TR Replies

Nice report Kam, sounds like you camped about where we did. See you soon 8) JW

6/17/03 3:59am

ron j

Cool.
Isn't this a great forum.
Thanks, Jon, for the update.
Kam, did I miss Jerry's report somewhere? >:(
Charles, you done good coming up with this forum.
It's a great tool.
Thanks.

6/17/03 3:26am

juan

The log was removed by Sunday afternoon. The road should be passable to the trailhead by this wknd.

6/17/03 2:28am

kam

Hey Ron,

Thanks for the kind words. I didn't see the tree, only heard about it from other skiers. You know me, I prefer the less traveled route...bush whacking!;D I'm sure the road will be clear by this weekend though if you decide to head that way.

Say, nice turns on Foss Peak with Jerry and Mad Dog!

-kam

6/17/03 1:59am

ron j

June 8, 2003, Mount Rainier, Nisqually Couloir

Nice report, Kam.
Thanks.
Great viddy too.
Looked like a great trip.
How big was the fallen tree that blocked the road?

6/16/03 4:59am

Jim Oker

June 7-8, 2003, Eldorado

I've not done it, but a friend of mine did the tour earlier, like as soon as the road was clear (several years back). The transition zone in the woods sucked on the ski out, but otherwise he said it was great, especially with the boulder field well-covered. He did it as a long sick day trip, and so was travelling pretty light up the approach. But for what it's worth, he won't go back to do it again with me.

6/16/03 2:21am

Bill_G

June 7-8, 2003, Eldorado

Micheal,

Sometime try accessing Eldorado from Sibley Creek with the Triad bypass. A lot less pain and mucho more views. There's one tricky part bypassing the Triad, but otherwise fairly straightforward.

Bill G

6/15/03 5:01pm

JMor

Great photos, thanks for sharing. You really lucked out with the weather for all your trips.

6/15/03 4:51pm

JMor

Those chutes were in especially great form that day. The best snow I've seen in there in a long time. Would have been fun to meet you guys and finally put a face with the name. Maybe next time.

6/15/03 9:14am

MW88888888

Well, I should let the guilty party speak for himself, but he didn't mention needing any aloe vera for a raspberry. He did say something about needing to change his diaper, though!

6/15/03 4:58am

ron j

Yep, that was us.
You guys looked real good on your boards -- really had your way with that chute... nice job.
Except it looked like one of you fell and slid about half way down.
There was a really long fresh butt glissade track when we skied it. Musta been the rookie of the group, huh?
;D

6/15/03 2:13am

MW88888888

June 8, 2003, Mount Rainier, Nisqually Couloir

Hey Mad Dog & Ron - guess we were the 4 snowboarders you spoke of - I dropped in first - wow, what a wonderful ski, eh?

Were you the folks hanging on the rocks at the entrance when we dropped in? I think I remember hearing voices over there, but my mind was kind of occupied...and hearing voices is nothing new.

6/14/03 4:30pm

ron j

Yep. That's one of my faves.
Nice report.

6/13/03 5:08am

skykilo

June 11, 2003, South Sister, Prouty Glacier

I like that picture!

6/13/03 3:12am

alpentalcorey

June 3-4, 2003, Mt Shasta, West Face via Avy Gulch

Man, yet another excellent photo Amar! These photos seem to be guidebook quality! ;D Thanks for posting these, it's definately putting a smile on my face before work.

6/13/03 3:10am

alpentalcorey

June 6, 2003, Mt Scott (Crater Lake NP), SE Chute

Reflecting back on that day, this tour has got to be noted for the unbelievable sensation of climbing what seems like a medium sized random peak and then cresting over the ridge to see one of the most classic and unbelievable views in America.

6/13/03 3:07am

Amar Andalkar

June 11, 2003, South Sister, Prouty Glacier

Sky launches down the moderate 40-45 degree slopes of the main chute above the Prouty Glacier, after our traverse left out of the much steeper southern chute. In the background are Middle and North Sisters.

Click here for a double-size version of this photo.

6/13/03 3:06am

alpentalcorey

June 7, 2003, Diamond Peak

Nice photo, man. That shows the line we skied perfectly. As I said before, my next trip here will be a 2-3-4 day venture either ultra-light or with a basecamp to ski all those lines on the other side of the photo.

6/13/03 3:02am

alpentalcorey

June 8, 2003, Mt Hood, Wyeast Face from Timberline

Ahh, so nice to think back on last week. It seems you have still been busy this week right Amar? After 4 days of mostly laziness except for work, I'm itching to go ski another peak. I'm out this weekend, but am totally free the next 3. I'll get in touch with y'all, I have some ideads, I'm sure you do too.

6/13/03 2:57am

Amar Andalkar

June 10, 2003, Mt Washington (OR), Northwest Bowl

The Northwest Bowl of Mt Washington from Big Lake, with the middle portion of our ski descent shown in red. The upper portion of our route followed the narrow snow finger above the red line, and then the leftward angling snowfield to the North Ridge (see the larger photo). The lower portion of the ski route is down in the woods.

6/13/03 2:36am

Amar Andalkar

June 8, 2003, Mt Hood, Wyeast Face from Timberline

Corey skiing the perfect corn on the lower part of the Wyeast Face near 9000 ft. We skied through the gap between the two rightmost large rock outcroppings. The sluffs we set off on the steep upper face are visible at right.

Click here for a double-size version of this photo.

6/13/03 2:30am

Amar Andalkar

June 7, 2003, Diamond Peak

The southwest side of Diamond Peak from a clearcut on Road 2149, about 5 minutes hike from where we were car-camped at 5800 ft. I finally managed to stagger awake around 10 am, and this photo was taken at 10:35 am, just after Corey and Cyril reached the summit. You can see them up there, but they're really small! I also drove around that day to get photos from the north and east sides of the peak, and there is much more snow on those other sides. Although the approaches a...

6/13/03 2:15am

Amar Andalkar

June 6, 2003, Mt Scott (Crater Lake NP), SE Chute

Mount Scott mirrored in the waters of Klamath Marsh, located just east of Hwy 97. This photo was taken the day after our ski descent, unfortunately late in the afternoon (it should have been a morning shot). The view looks west, and the Southeast Chute is the prominent showy chute angling down and left below the summit.

6/13/03 2:10am

Amar Andalkar

June 5, 2003, Lassen Peak, NE Face via North Ridge

The Northeast Face of Lassen Peak from the Devastated Area Trailhead, taken after our ski descent. Our ski route up to the North Ridge is shown in blue (the upper part is hidden behind the right skyline), with the ski descent shown in red. The debris from the massive sluffs we set off is easily visible to the right of our descent route (skier's left).

6/13/03 2:04am

Amar Andalkar

June 3-4, 2003, Mt Shasta, West Face via Avy Gulch

Our ski route down the West Face is shown in red, including the downhill traversing exit from Hidden Valley back towards Horse Camp. This photo was taken at 8 pm the evening before the ski descent, from the Abrams Lake Road overpass on I-5 just north of Shasta City.

Click here for a double-size version of this photo.

6/13/03 1:59am

Amar Andalkar

June 3, 2003, Mt St Helens, Monitor Ridge

I've decided to go back and add a photo to each of my recent trip reports, since it might be a long time before I get around to posting a full trip report with photos on my website.

This is kind of a blank and featureless photo, but it shows the sweet turns on the morning corn, heading down from the true summit of Mt St Helens.

6/12/03 10:02pm

ron j

June 8, 2003, Glacier Peak, Frostbite Ridge

Gnarly.
I'm impressed.
Nice Job.
Great report, great pictures. Keep up the good work.

6/12/03 9:04pm

Zap

June 8, 2003, Glacier Peak, Frostbite Ridge

Sky,

Great TR,photos and ENTHUSIASM ! ;) Zap

6/12/03 7:33pm

June 7-9, 2003, Glacier Peak Traverse

In May, 1987 I skiied to Primus Peak with a visiting California skiier. then returned to Eldorado and exited via the west side of the ridge to Quien Sabe Glacier (not completely straightforward, requiring a rappel), and down the Boston Basin trail to the road. I'm not sure why we didn't cross Sahale Mtn and go down Sahale Arm. That seems like it would be a better exit. Is it possible to easily cross from Boston Glacier back over to the west side of the ridge?

This, along with the region s...

6/12/03 5:47pm

ron j

Guess I should have put the pic in a new post so the thread would come up again so everyone interested could see Steve's pic. Oh, well, this'll do it :)

6/12/03 1:57am

Charles

Thanks Phil. I guess we got reliable information from the RS about the 2329 on the Takhlakh side, but not the northern approach (we were told snow blocked the 2329 at about Keenes Horse Camp, which would be at least 2 miles from the Killen Creek TH). Still, we probably would have choosen Takhlakh since it led more directly to our desired base camp.

6/12/03 12:59am

philfort

We met up with Sam & Bill on Saturday afternoon. We were able to drive all the way to the trailhead from the north. Continuous snow started at around 5000ft if I recall (after about a mile of walking on the trail).

6/11/03 11:16pm

David_Lowry

Yes Charles, correct on both counts. ÊI'd try going in at four corners towards Potato Hill and travel the margin between the lava flow and Muddy Fork R. ÊThanks for the additional info on the Garden. ÊPerhaps its more of an April or May trip.

David

6/11/03 10:49pm

Charles

Apparently, most of the pollen particles don't stick to skis, most of the time.

Mark, this is a good way to state my basic conclusion. I've been thinking about starting a thread where we could gather people's observations and theories in one place, and maybe gain more insight into this problem (edit: the thread can be found here). My experience i...

6/11/03 9:55pm

David_Lowry

Is the northern lava flow skiable at this time of year or at any time for that matter, similar to the Aiken flow? I've been interested in making that tour from the four corners.

Thanks for the informative report.

David Lowry

6/11/03 8:23pm

markharf

Thanks for a great report, Charles. The pleasure you take in being on the snow and in the mountains, and the curiosity with which you approach the world in general, is clear with each paragraph. Very refreshing.

Pollen issues have been puzzling me each spring, but I don't usually spend long enough skiing a confined area at different times of day to notice the sorts of striking differences that you did. I'd always assumed there were localized patterns of pollen deposits,...

6/11/03 10:01am

Charles

June 7-9, 2003, Glacier Peak Traverse

This is interesting. On Friday we saw a skier hiking up the N ridge, and later in the afternoon saw one set of tracks coming down what you must be calling the Big Tuna (what we skied would probably be called the "Little Tuna", right next door). We figured that this skier was with your NFNWR party, but apparently not. On Saturday we must have been around toward the Pinnacle Glacier when you descended. The snow looked awesome on the NFNWR, but it's likely that I won't be doing that run a...

6/11/03 9:06am

ron j

You need to post the photo somewhere else on the web and then the link to it goes where the "URL" is inside the img code. If you don't have a place set up I'll post it where I post my photos and link it for you if you like. Just email it to me.

He did and I did.
Nice shot:

6/11/03 8:41am

Sam Avaiusini

June 7-9, 2003, Glacier Peak Traverse

Charles,
Bill and I saw what must have been yours and Andy's turns on Friday evening after we got to our camp at ~6,800ft. We thought those tracks looked pretty fresh (less than a day old). Looked like you guys had a pretty long run on the slope we call "the Big Tuna". Also saw your tracks on the lower north ridge. Too bad we missed meeting you in person since we were there at essentially the same time. We were done skiing the NFNWR by about 2pm on Satu...

6/11/03 7:51am

I've tried repeatedly to load a stripped down, web ready photo into here but haven't yet succeeded. It shouldn't be so hard. I've copied the photo then tried to paste it into this reply (I also tried to paste it into the original post). Why doesn't that work?

6/10/03 10:32pm

Lowell_Skoog

June 7, 2003, Mt. Baker, Squak/Easton Glaciers

Does anyone know which issue of Couloir magazine featured that photo?

Volume V, number 4, Apr/May 1993.

6/10/03 7:39pm

skip

Allow me to expound on Kam's message with an emphasis on 'perfect snow'. Starting down at noon, the top 4,500 feet held incredible, mostly untouched corn; outside of the area between the caldera and the bridge over Easton's bergschrund, which was highly trafficked, the snow was virtually unsullied by post-holers beyond the primary climber's track. It was turn after turn after turn. Beautiful.

A quick note on the trek up: If approaching at night, the trail is rather easy...

6/10/03 5:26pm

ron j

June 7, 2003, Mt. Baker, Squak/Easton Glaciers

Looks like you guys all nailed it.
Nice viddy, Kam.

6/10/03 5:24pm

ron j

June 8, 2003, MRNP Mt. Ruth

Nice report, Paul,
Thanks.
Great pics!!

6/10/03 10:50am

kam

June 7, 2003, Mt. Baker, Squak/Easton Glaciers

I was on the Easton with a handful of other friends on Sunday, the 8th. We started out early Sunday morning. The weather was so nice. We skied down at noon from the summit and the Roman Wall was soft. The entire glacier was in perfect ski condition. I made a small movie of everyone skiing:

6/10/03 8:02am

JMor

June 8, 2003, MRNP Mt. Ruth

Nice photos, thanks for sharing, looks like you and Todd had a great trip.

6/10/03 5:40am

MW88888888

June 6, 2003, Mt Scott (Crater Lake NP), SE Chute

Amar - looks like our troop of three weren't the only ones to have a Volcano tour last week. My brother and friend and I racked 5 in 7 days for a whopping 23,400' VF of corn. What a great week for it indeed. My TRs to follow.

Thanks for the trip reports - so fine to see some routes I myself want to ski (and some I have already skied) and how you logistically skied them - of course in touring fashion of the vertically inclined. Good show.

6/10/03 2:19am

ski_photomatt

It seemed better to capture it all as a mental image, one that you can never forget.

Some of my favorite and most treasured photos are neuro-chromes.

Lowell - making a decision to honor a friend's memory is very noble. Naming your son Tom is just about the highest honor possible.

Alan - none of the skiing is what I would consider difficult. The steepest slope was perhaps 35 degrees, but the steepest slopes were not exposed...

6/9/03 11:30pm

Ned_Flanders