TR Replies
John, thanks for this info. When you say "2.5 miles up the North Fork Teanaway road", from what point are you measuring - 29 Pines? Also, how far does that put the snow blockage from the intersection of the N.Fk. road with the Bean/Beverly spur?
Do you get the impression that lower sun exposed slopes (say below ~5500-6000') in the area are unusually melted out? It sounds like the lower part of your run on Earl was pretty bare, and that was the case for the bottom 500vf on Navaho...
Do you get the impression that lower sun exposed slopes (say below ~5500-6000') in the area are unusually melted out? It sounds like the lower part of your run on Earl was pretty bare, and that was the case for the bottom 500vf on Navaho...
Ron - the ski areas offer "backcountry tickets" good for one ride from base to the top of the mountain. You need to go inside to customer service and show them your beacon, shovel, probe and skins (at least we were asked to show these), and fill out a form about your plans. The tickets are approx 30 CDN.
The Baldwin map is the nicest ski map I've seen outside Europe (the Swiss make some ski maps that are beautiful). It has route descriptions on the back. ...
The Baldwin map is the nicest ski map I've seen outside Europe (the Swiss make some ski maps that are beautiful). It has route descriptions on the back. ...
Dave was kind enough not to mention that my 'skiing' consisted of at most five turns on the glacier proper, plus a LOT of traversing, kick-turns, and sideslipping. It sucked. >:(
Nice mountain, though.
Nice mountain, though.
Thanks for the report, Brent.
Come back and ski with us regularly, eh?
Come back and ski with us regularly, eh?
Think I only met you once or twice up Hawkins, but your knowledge and enthusiasm for the backcountry will be missed.
Sounds like a Great tour. Will be picking up that map the next trip to Whistler.
So did you score some sort of "one ride, bc lift ticket" or is the regular lift ticket just the price of access to the cool tours?
So did you score some sort of "one ride, bc lift ticket" or is the regular lift ticket just the price of access to the cool tours?
OOps Kenji ,it was still good today when we skied it on the 11th. Sorry I confused the date. The crevasse was still not open ! :-)
Kenji,
Sorry we missed you.Gary Vogt and I skied down the Paradise glacier from Moon rocks a little earlier (1pm) and in a farther north line. No sign of the major north south crevasse at the pitch break yet. We also thought the conditions were superlative.Skied out and down Mazama to the plowed road road to take advantage of west facing corn. Also ran into Roger Fick on way up.
Sorry we missed you.Gary Vogt and I skied down the Paradise glacier from Moon rocks a little earlier (1pm) and in a farther north line. No sign of the major north south crevasse at the pitch break yet. We also thought the conditions were superlative.Skied out and down Mazama to the plowed road road to take advantage of west facing corn. Also ran into Roger Fick on way up.
Really though, it was the magical properties associated with the new piece of gear that made the trip. How else can we explain that many thousands of vertical feet of exquisite corn snow? How else can we explain the spectacular views? How else can we explain the amazing sollitude in such a spectacular location? Unfortunately the good ju-ju didn't extend to my camera. . .
I was there on Thursday with my daughter. Since we didn't see an easy direct route, we traversed to the south ridge (near the Cave Ridge) and followed it up to the summit.
Is there some skiable more direct way through the cliff band above the Phatom to the summit? We saw some ski track around the base of a big rock near the summit...
Is there some skiable more direct way through the cliff band above the Phatom to the summit? We saw some ski track around the base of a big rock near the summit...
... and again today. This time made it to the top (but I was a lot later for work). The corn was better last time, and the waterfall bypass has more vegetable belays than last time. Stuff was frozen hard enough that I never even put the skins on and booted the whole way to the top, but it took way longer than I would have expected (maybe because it was steep enough in places, or froze hard enough, that there were a lot of places I felt like triple-kicking the steps to make them nice and solid)....
yes, Lundin has a long south-ish facing chute. It's probably in the neighborhood of 35-38 degrees, I'm guessing.
can anyone confirm for me whether Lundin is the peak with the long, open chute? if so, approx what is the pitch? i'm thinking of shoeing up on sat a.m. and shredding down. even if it gets relatively soft it should be decent on a board.
thanks-mc
thanks-mc
Gerard is a cool guy! Yanna and I met up with him last season on Decker and he showed us his favorite easy traverse home that hits the bottom of body bag bowl. He never tires of Decker, apparently, much like some of us never tire of our own favorites around here...
Hey AlpentalCorey,
I remember you..I think we finished the race at the exact same time !
Funny - Mike C. was actually with us on Saturday, he turned around in the afternnon though as he was only available on Sat.
Kam: I philmed a bit, but don't expect great vids...I did not have my oxygen bottle was me, so all you can probably see is an unstable image with a lot of background noise ;-)
I remember you..I think we finished the race at the exact same time !
Funny - Mike C. was actually with us on Saturday, he turned around in the afternnon though as he was only available on Sat.
Kam: I philmed a bit, but don't expect great vids...I did not have my oxygen bottle was me, so all you can probably see is an unstable image with a lot of background noise ;-)
Nice TR! I remember meeting you and Corinne at the randonee races (I'm the guy with the french girlfriend that went to high school with your friend Mike C.). Sounds like a great trip, way to go.
Starting at Blackcomb puts you in the alpine right away. It would also be a long climb up from Singing Pass to near the top of Overlord starting from Whistler. FWIW, all the parties that did it last weekend started at Blackcomb.
Yea, I know it's Overlord. Such a fitting name as it's the highest peak around. The peak and glacier names were for the most part colorful, much like the names in the Pickets. I think my spell check flagged it, suggested overload and...
Yea, I know it's Overlord. Such a fitting name as it's the highest peak around. The peak and glacier names were for the most part colorful, much like the names in the Pickets. I think my spell check flagged it, suggested overload and...
Thanks for the TR, Matt. I'm pretty sure it's "Overlord", not "Overload", but the meaning is clear...
The big difference is if you take the lifts up or not. By taking the Blackcomb lifts, you start at 8000 feet or so. By starting from Whistler, you start a bit lower down, somewhere in Harmony bowl, I think, and have a low point of Singing Pass (5500 feet) that you have to climb up from to get to the high point of Tremor col (around 8600 feet).
If you don't take the lifts, I think people usually hike or ski up the Singing Pass trail, which adds on about 5000 feet of climbing, lengthening...
If you don't take the lifts, I think people usually hike or ski up the Singing Pass trail, which adds on about 5000 feet of climbing, lengthening...
Are there advantages to doing the Spearhead Traverse from Blackcomb to Whistler, rather than the other way?
Great photo, Ron! Glad that Jerry decided to hang around at the top and not ride it down.
Brent, it is hard to believe that you won't be skiing around here any more, and I'm sorry that I didn't get a chance to ski with you. Thanks for all of your work on the original trip reports, from which this forum has grown, and please send an occasional update from back east (especially from your August and September ski trips!).
Brent, it is hard to believe that you won't be skiing around here any more, and I'm sorry that I didn't get a chance to ski with you. Thanks for all of your work on the original trip reports, from which this forum has grown, and please send an occasional update from back east (especially from your August and September ski trips!).
At least we did'nt have a bushwhack ;) here are a few photos in no particular order
http://community.webshots.com/album/132045338OOqFRQ
http://community.webshots.com/album/132045338OOqFRQ
Nordic Ned,
Very nice TR. Did you shoot any videos w/ your new camera?
-Tele Ted.
Very nice TR. Did you shoot any videos w/ your new camera?
-Tele Ted.
Nice to meet you two, see you in the hills ---- Jerry 8)
"Grande Cocoa!" Nice description of the trip Skip! My favorite part was definitely the tree skiing! :D Fortuntately we all made it out mostly intact :)
I just added a map of our route to the last page of my TR...if anyone cares.
Kam - great sound effects in the movie. I didn't realize you guys were that religious. Does appealing to Jesus really help?
I wasn't going to post a link, but here's a TR.
Nice TR, great trip, Skipper.
Keep up the good work!!
Keep up the good work!!
Well, Brent, there was one injury: that poor little tree that you battered with your face on your head-first magic carpet ride!
But it was all worth it for the top 1000 vft of primo skiing.
Christopher
But it was all worth it for the top 1000 vft of primo skiing.
Christopher
No problem skoog. Thanks also go to sky for giving me the idea (he wanted to climb the nooksack and I said, "I don't want to climb that! How about a traverse?). I remember telling Ben about this trip and he was stoked to go give it a go. Having you along reminded me a lot of what Ben would've been like. You led, you were low key, and your shizzle was together. In the end, this turned out as one of the best trips I've been on. ;D
I've done many traverses in the Cascades and this was among the best. The Nooksack traverse is unusual for how seasonally dependent it is. Later in the spring the East Nooksack Glacier will become so broken that you wouldn't consider crossing it. Yet we found it a breeze in good April conditions. Some highlights for me:
- The two-mile glide from the base of the Nooksack headwall to the foot of Cloudcap Peak. Jagged Ridge was festooned with flutings and snow feathers pasted to the roc...
- The two-mile glide from the base of the Nooksack headwall to the foot of Cloudcap Peak. Jagged Ridge was festooned with flutings and snow feathers pasted to the roc...
yeah, good write-up & nice photo, although that skier could use some work on his form!
p.s. what about the shot of Paul's ski ricocheting like a rubber band down the glacier in front of him - that was pretty cool....how did he do that? ;)
p.s. what about the shot of Paul's ski ricocheting like a rubber band down the glacier in front of him - that was pretty cool....how did he do that? ;)
Yeah, Brent, that one's kinda tricky from the top. Especially if our old dementia riddled brains forget the entrance elevation (or we don't have a waypoint for it). I usually look for the "entrance eyebrow" on the (climber's) left side of the entrance. It usually seems to be the only chute with that unusual feature at the top.
'Course you'll not be needing that info touring on boilerplate east coast ice now, will ya?
Hey, it's gonna be a little empty around here...
'Course you'll not be needing that info touring on boilerplate east coast ice now, will ya?
Hey, it's gonna be a little empty around here...
Yeah, it was nice meeting you and Pat, Zenom.
And I'm glad you wer able to reap the benefits of our "grooming".
Hope to run into you again sometime.
And I'm glad you wer able to reap the benefits of our "grooming".
Hope to run into you again sometime.
TR is done! Go to the site and enjoy!
I'm going to bed now! :)
I'm going to bed now! :)
Hey guys !
This sounds all too well. So it makes my time here in the northern lowlands of Germany really tough. I am happy that you had another outstanding trip. I look forward to catch up with you in the future.
Ciao Matthaeus
This sounds all too well. So it makes my time here in the northern lowlands of Germany really tough. I am happy that you had another outstanding trip. I look forward to catch up with you in the future.
Ciao Matthaeus
You know, I just barely noticed the zig-zagging tracks up Shuksan from the ski area on Saturday. Wow. Can't wait to live vicariously through the web page! ;D
Damn....like Sky said, "you should have come along, Dave."
Yeah, he was saying that the whole trip too. ;)
There will be other trips! Maybe not as perfect as this, but who knows?
Yep, that was us looking for the entrance to the Chute. I'm getting old, memory is going (but you know how that goes, right). I remembered 8800' as the elevation. We started scouting at that elevation and it took us a while to find the correct entrance at 8300'.
Easy to see how people disappear descending from Muir in a white-out with those cliffs there.
Anyways, next weekend is it for me. I'll be moving to Connecticut the week after. My East Coast friends (common connection being...
Easy to see how people disappear descending from Muir in a white-out with those cliffs there.
Anyways, next weekend is it for me. I'll be moving to Connecticut the week after. My East Coast friends (common connection being...
Damn....like Sky said "you should have come along Dave"...another over-the-top trip that I missed out on. Nice work.
Yep it was yesterday (Sunday), Brent.
Even though the sloughs were fairly routine from our perspective, I'd bet they did look pretty spectacular from where you were... I suspect it was hard to see that we were only dealing with a thin wet surface layer and our runout had no exposure.
We saw a group headed for the Nisqually Chutes and later saw the tracks in the main chute; that musta been you, eh?
Even though the sloughs were fairly routine from our perspective, I'd bet they did look pretty spectacular from where you were... I suspect it was hard to see that we were only dealing with a thin wet surface layer and our runout had no exposure.
We saw a group headed for the Nisqually Chutes and later saw the tracks in the main chute; that musta been you, eh?
i think if i remember correctly from the col above snow lake you just need to climb over the little hump there and continue along the crest to the easier descent.
nice to meet you all. :)
nice to meet you all. :)