TR Replies
Nice report, gang. Thanks.
Looks like the usual, better skiing on this side rather than the other, eh?
Looks like the usual, better skiing on this side rather than the other, eh?
Way to work it in the infamous Cascade concrete - I'm sure your quads were thanking you ;).
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
glad you had a nice, safe adventure. sure nice to see you on two planks allyson. way to go!
ski ya,
jessica
... 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...
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.
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/
ok here is the link to the whole story.
http://www.leang.com/kam/mountains/tr/goat_mnt/
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.
I'm there if you didn't get my message yet!! ;D
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...
Thanks CW. I hope to make it out that way later in the season.
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
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
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
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
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.
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...
Nice TR, Scott. Yeah, fun times!! lookin forward to the next trip.
Chris' handle is "Tophervw", by the way.
Ethan
Chris' handle is "Tophervw", by the way.
Ethan
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.
I'm of the opinion that we need at least 6-7 ' of snow to make that area really fun.
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?
Mad_Dog is the one for skin advice, but if I remember correctly, Kam likes a nice hard cheese for B/C wax.
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.
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?
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.
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...
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...
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.
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...
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...
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...
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!
can anyone offer clarification on the sled issue in this area? maybe I will contact the USFS office in Skykomish.
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...
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...
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...
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.
Sweet.
Yeah, but I think that's what Justin is about - the need for a big challenge ;)
Wilson Backcountry Sports at the base of Teton Pass (on the Wyoming side).
Good people and they'll have all you need to know.
Good people and they'll have all you need to know.
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
Thanks for any info brad
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
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
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.
ahh Teton Pass!!!
many good memories from that place! Glad you had a good time!
many good memories from that place! Glad you had a good time!
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
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
Nice nice. 25 Short was my first ever backcountry tour - a fun mountain as I recall. I'm a bit jealous.
Does anyone swear by a good wax to bring with on tours?
I have a chunk of SWIX (yellow) wax (all condition) with me and a wine cork. Rub the wax on and use the cork to smooth it out. This has worked well for me in those "sticky" situations :D.
Thanks for the report Chris. It was a great day out there with you and Mack. Fresh powder tracks all day long ;D :D 8)
To clarify for the readers, I was having problems on Alta Vista no so much due to the snow, but the fact that ice had formed on my ski bases in places and the snow was, in turn, sticking to that ???. It was a lot like the skin glopping phenomenon. Fortunately the bases cleared for the rest of the day. So, yeah, the snow was very, very nice. &...
To clarify for the readers, I was having problems on Alta Vista no so much due to the snow, but the fact that ice had formed on my ski bases in places and the snow was, in turn, sticking to that ???. It was a lot like the skin glopping phenomenon. Fortunately the bases cleared for the rest of the day. So, yeah, the snow was very, very nice. &...
Good report Did you get a early gate opening ?,sounds like you followed our lines from the 1st cept we skipped bundy's thinking it was wind scoured.
Un bundys would be less so.
The refridgerator lies east beyond MAzama face almost at the end of Mazama ridge where its aspect turns Nwesterly .
anyway glad you got the goods.
Alpental and the S pass sucked on monday.
Un bundys would be less so.
The refridgerator lies east beyond MAzama face almost at the end of Mazama ridge where its aspect turns Nwesterly .
anyway glad you got the goods.
Alpental and the S pass sucked on monday.
Workin >:( Skied friday though, glad you found the goods!
Nice TR guys! Where is the TR for the Brand? ;-)
Glad you guys enjoyed the Austrian alps - now off to the French Alps ;-)
Glad you guys enjoyed the Austrian alps - now off to the French Alps ;-)
What about higher up? Surely something was retained? Was there snow on the ridge up to the Roman Wall?
My finacee and I setup winter camp by the lake Saturday afternoon. We stayed Saturday and Sunday night and toured during the days. On Saturday we skinned up to the lake slowly due to all the weight on our backs, thus we spent a fair bit of time on the road. There were some guys yo-yo-ing with a sled. I thought it smelly, but not too offensive. When we got to the lake we started talking about where we should setup camp, then two bilers came cruising up the skin/snows...
j-net and ron--nice work, as usual! you "geezers" sometimes put us "youngsters" to shame with the amount of turns you get in the bx. way to go, and happy 2006! ;D