TR Replies

Thanks Kam for the great pictures. Was really fun! Many other places to check out up there. In the mean time, let's get our CheesWax patented :-)

6/22/04 9:02am

JMor

Thanks for sharing your photos. Nice job you guys. First it's "Jarvis Jelly" and now "CheeseWax", what next? ;D ;D

6/22/04 8:55am

Nice report Kam, looks like a good spot. 8)

6/22/04 7:10am

Paul Belitz

Wow, lots of people up there. Too bad I was feeling miserable enough to skip the summit proper. Ah, well, that doesn't weigh on my mind much. ;)

Glad you liked the TR, Jeff.

6/22/04 6:09am

ron j

June 20, 2004, Mt. Adams - SW Chutes

Nice terrain, Kamster.
You sure do know how to find the goods; looks like you skied your pants off, eh? ;)

6/21/04 11:27pm

The_Snow_Troll

Kam, you were the only thing that Ned and I had in common...well almost...

Anyway...to unmask myself...you may know me better as one of the 'Pajama Boys' from Sorcerer Lake Lodge...

;)

6/21/04 11:16pm

Ned_Flanders

June 20, 2004, Mt. Adams - SW Chutes

Troll and Jen,

It was nice meeting you both and thanks for the use of your shovel, although I don't recall if I ever used it or not.

And there is nothing like "stadium seating" to take in the zoo like atmosphere of the south route, especially when you're a wise ass in the back row.

Joshua

6/21/04 10:56pm

curmudgeon

The picture is a cropping of this shot:

http://media.admcs.wwu.edu/video/test/adams/adams.JPG.

It was taken last Sunday morning at about 11 AM from Highway 23. The skiing on the SW chutes should last into July.

6/21/04 10:22pm

Charles

Joe, did you get a look at any of the northside runs up there - Sourdough Chutes or 1st-2nd Burroughs - as far as coverage? Also, what does the coverage look like in the meadows around the lodge now?

6/21/04 10:13pm

Charles

June 19, 2004, Pineapple Pass basin

Great shot, Tim! Is it correct to assume that the photo was taken this past weekend (just trying to imagine how long the coverage will last - hopefully until I have a chance to get down there)?

6/21/04 7:41pm

GregLange

Jon: Congrats on getting your son out for his first BC turns! My 5 year old could probably keep the hiking pace, but his skiing would keep him on the sidelines, at this point. Yahoo for another TAY'er!!!

GregLange

6/21/04 6:25pm

ron j

Great bike pics, MadDog. You certainly seemed to make good use of your weekend even tho you weren't skiing with us.
JW you got some pretty good shots, too.
Oh, wait, Jerry, we forgot to tell them about the new "Skip the Cliffs" name you came up with for that new line the Skipper described.

6/21/04 12:11pm

Jeff Huber

Neat TR on your site Paul, thanks! And I'm glad no one was hurt.

BTW, Jim said he thought he saw Amar on the summit today.

Not only did Jim see Amar and, I believe, Cyril? (apologies in advance if I'm confusing names) on the summit, he also saw me, jshefftz and Ben Shefftz (aka Walter Sobchak). I introduced myself to Amar after I recognized his red gaiters and red denalis. He told me they planed to ski the Avalanche glacier. Our party ski...

6/21/04 10:51am

powscraper

Oh well now that I read your TR on your website Paul, it looks like if you were gonna fall anywhere on the NFNWR, you'd want it to be where Jim fell. A strange twist of luck? Or was Jim just having too much fun? ;) I'm gonna lean toward the latter as you seem to have made it halfway down the thing without losing it.

6/21/04 7:16am

Glorious Day! 8) Great group of guy's, never quite the same without Maddog, but still a fantastic summer experience. Nice to need a polarizer and SPF 80 instead of a precip jacket. :) Ya gotta love that steep snow cone stuff!
My photos @

6/21/04 6:56am

Joedabaker

Yeah-Good work Donnelly! Heck of an accomplishment! On the 20th I hiked up to Sunrise and upon my return ran into a guy on the Wonderland Trail that had pictures on his diggy cam of that brown bear on the Glacier Basin trail. It was a big Brown bear.

6/21/04 6:25am

JMor

Very nice, and very well crafted report, Skipper ;) ;D

;) ;D one of my favorite spots!! Sorry I missed it but I was having a great time riding the Tour de Blast bike ride from Toutle High School to the Johnston Observatory. It was a great weekend for that too. If anyone would like to see some recent photos of Mt St Helen's you can see them at the end of Ron's ski picutres here.

http://groups.msn.com/WildHeart...

6/21/04 6:09am

ron j

June 20, 2004, Mt. Adams - SW Chutes

Very nice, and very well crafted report, Skipper ;) ;D
And Fantastic photog work. Anyone that can make a geezer look like he's NOT about to fall over can really handle a lens. Nice pics.
The ones that I managed to get are at:
http://groups.msn.com/WildHeartsSkiing/paradiseglacier62004.msnw

6/21/04 5:02am

kam

you talked for 2 hours about a young boy???? sick.

6/21/04 2:33am

Paul Belitz

Sorry, didn't take any pics, I was too busy first trying to keep my out of shape ass going as fast as the others, then too busy trying to ski. I've got a bunch of nice photos from camp, though.

6/21/04 2:25am

Jason_H.

Sounds good Jimjar. Way to self arrest! I don't want to see people getting in trouble on that stuff, especially since we popularized the north side. Can't wait to see the pics... ;D

6/21/04 2:19am

alpentalcorey

June 20, 2004, MRNP-Muir Snowfields

That does look like a good bivy spot, but I think I still would like camping at "the beach" better because it's higher up and there's water at the lake.

Wow, glad you're ok Jim, that sounds crazy to fall there. Probably a good idea that you descended with axe in hand.

6/21/04 1:47am

snoslut

That beeline you talked of were people for sure. Glad I left early. I saw one splitboarder riding down skiers left before me and he appeared to be struggling with a heavy pack. The rest were climbers. I started my descent the same time as 4 free-heelers. They too dawned heavy packs and were struggling. They had made it to the 13,000ft level before turning around do to high winds. I assured them that conditions were better below. Other than those en...

6/21/04 1:20am

kam

;) ;D

6/21/04 1:12am

Ned_Flanders

Ditto on the sweet pic!

It was my first time on the mountain and the SW Chutes are definitely the way to go. Although it is funny how 19/20 circus animals opt to descend down the south spur.

It was also nice to meet some more TAY folk on the false summit.

Joshua

6/21/04 1:01am

cascadesfreak

June 19, 2004, Nisqually Chute for Fathers' Day

Nice shot! Both of those 2 main chutes below the false summit are great ski descents! Thanks for posting a pic :)

6/21/04 12:54am

Zap

Greg & Zach, glad to hear you had an enjoyable ride in The Chute. Zach-I like your name. :) Zap

6/21/04 12:29am

Charles

Yes, nice work - 10,000vf in a day! It sounds like you went from sea level to 14K+ in less than 24 hours, and I'm curious about whether you experienced any altitude sickness? That sounds like a classic scenario for it, but you don't mention any problems.

Interesting about the bear. Over Memorial Day we saw very fresh bear tracks near Grand Park, and then two days later tracks and then a bear near Sunrise. I wonder if there are there getting to be more bears in the area, or just more peop...

6/21/04 12:02am

jimjar

Ice axe in hand and a good bit of luck. Every time I thought I had control my board would flip me around again. After I finally got straitened out it still took a good 100 feet to come to a stop. Note to self practice those steep lines. Minus the electric shock therapy and the fall I would have to say it was a perfect weekend. Lets do it again.

6/20/04 11:42pm

curmudgeon

... and for those who like the visuals:

6/20/04 11:41pm

powscraper

June 19, 2004, Nisqually Chute for Fathers' Day

Justin: do me a favor and don't.

haha. Wasn't planning on it, or I would have already...

No, I plan to work on some of the less exposed steeps, until I feel I actually belong on such a line.

6/20/04 11:20pm

Don_B

Greg, We met and talked for a minute at the top of the chutes when I was on my way down. Zach looked like a dynamite skier. Nice of him to take his Dad out to the mountain on such a beautiful day! 8) Hope to see you both out there again.
Don_B

6/20/04 11:18pm

Paul Belitz

Jason: it's a sweet line. The most obvious line on the mountain, IMHO. Really nice.

Justin: do me a favor and don't.

6/20/04 11:07pm

powscraper

Jim fell?! I just assumed it was Paul! ;) I thought I told you, no more 720's on steeps! lol. re: Jason--skiers good at keeping their edges, snowboarders good at pulling their S%*t back together...

Oh yeah, thanks for bagging a big line on the only days I don't have off... >:( Dangit now I gotta go solo that crap, like usual...

6/20/04 10:49pm

Jason_H.

That must've been a crazy fall! How did you like the line?

Hey Paul, sounds like you've been working on that steep skiing. What were you thinking bringing a snowboarder though? You should know better ;D . Kidding aside, I'm glad everyone is fine. I couldn't imagine falling there (rock band in the center, right?) How did you pull it together?

6/20/04 10:03pm

jimjar

June 19, 2004, Nisqually Chute for Fathers' Day

400 foot rag doll. I resemble that remark. >:(

6/20/04 9:43pm

Great to read about other dads getting their kids into the backcountry! Great fun and great, memorable accomplishments for the kids. I know my six-year-old had a great time at Pineapple Pass this weekend as well!

6/20/04 8:33pm

Way to go on getting your summit, Donnelly!

6/20/04 8:13pm

Paul Belitz

Here's a photo.

I like that side of that mountain.

6/20/04 8:11pm

Paul Belitz

We saw a bootpack and some turns up your Tuna/S America thing. Must have been yours. Jim and Jeremy tried to get up there, but nearly got fried by lightning when they reached the base of the tuna. Meanwhile, I was enjoying the rain in my tent. :)

6/20/04 8:00pm

alpentalcorey

June 15, 2004, Mt Baker, Watson's Traverse

Hey Paul out of curiosity did you guys see our tracks? I'm not really sure what to call the run (SFNWR?) but it was really sweet.

The snow was only bad on the NFNWR, after we dropped to the other side it was amazingly good. We were probably on it (NFNWR) around 1:30pm or so but because of downclimbing and all that we skied the other line a bit later.

The Amar sighting is probably true, he was supposed to be on Adams (White-Salmon/Avalanche Glacier) that day. I con...

6/20/04 1:24pm

Pete A

Hey Lowell, no worries about not replying sooner...I figured that with the good weather you were probably out in the mountains too.
Four of us did the traverse on sunday, ended up taking a few more hours than you took, and the snow was a little more sloppy than the powder that you had, but we still had a great time.
As I was looking for a good snowbridge that connected onto the Park I saw some very faint tracks (yours, I assume) and it was a welcome relief to know that we had picked the...

6/20/04 11:10am

Paul Belitz

Oh, yeah, I think we started skiing at around 2:30 or 3...doing nothing for the past three weeks made me a slow fat mofo on the way up.

6/20/04 11:10am

Paul Belitz

June 20, 2004, MRNP-Muir Snowfields

NFNWR was really nice today. ;D Icy sastrugi until it got steep, then it was probably six inches of nice corn. There's more to the story, including a first snowboard descent, and 400 foot ragdoll from the rockband to ten feet above the bottom cliff, but I'll have to write that up tomorrow.

BTW, Jim said he thought he saw Amar on the summit today. Amar?

BTW BTW, the bivy at the last trees on the N side is the most beautiful bivy I've ever experienced. ;D ;D

6/20/04 9:13am

Jim Oker

Early this morning, I was staring down at the beeline of people and/or footprints up to Muir from a jet today, wishing I were down there with the likes of you instead of winging off to work in muggy New Orleans during prime turning conditions. Looked nice down there...

6/20/04 8:48am

Lowell_Skoog

June 15, 2004, Mt Baker, Watson's Traverse

When you swung around from the Boulder glacier onto the Park did you have a fair amount of crevasse navigation/hazards to get over to the less crevassed central portion of the Park or did it go pretty easily?

From photos I could find online from past years it looks like there's usually a pretty good jumble of crevasses on the upper mountain right between the park glacier and boulder glacier that one has to traverse though.

Sorry for my s...

6/19/04 8:14pm

Sam Avaiusini

South America? or Big Tuna?...I prefer Big Tuna, but its all good!

What time of day were you coming down NFNWR? Is it possible you started down too early? I remember the upper part being "kinda firm" but that it got much more enjoyable the further we skied down it. I think we started down it around 1 or 2pm, but that was when temperatures were near 100 in Seattle last year...

Glad you found the TH a little more easily than we did 2 weeks ago! ;)

6/19/04 7:24am

Jason_H.