TR Replies

I will probably try to go there (Nordic pass) Saturday with lightweight metal edge fish-scales and just thrash around for entertainment value. This could be the "peaK" snow pack right around now. Email me This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. is anyone is interested. David

latest: Saturday and Saturday night: Mostly cloudy with a chance of showers. Snow level 3500 feet.

4/5/05 1:33am

ron j

Sounds like the "Crevasse Angels" are at it again. ;)

4/5/05 12:54am

Monika

Glad to hear you all had a stellar day with the new coverage! Too bad i can't ski multiple places simultaneously. I was at Baker on Sunday having fun exploring in and out of bounds with the girls Allyson, Cinnamon, Kelly and one lucky guy Paul Russell :D .

4/4/05 11:02pm

Randito

Nordic pass is around 4000ft.
It's located west and slightly north of Mt Catherine,

Starting at the Hyak ski area and crossing over nordic pass was the traditional route to Silver peak back before the "Nordic Center" was developed.

MAP LINK

4/4/05 10:53pm

polarhounda

bulion basin follow the main trail when you get to the open area(boulion basin) head left east ne to the top of the ridge from there it is all good the ski out is a litle rough slogging thru the crust but the upper slopes in bulion and cement are fantastic
the view from east peak is one of the best Crystal with Rainier in the back ground
good luck

4/4/05 8:34pm

ericd

I was wondering that too...

I'd go with what you are guessing. In normal years, Snoqualmie would have more snow at a given elevation than Silver Creek, 15 miles further east. At 3600-4000' yesterday there was only 6-12" of the new snow, so Nordic Pass should have more, but would it be enough to have a satisfying ski through the forest without a trail? There was the Lodge Lake report from last weekend that indicated that touring through the forest was a...

4/4/05 8:27pm

ericd

Okay, we did see your skin track going up Silver Basin. We also saw a couple tracks coming back down. We thought it was just the patroller we heard about at the base when we were talking to the ski patrol. Your route was our original plan, but several in our party (including myself) were nervous about that 3-foot slab layer in the main basin. Sounds like it was okay for you, though.

Sounds like you had a great few days in the Crystal backcountry! Saturday wa...

4/4/05 7:03pm

ron j

Darryl, you were just WISHing it was you in that tree well. I've seen both of us enjoy them every bit as much as Jerry was in the viddy.
Gus, the trees are COVERED! Cool, eh?
Jerry keeps threatening to quit doing the viddy's as it is so time consuming to crank them out from the footage of the ski day. I sure hope he never quits, tho; what a great tool to help re-live a stellar ski day... ;D and a Secret Backcountry Handshake to boot! 8) How sweet is that! :D (it was...

4/4/05 6:58pm

gusk

Great video. Thanks for sharing.

Those slopes look familiar, but where are all the little trees that were there earlier in the year?

4/4/05 6:28pm

Darryl

I missed Jerry White diving into a tree well?!?!?!? Thank God someone else will be on the blopper film besides me.

Students, don't be fooled. That was the goober handshake and NOT the real SBH.

4/4/05 5:52pm

polarhounda

we left the base area @ 7:30 saturday morning cut under 3 way and headed west into silver basin and over the top of the ridge
hour glass is on the northwest side of the King, the talest peak in that area visable from the cambel basin lodge.
on sunday we went into bullion basin and made laps there north facing pitch mid calf and wonderfull
over a 3 day period we skied at least 1 pitch in every aspect and did not get a single release

4/4/05 10:01am

Jim Oker

If we get more snow in the next two weeks, I will. I'm off to Tahoe for some skiing and visiting with bay area folks this coming weekend.

4/4/05 8:53am

ericd

Crystal lakes was great you should of kept going and used our up track we skied a few runs above the lake hiked back to the silver bason ridge then up to the King were hour glass was fantastic
another great day in the BC ;D

Welcome polarhounda. Were you there on Saturday or Sunday? We didn't see anyone else in the area on Saturday, but we could have missed you if you were back near Crystal Lakes. Sounds like maybe there was...

4/4/05 8:50am

I still can't believe that crust held us up! Definitely nice to Spring Ahead and Fall Back into Winter 8) (14mb video)
Chris: Sorry I didn't catch more footage of you, next time man. Good skiing from all!!
Skifest: Let's do it!!! 8)

PS ---Anyone in the Mountaineers Glacier Travel and Cravasse Rescue class needs to know the SBH (Secret Backcountry Handshake) by this weeks class for the test. (See Video)...

4/4/05 4:52am

Charles

I was wondering that too...

I'd go with what you are guessing. In normal years, Snoqualmie would have more snow at a given elevation than Silver Creek, 15 miles further east. At 3600-4000' yesterday there was only 6-12" of the new snow, so Nordic Pass should have more, but would it be enough to have a satisfying ski through the forest without a trail? There was the Lodge Lake report from last weekend that indicated that touring through the forest was a challenge, but more snow fell l...

4/4/05 3:27am

ron j

Oh yeah, Mike, the coverage... We forgot to mention that.
There's an easy three feet, or more, of snow over the skimpy coverage we were skiing on mid to late march.
Ski pole tests went to the handle on most all aspects. We started out skiing the trees just from the sheer volume of recent snow. As we gained more experience with the snowpack through field testing we realized that the foot or more of consolidated (which fell wet and later got rained on) underneath the 4 to 6 inches of fres...

4/4/05 2:43am

md2020

damnit! I knew we should have gone to Paradise on Sunday. We chose a resort weekend at Mt Baker intead. Pretty fun though. That looks like pretty good coverage - maybe the best I've seen all year - and good snow too. You gotta have a TAY party for sure now.

4/4/05 2:35am

polarhounda

Crystal lakes was great you should of kept going and used our up track we skied a few runs above the lake hiked back to the silver bason ridge then up to the King were hour glass was fantastic
another great day in the BC ;D

4/4/05 1:16am

JMor

It had to be one of the best days yet at Paradise. When we got to the parking lot shortly after 9:00 there were only four other cars there! We seemed to have the whole area to ourselves. With so much new snow and so many places to go, our first run was within 5 minutes of the car ;D We were like a bunch of little kids in a candy store, and wanted all of it. So Ron, Jerry and I scampered off just a little higher and a little farther away from the car to find mo...

4/4/05 12:46am

Jim Oker

March 19-20, 2005, Mazama Ridge

I'd been wondering if we'd see a Silver Creek report this season. This is a positive sign, eh?

Charles - do you have any extrapolation for how you think the forest skiing would be up around places such as Nordic Pass? I'm guessing from the telemetry report (calibrated to my own experience) that it is possible but still a bit on the thin side, so more an opportunity for cautious travel rather than the usual carefree turns we'd expect up that way.

4/3/05 11:32pm

"snain" I like it! Nice meeting you too, Jibster.

4/3/05 9:28pm

Scotsman

That is near the top speed of the Enterprise. Above warp 10, the Dilithium crystals cannot convert the hyper-plasma into warp energy fast enough which is why you hear Scotty saying all the time, " But , Captian, the Dilithium crystals won't hold out much longer"
Now you know!

4/3/05 8:44pm

ron j

Is that fast or slow?
(I'm not enough of a trekkie to know ???)

4/3/05 8:22pm

gregL

Yeah, but you're going Warp 9 . . .

4/3/05 8:05pm

Scotsman

April 3, Newton-Clark (Mount Hood)

Woops, sorry Jerry for calling you Jeff.
Great day.
The only thing as good as a day like that was what my partner , Grant was probably doing and that only lasts a few minutes at my age. ;)

4/3/05 7:41pm

We crossed Clark Creek on the Newton Crk trail and then headed up the backbone of the ridge. Saw your tracks coming in from Heather and wondered whether that might be the better way.

We did two runs in fantastic "hero" pow before heading down Newton and tagging the trail back to HRM. Great day to be out getting turns!

4/3/05 7:24pm

ron j

April 3, Newton-Clark (Mount Hood)

Great report, Chris.
It was great having you along... and thanks for breaking trail all the way up Bundy's.
And Great Scotty imitation :D... good grins.
("Scotty - you've got to give me WARP 9" [for the movie])
(Oh - and btw, "Jeff" is really Jerry :) )

4/3/05 6:17am

Jeff Huber

Very nice. So once up the Heather runout, did you skin up Jill's Woods to access Newton? Did you return back thru Heather, or did you take the Newton runout? See any Sasquatches? ;-)

4/2/05 11:43pm

Zap

Eric, Great trip report. 3 way peak area is one of my favorite backcountry tours. It's good to hear that winter has returned to the Cascades. We're still skiing in the Lake Tahoe area which has had spring condtions since Wednesday. !2 to 18" forecast tonight, should be a powder day on Monday and Tuesday.

Zap

4/2/05 11:15pm

skykilo

April 2, 2005, Heather Canyon, Mt Hood

Well I'm glad to know that all those webcams aren't the product of someone playing a nasty trick and there really is snow.

4/2/05 5:35pm

AndyP

I know - Ann and I have been thinking about getting a digi camera for some time but have been putting it off. Jeff's good pictures must be providing a disincentive to doing so. ;) I actually took a couple pictures of Jeff jumping on the R-block with his camera yesterday but I'm not sure how they came out. Maybe we can get a picture of Jeff skiing today.

As always a nice ski day and picture, Jeff.

4/2/05 5:18pm

gregL

April 2, 2005, Heather Canyon, Mt Hood

Nice, Jeff. Your partners need to get cameras so we can see pictures of you!

4/2/05 3:24pm

ron j

Nice report, Mark.
Ditto on the 5 care rule ;D (maybe).

4/2/05 7:44am

markharf

Maybe.

Edit to add: ;D

4/2/05 7:34am

Jeff Huber

March 23-27, Rogers Pass BC

Nice report Mark.

Spicolo, I'm sure Mark's comments re driving were in jest -- well, maybe ;-)

4/2/05 7:34am

snowdogs

huts are great but at Roger's Pass you gotta stay at the Best Western! It's almost the same price (if you have more than two people) and you get a hot tub. Best of all, you can just walk out the back door and skin up towards Balu Pass.

4/2/05 7:27am

Salal

March 25-27, 2005, A hut in the S. OR Cascades

Hey I'm all for the backcountry and all......I like my time and space just like the next guy. So the next time you apply your 5 car rule....remember....that I like my time and space to get up the road....as well as I like my time and space in the BC. You wouldn't want me to follow your line down mt. herman 2 feet behind you, ready to crash into you at any point, would you?

3/31/05 6:26am

OldHouseMan

So, do you need to bring a pad? What about pots? Anything other than food and sleeping bag needed for this hut?

You'll need to bring a pad and sleeping bag. There are not any bunks, you sleep on the floor. We also broght a stove to cook with. You could probably cook on the wood stove in the hut but I wouldn't recomend counting on there being any fire wood, we just used it for melting snow for water. A water filter would be a useful item to al...

3/31/05 5:30am

jhamaker

March 25-27, 2005, A hut in the S. OR Cascades

First cavers keeping secrets, then skiers! What next, rock climbers? Ha! That will be the day!

I was thereabouts in Jan? I had skiable crust for the main part in the general area.

So, do you need to bring a pad? What about pots? Anything other than food and sleeping bag needed for this hut?

3/31/05 1:27am

gregL

Glad to hear they got the chair running - as far as grooming goes, I think they're counting on powder-crazed skiers to pack it down . . .

3/31/05 1:15am

andyski

"Chair 2 is looking mighty fine." --Summit Web site today.
I can't imagine it won't be open. See you in line Sat. morning. :D

3/30/05 11:55pm

ski_photomatt

I can't say for sure whether they are planning on opening Chair 2, but it did look as though the chair had been running and was used recently. Most of the chairs were cleaned of snow (I think), the exit ramp was shoveled and there were ski tracks going down it.

There was minimal grooming - none above the quad, and only a 'one lane' track from the top of Sessel to the top of Armstrong, and part way up lower International.

We didn't see any evidence of control work in Ede...

3/30/05 9:18pm

wolfs

Matt et al - based on what you saw going on at the hill - did it look like they were prepping C2 to open, and did it look like they'd done any control work on the Intl side? I was up on Intl last Friday before the big snows hit and even then it was deep in the main run but shallow right at the top where it was just a bit windslab and facet base combo, and I wasn't sure how well some of the snow right at the entrance was going to hold whatever more load fell on top of it. As in, I wonder wh...

3/30/05 8:15pm

ski_photomatt

March 30, 2005, Mission Ridge snow conditions

Just got back from some before work turns this morning. The crust is out in full force below 4000 ft, then disappears above on shaded slopes. Parts of Edelweiss had a sun crust. We skied down Nash - good turns in the fluff high up, then bailed onto the one lane groomer on Lower Nash to avoid the crust. Surprisingly good weather - most of the peaks were in and out amongst the clouds and fog.

3/30/05 6:48pm

wickstad

Hi Aaron.

It was a March dump back around the turn of the century that hooked us on Mission. I'm glad someone is enjoying the snow over there.

My Jeep has begun to clunk. I just took it in to the shop this am. Hopefully it is driveable by Friday. If so we may see you on the slopes.

Eric.

Update: The shop could not reproduce the clunk but will install new front u-joints and axle seals for $450. The good thing is it will be ready by tonight. 8)

3/30/05 5:36am

Paul Belitz