks CW. I hope to make it out that way later in the season.

1/5/06 6:02pm

Tophervw

You guys wanna try for sunday?

1/5/06 5:08pm

peaceriver

December 31, 2005, Schartenkopf, Tirol, Austria

Toby

we stayed at a place called Bridge Street Inn. a 1960's motel 38$ a night with breakfast in the office with the owners, high speed wirelsss, and clean beds...... beats a tent like I might had done when I was a bit younger!!. My son and I also enjoyed going to the BLM Oregon Trail center where nearby we spent some time hiking out across the sagebrush along the wagen swale of the old Oregon trail.

cw

1/5/06 2:08pm

matthaeus

Hi Greg !
I happy to hear that you enjoyed the good austrian snow. I was in Innsbruck until january 2nd. We could have met. I heard it from a lot of people that they got heaps of snow this year. Last season was horrible. If you have to ski the resort check out Nordpark in Innsbruck and Axam Lizum near Innsbruck.

See you on the slopes

Matthäus

1/5/06 7:05am

altasnob

I was skiing Teton Pass over New Years as well. Good times but I was stoped at the pass on 1/1/06 to let a heli land to transport an avy victim (he survived with a broken arm). I just heard that someone died at the pass today. All the new snow they are getting is great and all but they could really use some high pressure stabilization.

1/5/06 5:28am

dkoelle

January 2, 2006, Kendall Peak Lakes

It was definitely a little low, but there was still enough snow to classify it as fun. Depends on how deparate you are I guess. The lower creek crossings were the step-across kind: snow on one side, snow on the other,piled up maybe 1 foot high on the banks, and a mellow creek fully visible 18 inches under your "ski bridge". There were buried logs causing linear snow humps, but not too bad. An upper creek, downstream of the place I was calling the second meadow c...

1/5/06 5:13am

Double E

Nice TR, Scott. Yeah, fun times!! lookin forward to the next trip.

Chris' handle is "Tophervw", by the way.

Ethan

1/5/06 5:07am

Robie

ya me wants to know too?
I'm of the opinion that we need at least 6-7 ' of snow to make that area really fun.

1/5/06 4:35am

JibberD

Kam likes a nice hard cheese for B/C wax.

Cheese? Say like a festering hunk of parmesan? What about bacon flavored cheese whiz in the gas powered can? Too soft probably. Plus I wouldn't want to lead the Paradise fox on a wild cheese chase all over the mountain. That'd be cruel.

But seriously, hmmm, you think cheese is the way to go?

1/5/06 3:09am

sag

Mad_Dog is the one for skin advice, but if I remember correctly, Kam likes a nice hard cheese for B/C wax.

1/5/06 2:40am

Randonnee

I have had success in removing dirt from skin glue by scraping with a metal wax scraper- vigorously. It left a nice workable glue surface.

1/4/06 11:36pm

Charles

Thanks for the report from the forest. How would you characterize the overall coverage and travel-ability of the terrain in the old-growth between the XC trails and Nordic Pass? It sounds like the creek crossings could still use some filling in, but aside from those is everything pretty well covered now and the traveling good?

1/4/06 6:16pm

JMor

I got some wierd grunge on my skins after that day, maybe from the back of the truck. >:( Any tips for cleaning them without removing all of the glue?

Windex and paper towels will work on some of that "wierd stuff", but for the really wierd, besides a base cleaner which will take off the glue, I dunno.

1/4/06 8:02am

MW88888888

Check out Togwotee (sp?) Pass also, it's a little bit further, but a lot less crowded than teton pass.

And if you must ski at a ski area (like, say, when it pounds and Teton Pass is closed), check out Grand Targee. If you're in the game for Powder, it can be found off the lifts here on a powder day. Of course if Teton Pass is closed, then scratch Targee and go for JH. If you ski the lifts at Jackson Hole, ski the backside, it will blow your mind.

The phot...

1/4/06 7:18am

fheimer

I second that motion. Wilson sports gave us all the beta we needed. There is a photo atlas of the area that has great aerial photos of most of the good spots and a cheap topo available at the shop. Other than that talk to the locals. Some are a little bit, how do I say this, not so good at sharing, but many are really great people. Have great time. I write a trip report to let us know how it went.

1/4/06 7:11am

fheimer

Yeah my girlfriend and I went up there in early December and found some good turns. Everywhere else in oregon was mush and we were skiing powder in sunny weather. The snowpack was somewhat shallow but there is definately touring potentional. The resort is really low key, has a great bar and has camping in the parking lot. We hiked up the ridge next to the resort and then skied down the backside. We also skied the next drainage over. With nice turns. I de...

1/4/06 3:16am

philfort

I took the guestimation just as the trail pops out of the trees and crosses the wide gentle stream gully that leads immediately west of the moraine. The stream was still visible in many places, so I could see how deep the snowpack was. I think that's just below 5000ft.

Under the forest canopy at that elevation, there is only about 6-12 inches :-(
The gullies around there are filled in well, but plenty of grass showing near the crest of the moraine itself. The peaks across the w...

1/4/06 2:48am

ema

Where did you stay in Baker City?

1/4/06 2:46am

ema

Dec 31, 2005, Heather Ridge

I drove to the trailhead on Christmas and It looked pretty bad. Although there has been little snow below 3700' since, I'm surprised that there was only 2' at 5k after all the storms since Christmas...Bummer. Out of curiosity, where did you take the estimation Phil?...Username, the Roman Wall looked sweet today, go get it!

1/4/06 1:51am

juan

can anyone offer clarification on the sled issue in this area? maybe I will contact the USFS office in Skykomish.

1/4/06 1:28am

peaceriver

My son and I spent a couple of days sking there the week before new years when they were open all week. Great snow we had a little less than a foot of fresh and tho the area has only about 900 vt we lapped fresh tracks all day in some pleasent trees far skiers rt. It sounds like Thursdays can be busy... for them as they have half price tickets I was eyeing some lines on the back side and spoke with a Tele patroller who spoke of a variety of lines later in the season when things fille...

1/4/06 1:14am

telemack

December 13-14, 2005, Mt Logan

Good report Chris. As a wannabee Scot to the real item, I gotta tell my first name is "Mack" as in Truck, or "MacKnight". ;)
Also, I was freeheelin' with scotsman and jibberd while they AT'ed.
It's a lot easier to find Mazama Face from the Paradise Valley road, but it was pretty cool to get at it from the top by playing Blind Man's Fluff.
I got some wierd grunge on my skins after that day, maybe from the back of the truck. >:( Any tips f...

1/4/06 1:10am

corn_dog

That notch looks familiar. A friend and I slogged in there one summer maybe 3 years ago. Always wondered if that was the "correct" way, since it didn't seem to get much traffic. Saw goat tracks in the snow by the notch but not much other sign of traffic. We stopped there, whole thing was a bit more than we anticipated :)
Sweet.

1/3/06 6:38pm

David_Coleman

Yeah, but I think that's what Justin is about - the need for a big challenge ;)

1/3/06 5:49pm

powscraper

i knew it

1/3/06 3:22pm

galen

Wilson Backcountry Sports at the base of Teton Pass (on the Wyoming side).

Good people and they'll have all you need to know.

1/3/06 10:00am

butrsmocrver

Jaunary 1, 2006, Bennett Pass (OR)

Hey , Were headed there in a week 1/2, Anymore info on those Teton tours, other than 25 short. Were going to ski, Bridger, The Geee, Some Teton Tours and of course JH.(Since it's the last year of the tram). I'm a little worried that it's so good now but in two weeks it's going to be hammered out by then. More touring I guess>

Thanks for any info brad

1/3/06 7:12am

jimgolden

1/2/06

perfect PNW Mash Potatoes, w/ 2 ft deep ruts from turns all over the place. gonna take some major snow to repair that damage.

tree riding on the way in was nice tho, both above and below the road. good coverage in the trees too.

the access road was like a freeway, couldn't beleive the # of people back in there, both tele and XC

jimbrah

1/3/06 3:18am

philfort

What about higher up? Surely something was retained? Was there snow on the ridge up to the Roman Wall?

Justin, all of the snow on Baker is gone, it's just a dry chosspile now. Bring gaitors, the cacti are prickly.

1/3/06 12:15am

BrianLee

december 30, 2005, Hohe Wasserfalle, Austria

ahh Teton Pass!!!

many good memories from that place! Glad you had a good time!

1/2/06 7:51pm

Joedabaker

Thanks for sharing your adventures!
Great inspiration and a reminder of the endless possibilities.

Enjoy Chamonix. Ski the Grand Montet if your plans allow.
Wishing you stable snow and deep powder!
Joe

1/2/06 7:48pm

skip

Nice nice. 25 Short was my first ever backcountry tour - a fun mountain as I recall. I'm a bit jealous.

1/2/06 7:33pm

JMor