TR Replies

It took us a little under 3 hours to the summit. We waited up there for quite a while for the weather to clear, and it was a pretty quick run down to where the snow ended and then a bit of a walk out - maybe 2 hours down with lots of hanging out and enjoying the scenery along the way.

Thanks for the report.  We're hoping to do a bit better with the weather this weekend.  So the road is already open to Climber's Bivouac, or did you park at the Cougar gate and ski the road?

Thanks.

Mark

 

I was up there Saturday with intent of snowboarding down Muir, but the aforementioned grim crust, less than encouraging reports from descending skiers, and cloud ceiling at about Alta Vista level led me to choose Plan B: Castle/Tatoosh. Which was not great, but at least had softened a little by 1PM. Someone else's report from Chinook that snow needed consolidation also holds for the Tatoosh; at one point I fell in some kind of hole where about 3 feet of snow basically dropped out from under me a...

Doing a high tour, you'll be OK (unless the weather does something radical for a NW spring).

Coverage is good (2-3') about 5200', where you break into the open at the bottom of Earl. Coverage below that is mostly thin, non-existent in places in the woods on the approach and non-existent below the Bean Creek/Beverly Turnpike trail junction. I was burning my P-Tex candle today. Two weeks will be pushing this tour's practicality.

Nice job, RG.

We never did the entire b-day tour (our ski train was moving a little too slow Sunday morning).  There is still a rather large cornice at the col, but it is easily passable by booting around its left side.  Conditions on the south side were softening slush which quickly refroze when some clouds moved in overhead.  On the north side was a combination of still nice powder on the steeper sections below the col and breakable crust that melted into a nice wet powder by the afternoon. &...

Once again I contacted Larry Donovan from the Forest Service.  He was good enough to reply to my first e-mail.  He said that they had sent a enforcement officer to the area the weekend of the 19th - 20th, who talked with some snowmobilers and had also posted the area.  I was up there last Sunday but did not see any signs.  But then I didn't go looking for them. As mentioned above, the snowmobilers where out in force again.

I would suggest that all who read this, to ple...

Hey Greg, the 18th might work, a little to early to tell at the moment.  Keep in touch.

Tom, I would recommend getting Earl in the next week or two. Snow is thin in the woods on the approach.

Hiked ~1 mile to the bridge at the trailhead. Continuous snow just beyond the Bean Creek/Beverly Turnpike trail split. Skinned the rest. No creek crossing as creek is bridged by avalanche debris (but this will go fast).

Thanks, Kenji, good info.

And if you hiked up into Bean Creek Basin to access Earl, how low down can you start/end skiing? Near the stream crossing, or way higher?

It's a tough comparison - Snoqualmie verus the Noocksack area. It's a rare day when Snoqualmie will win that battle, but the Summit ski areas are a great alternative to stairsteppers as an exercise regimen after work when the lifts are running (50-60 minutes from my office even in rush hour). And once you learn where to go, there is some fine skiing mid-winter (especially in non-drought years where we're doing better than 70% of normal snowpack) when the snow level drops to 2000 or below.