TR Replies
Now I'm REALLY confused...
What did I miss?
What did I miss?
Justin - with some good advice (thanks!), I removed my harsh remarks about your snowshoeing. I'm finding that posts are a very inefficient way to express opinions as the whole story can't be expressed without 5,000 word dissertations. Sorry if I sounded mean, I certainly don't want to put a damper on your skiing experience.
actually, the shot you want is the one I took of Amar huckin' the cornice into the crater....he's saving that one for the book!
It was an interesting day to study slab formation. we did lines all day on the BB chutes, all lines having the same aspect and exposed to similar wind loading.
In the morning, stability was superb. The wind was visibly transporting snow into the chutes, but we decided that the wind must have recently come up because the amount transported was not significant.
As the day wore on, the new snow and wind deposits continued to accumulate. The major accumulation was near the...
In the morning, stability was superb. The wind was visibly transporting snow into the chutes, but we decided that the wind must have recently come up because the amount transported was not significant.
As the day wore on, the new snow and wind deposits continued to accumulate. The major accumulation was near the...
I demand a shot of Dave Coleman ripping the corn. Give it up, Amar, I know you got it. Action, action!
I am glad you had fun Justin. We'll have to take you back out when you can actually see some scenery.
My dog has had the same reaction - it has made touring from the Mt Baker ski area a challenge when we get a late start. Same thing with anyone in uniform too. Smart dogs.
Yeah Justin, you suck. And you revealed our secret stash, butthead. I hate you.
I'll admit, I did describe something more like going straight up Snoqualmie Mountain, and then took you on a multi-lake tour. The classic bait and switch!
I couldn't bring Panama because he attacks snowboarders. He is a vechthond the moment he sees one of your knuckle-dragging ilk. He stayed home for your safety.
Love,
Sky
PS- MW8888888 you da man. Get...
I'll admit, I did describe something more like going straight up Snoqualmie Mountain, and then took you on a multi-lake tour. The classic bait and switch!
I couldn't bring Panama because he attacks snowboarders. He is a vechthond the moment he sees one of your knuckle-dragging ilk. He stayed home for your safety.
Love,
Sky
PS- MW8888888 you da man. Get...
We were up there for 3 days as well. Saturday skied Bonney Trees and the lower part of the glacier. Experienced conditions much like you described. People at the Ranger Station said the area was probably "skied out". We only saw one other parties tracks??? Generally there was about 10" on new snow on a firm base.
Both Sunday and Monday we went up Connaught Creek to Balu Pass. Each day we did a run on the Hourglass, an 1100' ft north facing slope that still had reasonably l...
Both Sunday and Monday we went up Connaught Creek to Balu Pass. Each day we did a run on the Hourglass, an 1100' ft north facing slope that still had reasonably l...
This brief update dedicated to famed backcountry aficionados George and Abraham:
Not bad up there today, with moderate snow (an inch per hour), increasing winds, inadequate visibility and temps hovering around freezing. I stayed clear of steep terrain, but the snowpack seemed less unstable than the weather forecast (high winds, heavy snow, rapid warming) led me to expect. On the other hand, YMMV.
Uncharacteristically, I used waxless skis and three pin bindings, adding...
Not bad up there today, with moderate snow (an inch per hour), increasing winds, inadequate visibility and temps hovering around freezing. I stayed clear of steep terrain, but the snowpack seemed less unstable than the weather forecast (high winds, heavy snow, rapid warming) led me to expect. On the other hand, YMMV.
Uncharacteristically, I used waxless skis and three pin bindings, adding...
Wouldn't that be the "Eldridge Detritus"?
I am considering renaming The Secret Bowl Where Everybody Goes. From now on, I think I'll call it "Eldridge Bowl."
Edit: remove extraneous mumbo-jumbo.
Edit: remove extraneous mumbo-jumbo.
Charles,
Regarding your question on overnight solo equipment, I would like to know how different people on this forum solve their individual problems.
I just aquired a nice light down jacket and a down "half" bag with no zipper that is very light and seems quite packable. I had always carried a tarp and it is my hope that some of the frustration of hoofing it all day for a couple of thousand ft. of vertical (like Coleman Pinnacle and Rainbow glacier) would vastly be...
Regarding your question on overnight solo equipment, I would like to know how different people on this forum solve their individual problems.
I just aquired a nice light down jacket and a down "half" bag with no zipper that is very light and seems quite packable. I had always carried a tarp and it is my hope that some of the frustration of hoofing it all day for a couple of thousand ft. of vertical (like Coleman Pinnacle and Rainbow glacier) would vastly be...
As for the skiing....well on the headwall it was firm/icy with some pockets of punchy breakable crust. Below camp it was pretty much more of the same, with a few areas of nice and soft. Below about 7,000' it was either frozen crust or super soft slush depending on the aspect. And once I was below Mildred Point, descending down through the trees towards Van Trump Creek, it was really nasty glop...So pretty much the typical Rainier winter mixed bag o' fun.
-Ross
-Ross
Charles, yeah I was solo. My partner bailed the night before with a cold or something....??? Bummer for him. Anyway I used my standard solo winter overnight stuff: ID singlewall, 20deg. bag, and bibler wintersac. Has worked really well for me. Although on this trip the weather was so calm that I probably could have done without the tent. But I like tents. And it was fairly gusty from ~ 11:00pm to about 1:00am. So it was nice to be in the tent...
My experience, based on a couple winter trips up Silver Peak from the north, is that the final west facing slopes are usually windswept and icy. If you want to go to the top, as opposed to just skiing the bowls, I would bring crampons and either self-arrest poles or an ice axe.
The west slope down to Lake Annette looks like it could be really nice skiing in the spring, when the sun softens it.
The west slope down to Lake Annette looks like it could be really nice skiing in the spring, when the sun softens it.
The grade is not really all that steep on this route, there are lots of glades, and the trees are generally well spaced, but the routefinding is more challenging than the north bowl route. There are several stream gullies which come into Twin Lakes, and also cliff bands along the way, so it is good to start up in the right place and keep track of where you are. This route is probably more work than the north bowl route, since for the latter you can take the XC trail right into the bowl at ...
Nice jaunt although you are going to scare away some potential weekday partners - like me ;-) with TRs like this.
nice report have, have often pondered that aspect of Silver would be a pleasent ski. I was thinking though that it would be more a more diffcult route coming up from Twin lakes. Was the grade a pretty straight shot coming up? Is it glades or a bit thicker? Hope to be out by this spring with the new hip!!
I second that "wow!" Did you do this by yourself, and if so, what did you do to minimize the weight of your overnight gear? And how was the snow along your descent with respect to skiing?
That unrepentent Eldridge posted a picture of Mike on the cover of Telemark.tips.com.(
Well, when I asked Mike if it would be OK to post photos of him, he replied, "make me famous", so I'm trying. Anyone else?
Regine says Wow! She climbed MR by that route in 92 but wouldn't ski it [left her skis at the top? ;D]abc
Well, getting to Mt. Baker in the winter is a bit of a hump no matter how you look at it. The route you choose will depend on whether you just want to ski, or if summitting is a priority.
1. Shcreiber/Morovitz Meadows/Easton Glacier: Matthaeus knows this better than I. Sounds like about 4 miles of road to the trailhead,and from there it is another 3 miles getting on to the glacier, above the railroad grade. Say, seven miles and 4000 ft. elevation gain. If you just have t...
1. Shcreiber/Morovitz Meadows/Easton Glacier: Matthaeus knows this better than I. Sounds like about 4 miles of road to the trailhead,and from there it is another 3 miles getting on to the glacier, above the railroad grade. Say, seven miles and 4000 ft. elevation gain. If you just have t...
That's a fun little butte! The west (?) bowl is fantastic, I hit it in deep powder conditions on Thanksgiving. ;D
russ, thanks!!! I get confused sometimes.
Mark, always with good advice, thank you too.
Mark, always with good advice, thank you too.
Gregg_C - change plans, we're head to Roger's Pass this weekend - check your messages on this board. - Russ
Let's see, hmmmm, if I remember correctly there is a "no falling" rule that 'sag' implemented, so I have this technique that I use, let someone else go first, watch them, and if they fall, don't do that ;D and like Ron says, "keep the slippery side down". 8)
She does seem to be available for more shots, doesn't she. ;)
ron wrote
I think MadDog managed the spotlight for the best shot I got:
thats because she's the only one that stays on her feet:)
It gets worse Mark. That unrepentent Eldridge posted a picture of Mike on the cover of Telemark.tips.com. The digital camera code scrambler (Model 220Excaliber) that we installed last summer has malfunctioned. All is lost.... >:(
Nice photos Ron, and Darryl my sore butt turned out not as bad as I thought it might be right after the crash. 8)
Fill me in. Is this partly a joke or partly an object lesson, or both? ???
Joke, JOKE - this is no laughing matter. There is nothing more prime than making sure secret stashes don't get propagated. Blind-folds, pharmaceuticals, threats of death are all fair means. Venture into the Mt Baker outback at your own risk - the locals will go to any means to protect the goods. Oh ya, if you do go, remember to spoon your turns.
Fill me in. Is this partly a joke or partly an object lesson, or both? ???
..., Jerry!... Didn't I hear you whining about a sore hip?
Actually, Darryl, he did surprisingly well considering his condition. Just a modicum of bellyaching during uphill kick turns and one intimate encounter with a tree while rocketing downhill (which I got a shot of but was discrete enough not to publish it).
We were fully expecting to have TWO invalids to listen to on the trip; we even had a second walker all set up for you to m...
Naw. It was the Fig Newtons.
Nice pictures of the hoars, Jerry! They're beauts!! Didn't I hear you whinning about a sore hip?
Great trip report, Jeanette!
Great trip report, Jeanette!
...in random circles within a pharmaceutically-enhanced fogbank
Oh, so that's why you kept insisting on sharing your water with us on the drive up.
Thanks for the report Matthaeus. That was an adventurous undertaking!
Tim, I am curious about the various approaches to Baker in the winter, and you seem like someone who would know. With conditions like they are now, do you know how access would compare for the Easton, Boulder, and Coleman routes?
Tim, I am curious about the various approaches to Baker in the winter, and you seem like someone who would know. With conditions like they are now, do you know how access would compare for the Easton, Boulder, and Coleman routes?
Nice report, Mad_Dog - tons of snow info, no fluff. I will have to remember to get back to writing mine like that sometimes ;)
Nice photo, too, Ron. Maybe Matthaeus will see it and I will finally be able to get him to agree to go there.
Nice photo, too, Ron. Maybe Matthaeus will see it and I will finally be able to get him to agree to go there.
Yeah, for being back to the beer by 1:00 we got some great turns in. I think MadDog managed the spotlight for the best shot I got:
More at:
http://groups.msn.com/WildHeartsSkiing/crystalbackcountry2804.msnw
More at:
http://groups.msn.com/WildHeartsSkiing/crystalbackcountry2804.msnw
We were there on Saturday and it was nice. Saw the scouts at the lake and spent the day in the bowls to the north. Sunday we were busy with ski lessons given to us by Steve Hindman.
Imagine my shock, horror and outrage at discovering this morning that Charles and Russ had betrayed my trust by revealing that the backcountry stash formerly known as "The Secret Bowl Where Everybody Goes" is actually the hard-frozen debris fan formed by serac fall off the Hanging Glacier! Even worse, their utter moral collapse rendered meaningless the four and a half hours I spent leading them around in random circles within a pharmaceutically-enhanced fogbank: time I might otherwise...
Good report, but sorry about the snowmobilers.
I used to be the caretaker of the Park Butte lookout above Morovitz's Meadows, but gave it up when snowmobilers were allowed onto the plateaus in the area. That resulted from a bad concession in the negotiations that created the Mt Baker/Diobsud Wilderness area.
If you get back up on the S. side of Baker, try Boulder ridge. Much better isolation, and crevasse-free skiiing to 9500 ft elevation.
I used to be the caretaker of the Park Butte lookout above Morovitz's Meadows, but gave it up when snowmobilers were allowed onto the plateaus in the area. That resulted from a bad concession in the negotiations that created the Mt Baker/Diobsud Wilderness area.
If you get back up on the S. side of Baker, try Boulder ridge. Much better isolation, and crevasse-free skiiing to 9500 ft elevation.
Funny how conditions can be so different depending on where you were. Anyway with all the excitement over the weekend I failed to mention conditions in greater detail. Sorry. I will make the adjustment on my original trip report.
Either we were under more of a cloud or on a different enough aspect that we didn't see that crust in the open areas except down low. The hoar frost on the trees was indeed trippy - the fog had been doing its work.
I've posted a different pic above, courtesy of Silas, that gives a good sense of the snow in the forest. For more, check out
I've posted a different pic above, courtesy of Silas, that gives a good sense of the snow in the forest. For more, check out
Maybe we talked. I was going up to meet some scouts camped at the lake, then skiing with one of the dads. We got in 2 laps, finding untracked, but with one of mine ending up following down a snowshoers track into a steep thicket of firs, taking off skis and postholing up to my waist. >:( for a stretch.
This was a neat trip. Thanks for putting it together Phil.
What a difference from the typical Glacier Basin experience. No people. All the peaks are covered with their winter coats. Vegetation fights its way upward from the valley. Above, broad, wind scoured ridge lines gradually steepen into an unbroken expanse of white. The two collide. The trees creep upwards where they can, but in gullies the snow rules and cuts a dramatic path clear to the va...
What a difference from the typical Glacier Basin experience. No people. All the peaks are covered with their winter coats. Vegetation fights its way upward from the valley. Above, broad, wind scoured ridge lines gradually steepen into an unbroken expanse of white. The two collide. The trees creep upwards where they can, but in gullies the snow rules and cuts a dramatic path clear to the va...