TR Replies

There really isn't much route finding to get up to Snowdome.

Hey wait, what about Sunday's Dynafit girl and . . .

What "OldHouseMan" described is the way to go. The route described is the blue line in this GPS topo map. There is insufficient snow to descend the Langille glacier as our red track in the map does.

As to how will conditions will be a...

I was somewhat concerned that the snow on this portion, which hadn't even given me pause on the ascent, was not holding an edge nearly as well as I'd hoped.  Every turn ended with several feet of skidding.

Yeah, I think I'll just stick with the climbing.... ;)

Any routefinding difficulties for one who has never been there?

There really isn't much route finding to get up to Snowdome.

The Timberline trail trail head is on the south side of the Cloud Cap camp ground. Take this trail for a short distance where it forks, take the right trail heading up and over the moraine and down to Eliot Creek going west. Cross the creek and head up the other side of the moraine. At the top of the moraine as...

Nice report guys. "Chris and Skip on the pursuit of the disappearing glacier"...sounds like a fun adventure ;-)

"Zere is no word for boosh-whack een French"!

Hey now Greg...what's up with this deal of making fun of my accent?

If Skier2 was having explosions just above the bergschrund, imagine the intestinal fortitude necessary above the variation.

Skier number 2?  Appropriately named, I guess.   8)

To be clear, the intestinal difficulties were NOT related to the climb.  I've never had any altitude issues.  If not for my stomach bug, I'm pretty confident that skiers 3, 4, and 5 along with myself, would have finished the route, then waited a...

Wow, cool serac shot Phil!  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get any skiing pictures.  

Jeff, Paul knew just what I meant.  I guess it's not really pied à plat, it's more of a demi-pied à plat.  It requires a lot of traversing, almost like setting a steep skin track, but it's much less strenuous than being on the front points.

Slut, the pucker factor is clearly big.  If Skier2 was having explosions just above the bergschrund, imagine the intest...

(Meanwhile, skier2 was performing a Cascade poopfecta all over lower Mowich Face)

:D

Congrats! Glad to hear you guys made it out safe and sound. I was thinking about you guys on Sunday.

We crossed paths on the trail, early on your hike in. I was the one that offered encouragement about the Russell, only to have my eyes bug out when you mentioned the Mowich Face. Wow. Conditions on that route looked sweet as I scanned it wi...

Oh well that just sounds like awesome snowboarding conditions, y'all, I don't know why I wasn't invited? ??? lol

What's guesses by those that were there about either Russell or Flett having any promise by August? I've seen the Flett in August be largely blue ice (with firn/last seasons snow in sad little ribbons, which I skied), but am not as familiar with what the Russell will do later season.

The snow layer on top of the ice is very thin in many places and melted out in others, I expect that with another couple of weeks of warm weather there will be more...

What a fun day - thanks for coming up with the idea to go there Greg! I had never been on the Flett before  - great place and almost nobody around...Getting to the snow was somewhat long, but a great trail and all the nice flowers on the way make it go by pretty quickly...

Here are some pictures:

Greg and Fabien on the hike up
Gr...

Thanks for the awesome day Chris.  The Mountain sure was in all her glory.  The skiing was pretty fine as well.

While I wasn't willing to commit, it was facinating watching someone who could. Heck, I'm almost considering getting an AT set-up after this. There is so much more control - climbing and skiing (no tele toe on the climb, no freehill on the descent). This route was #1 on my list, and I'm glad a local and friend was able to ski it, get to the bottom and tell me about it. Now I don't have to go back for a 3rd time.

I'm going fishing next weekend...

Damn, another TR I got gripped just reading!

Conditions were perfect for moving quickly up the face on crampons.  The surface was icy corn that held a flat-footed crampon effortlessly; no front-pointing was necessary.

Hey Sky, How do you flat-foot up a 50degree face in tall, plastic ski boots?

Damn, Sky, I'm glad you made it. Congratulations on the descent, and more so for surviving.

Did the 'climber' get down the DC ok?

I clearly recall that remnant glacial lagoon from our last trip out there, and had visions of you two skimming across it after flying down a ribbon-patch!

On a shwack scale, though, this area is quite pleasant (only a BW-2). Nice heather covered polished rock most of the way if I remember...

- Kevin

Your tracks looked really sweet from lower Ptarmigan Ridge yesterday, way to get some sweet July corn.

skip--looks like you and the wipe had a sweet day connecting patches! glad the choss didn't make you take your skis off.  ;) crazy about the shrinkage of the glacier...

I started up the flett around 8am. When I crossed onto the Russell, someone started yelling at me. I'm not quite sure what. Perhaps "SCOTT" or maybe "STOP". Couldn't really tell. But I guess it seemed important enough for them to scurry up lower ptarmigan ridge to yell it again. I wonder what they were yelling about.

Haha... was this Sunday morning?  It was likely a woman yelling "SKY".  :)

More Puple flowers (unsure of what they are)

I think these are Davidsons Penstemon or Menzies' Penstomon. I've also heard them called Beard Tongues.

This was a great trip. Awesome views of the Eliot glacier and the North face. The snow that is left is still in good shape.

So...I guess we'll be making the march back up there in a month to get...

...Fun Factor:  800' ski descent / 4000' ft ascent = .2  (better than average!)

nice, but isn't your Joy-o-Meter value of 20% a little high for a patch skier?  ;)

It once again proved you don't need snow to have a good ski day.

Skip and Cass,
'Tis true...Sounds like you had a grand adventure and certainly righted the wrongs of yesteryear. Well done!

Your map and ground truthing situation gives me pause...I love maps (and glaciers). How sad that shrinking glaciers will soon shrink from updated maps.

I was down in Grand Park late on Sunday (not skiing, sadly, must return to the Grand for some 3-pinning, reports from Charles and others from early- and late-winter are sure enticing). I was training the binocs at the Russell looking for ski tracks, but somehow I couldn't see any. It may be that from down there you can't actually see the triangular part and can only see the part that folds over and drops down onto the Carbon. Or mebbe I am just blind.
What's guesses by those that were there a...

Very nice Greg, et al. The photo with the red dot and tracks, looks absolutely delicious.

PS: Kudos on your new site, http://www.randosaigai.com/

I like the gear section with all the photos of the lightweight AT gear.

We were able to total over 3,700 vf of skiing (OK, some booting over rocks included) ...

Not bad for mid-July!, especially this year  8) .    Glad you were able to get out to enjoy the blue-bird day!  Sounds like the Flett has melted-out quite a bit more in the past couple of weeks.

Do these come in an AT version?

Aaron: yes, i think we can manage that, but the cost will be higher.... AT tax you know.. ;)