TR Replies

CAN SOMEBODY TELL ME WHERE SOME GOOD SNOW IS?  I've read a lot of reports and I live over in Spokane and I really want to go snowboarding again.  I just got back from Skyline Divide and I want to try and avoid ice picks and all that.  Please Help Me!  I really want to try Adams or Rainier, but anything would be good.

CAN SOMEBODY TELL ME WHERE SOME GOOD SNOW IS?  I've read a lot of reports and I live over in Spokane and I really want to go snowboarding again.  I just got back from Skyline Divide and I want to try and avoid ice picks and all that.  MadDog, can you help me?

Charles, You're too kind.
However, being a "gps guru" seems a dubious distinction.  
I thing I'd rather be known as the "tailgate/BBQ apre' ski party king" but MadDog and the Dutchess seem to have that title all wrapped up.

Thanks for the TR, Amar. I had recently been thinking about this trip as a possibility for early August and was about to start making inquiries. Is there continuous snow on the north side of the ridge, from your longer run back to the "first saddle SW of Table Mountain"?

I'm headed to Adams for the first time on Friday. I've been following all the reports here & elsewhere & I'm stumped as what to do. The consensus from the reports is that the SW chutes has the best snow but in order to commit to them, you basically have to camp low on the mountain.

I'm not a superhuman climbing machine so that's too much vert in a day for me. 4-5000' vert is reasonable for me so I was thinking of setting up camp just below the Lunch Counter at 9000. Besides, I'd l...

Too close to home, Ron: I'm struck speechless.

JW, you've got some nice shots in there, too.  I really like # 7 and #10.  Thanks for posting.

(Aside, sotto voce: "One thing about that Ron Jarvis: he really knows how to put you in your place if you ever step out of line.")

MArk ,Me again. did you notice that little schund /crevasse.
That's what I was looking for when we were there.Glad to see the Duchess out and about.Flew over Mt hood this morning and looked at Palmer GL. A little more than the last year maybe.

Whoa MArk it might not be virginal as you and I know. but that is some shot of JW ! Wishing I could have have been there. Just got in from Vacating and that shot comes up on my screen.
Robie

I've been out of the "loop" for a while, but wanted to check in.  Nice pics Ron!  Glad to see you're out and about.  

Do you have a trip report from this years Hood trip?  Megan and I hopefully will make it this next year.

I've been doing mostly Olympic ski trips this spring.  They've been "interesting", which means "bushwackable".  We did try something off the Middle Fork "Nosnoqualmie Road" recently.  It's...

Nice report, Ron.  The steep-skiing photos—snow, skier, rocks—are especially striking.  

I admit that I am puzzled (nothing unusual so far) about this virginity of which you speak, a state which seems to have proven (careful now, Mark)  rather more elastic than I might have thought.  Why, it was just a few short weeks ago that Robie and I sullied and soiled that slope with admittedly callous disregard for any who might follow.  Just a couple of weeks, and already it is procl...

...I tried to get up there yesterday...had a flat tire at the Paul Peak trailhead...used my can of flat fixer, but the hole was big enough the flat-fixer didn't work, just oozed out of the tire. Changed to the mini-spare and limped back to civilization rather than take a chance going on up to the trailhead. lame....
hoping to get the boards on my feet next sunday, hopefully there will be something worthwhile to ski.

Mark, I still think you had some kind of skin set up on those "tennie" runners of yours cause you were almost to the point of making a rooster tail behind you as you came smokin up that false summit pitch  ;D   ;D

Maybe in my pessimistic assessment of the snow this didn't come through: it was a great trip! I've skied up there about 15 times now in the last 7 years, and I always have a great time, whatever the snow conditions - that's why I keep going back. Wolfs is right that the hiking and exploration possibilities alone are worth the trip. I've used the Knapsack route before (TOPO! says it is about 1 mile shorter than the Wonderland trail, but about the same total amount of vertical), and it is especial...

On my last two trips on various aspects of Rainier I've seen pretty remarkable variations in snow quality all on the same snowfield and often on the same facing. Even the Nisqually Chute for all of its sub 100 foot width for much of the distance had markedly better snow on one side vs the other. I've skied the Flett in September, and even if the turns aren't so great at least you get a pleasant hike out of the deal, plus some worthwhile minisummit targets in Echo and Observation Rocks. I persona...

Wow, Kam, I thought we had the record for the most torture points at the "other G-Spot that you just don't talk about"... but it sounds like you've unseated us as the record holder!!!
All was not lost though, we dedicated some turns to you on Adams.

Ron and MadDog:

You two know how to party!  Great report and pics.  I like the steak on the grill shot.  MadDog, did you bring hotdogs this time?  Thanks for sharing the TR and while you guys were enjoying yourself on Adams, I spent the weekend at your favorite G-spot, Glacier peak (this was the third time).  It rained all night Saturday of course. We went up to the top in a complete whiteout, with the wind blowing in every direction, and the rain soaked us good....

Charles, I think we were above you, in other words behind your tracks. When we were descending (by the way we did yo-yo a few sections on the Russell that we liked) we came across two fresh tracks at about 8300-ft (your's and Roy's?). By this time we were in the clouds and visibility was poor. We also followed some tracks out on the lower Flett.

I've noticed too the recent posts from Adams have been about split between "it sucked" and "it was great". Perhaps expectatio...

I was alone and rando.

Ron & Maddog, would you mind if I used one of your suncup photos in my TR? I don't have any photos which show them as well as yours.

Thanks,

Jeff

Great report, and very informative. I'm envious! Have skied Adams only once, and not the  chutes, just down the face of false summit. Maybe next year, if I'm not too senile.

Looks like I'll try it this weekend, and thinking of camping out below the snow.  Were bugs at the lower elevations an issue? Is mosquito netting advised?

Mosquitoes were not a problem.
Assuming you would do the SW Chutes (highly advisable), I would not camp any higher than the Round the Mountain Trail (AKA part of the PCT in that area).  If you prefer to camp on the mountain rather than car camp at Cold Springs you might consider do...

Great report.

Looks like I'll try it this weekend, and thinking of camping out below the snow.  Were bugs at the lower elevations an issue? Is mosquito netting advised?

Thanks in advance.

Nice report, Wickstad, Thanks.

Thanks for the great t.r. Charles...bummer to hear that the Flett and Russell are already past their prime for the season....its always my favorite spot for late season turns.  
Haven't been out nearly enough this summer, but was thinking of skiing the Flett on Sunday the 20th...anyone got recommendations of alternative daytrip destinations  that are sporting smoother snow?

Nice report Charles! Although the Summer moves along a little too quickly for me, with the snow melt at an even brisker pace, opportunites still abound for the few who still ski. Nice to see you taking full advantage.

Paul

If you skied the SW Chutes around 1:00 p.m. then you skied the same snow as us.  Saw some pretty great turns down there too, maybe we touched your snow   8)    To bad we didn't run into you, literally that is, not physically.