TR Replies
where wuz you guys? We skied, west low anle slopes of Mazama Ridge, then 9-1-1 the steep southeast-facing slopes in the back bowl, and finally the steep west facing slopes above Paradise Valley Road (twice)? Couldn't get anything to sluff even with a party of 4! Saw Bud on the front of Mazama; lots of people camped above the back bowl skiing the bowl. Went up today, but the gate hadn't opened by 11:30 and they said it could be an hour or more more (broken plow); so...
Funny we didn't run into you guys, Don.
That's a nice loop you did.
That's a nice loop you did.
The conditions were good, but some folks hit dirt when they dug, just make sure to probe some good spots up on the ridgeline. The layers were obvious, as there was a rain crust about 1 foot down, and a hard consolidated layer under that for about 2 feet. I am referring to north facing aspects only. Have fun
Allen,
Thanks for the info. I have yet to buy a digital, I will consider this one.
Good Turns, Darin
Thanks for the info. I have yet to buy a digital, I will consider this one.
Good Turns, Darin
Scott:
How were the cave digging conditions? My son and I plan to camp out there next weekend. Seems like it would be hard to dig after all the freeze-thaw we've had.
Rick Randall
How were the cave digging conditions? My son and I plan to camp out there next weekend. Seems like it would be hard to dig after all the freeze-thaw we've had.
Rick Randall
thanks!
i'm amazed at my Canon's ability to shoot directly into the sun, and expose everything right. I'd highly recommend it. It also starts fast, and is not too much of a battery hog, like a lot of digitals. It's a Canon Powershot A40, and you can get em under $300 these days.
It's also small, so I'll actually carry the thing.
i'm amazed at my Canon's ability to shoot directly into the sun, and expose everything right. I'd highly recommend it. It also starts fast, and is not too much of a battery hog, like a lot of digitals. It's a Canon Powershot A40, and you can get em under $300 these days.
It's also small, so I'll actually carry the thing.
I like that last photo! Very nice. Well done.
Good Turns, Darin
Good Turns, Darin
I'm going to break the picture rules once, since i figured out how to do this. I liked this picture from Sunday, nearing the saddle on Unicorn. It was blowing, cold, and sunny, and this picture represents all that:
Yeah, it has to be on the net somewhere. Then you put the url between the codes that you can generate with the picture button above the message box in the "post reply" dialog.
If you like you can post them for free on msn where I post mine. You can even add them to my "Tatoosh" trip if you like... you just have to register or have a msn pasport or something like that. You'll figure it out; I did :)
If you like you can post them for free on msn where I post mine. You can even add them to my "Tatoosh" trip if you like... you just have to register or have a msn pasport or something like that. You'll figure it out; I did :)
I think Foss was our original plan, if there was one, and it had tracks all over it. we came back too late to do anything extra. we skiied right back down the main gully from Unicorn. we managed to get away from the crowds, but the skiing looked better on the south side of Pinnacle, at least from a distance it did.
to post a picture do you have to have it on a website already? If not, I'd like to know how to do it. couldn't find how in the FAQ section.
Here's some of the best...
to post a picture do you have to have it on a website already? If not, I'd like to know how to do it. couldn't find how in the FAQ section.
Here's some of the best...
You're right, Allen, it was a good day for fatties. I think all of us were the poachers I was talking about ;)
Sounds like you ran into similar conditions to ours. I was wondering what Foss was like. Did you do any runs there as you passed by?
Did you happen to take the bowl nw of Foss back down to the road?
Sounds like you ran into similar conditions to ours. I was wondering what Foss was like. Did you do any runs there as you passed by?
Did you happen to take the bowl nw of Foss back down to the road?
Sounds nice Greg.
Good Turns, Darin
Good Turns, Darin
hey ron,
hope we're not the poachers you're referring to. i didn't know where we were going til we got there. we ended up getting away from it all over on Unicorn. The lower chute was getting some wind deposited snow near the top, but it seemed to be well adhered to the old snow layer. the upper snow field to the saddle was pretty good skiing, extremely variable, but never too bad.
good day for those fatties, hope you enjoyed yours.
allen
hope we're not the poachers you're referring to. i didn't know where we were going til we got there. we ended up getting away from it all over on Unicorn. The lower chute was getting some wind deposited snow near the top, but it seemed to be well adhered to the old snow layer. the upper snow field to the saddle was pretty good skiing, extremely variable, but never too bad.
good day for those fatties, hope you enjoyed yours.
allen
Spring skiing is happening now, apparently, on the right aspects. I also found the tree peed cucka in the Snoqualmie forest, but open slopes were pretty darned good, though you obviously wanna catch sunny slopes while they're soft. By the way, there's a pretty fun avalanche path on the west side of the second Kendall Knob that I almost went to check out this weekend (Volken describes how to get there in his book for anyone who is interested in this spot) - I bet that would offer pretty nice skii...
That's funny,
we were camped out in snow caves for an avy course right below where your son was. We had some great turns this morning after we traversed under table mountain and out and around by the Herman/Table saddle and dropped down into the basin for some great north facing powder. Although it was skied out, there was still some great terrain to cut up. Good Times
we were camped out in snow caves for an avy course right below where your son was. We had some great turns this morning after we traversed under table mountain and out and around by the Herman/Table saddle and dropped down into the basin for some great north facing powder. Although it was skied out, there was still some great terrain to cut up. Good Times
Zap,
Well are we going to have a ski outing sometime or what? If you still live in the Skoog's neighborhood say hello to them from me!
Darin
Well are we going to have a ski outing sometime or what? If you still live in the Skoog's neighborhood say hello to them from me!
Darin
Silas,
The warm rain late last week also reached Holden but the snow that followed the rain in western WA never reached Holden. We had sunny days with "unbreakable crust". Came back early.
Zap
Darin,
It's me.
The warm rain late last week also reached Holden but the snow that followed the rain in western WA never reached Holden. We had sunny days with "unbreakable crust". Came back early.
Zap
Darin,
It's me.
Zap,
This isn't Zap who lives near/on the west side of Lake Sammamish is it? -Or used to?
Darin
This isn't Zap who lives near/on the west side of Lake Sammamish is it? -Or used to?
Darin
What happened to your Holden trip or is it coming up?
I think this will work for photos site: http://photomail.photoworks.com/sharing/album.asp?Key=1~FQQ4aBru.cKAsm25i78ImY.fa1beMK1Q4xG4szv8o9mlQpAi9BmvCoYshFHj9OZG
Thanks for all of the useful info, and glad you found good skiing.
Mark, thanks, that helps a lot. We will add that to the (limited) list of possible destinations.
Charles, don't have time to write up a report, but there's about 8 inches of powder reasonably well bonded to a strong crust on sun-sheltered slopes up here (i.e., Mt. Baker Highway). Should last until at least Thursday. Anything below about 4000 feet and anything which gets any sun at all has crust on it. Base at 4000 feet is about 6 feet, deepening with increased altitude.
Hope that helps. Enjoy.
Mark
Hope that helps. Enjoy.
Mark
Joshua - Do you think there is any hope of soft snow in the area now? I'm thinking about going on Thursday, but I don't want boilerplate or nasty crust. Any guesses about how it might be on the Muir snowfield? Thanks.
Thanks for all the useful info! I have a question for any of you who were in this area over the past few days: do you think there will be any soft snow to be found in the area now? I'm thinking about going to Paradise on Thursday. Maybe Muir was high enough to not get really wet snow? With all the wet snow around Pan Pt and Mazama over the weekend, it seems like things might be frozen solid now and not very fun?
Thanks for the report and the good, if disappointing, info. I'm wondering about the Nordic Pass part - did you go through Nordic Pass and its forest? It sounds like you followed the groomed trail all the way around, which wouldn't actually take you through Nordic Pass (which has the route tree-marked but not groomed).
Don_B: If you want, it is OK to just put the link right in your post. Thanks for the report!
Sounds like you were in that area that gets side loaded .
where mazama ridge, aspect west,directly east of paradise, elevation 6100' roughly my altimeter runs in 10' increments slope angle was 33deg . learned not to cook and post at the same time you tend to forget important info and oregano
Yes Sag -where ,Aspect and slope angle would be nice.
As part of a class on Sat we dug a rutcshblock on 30* west facing 5860' Edith basin . We failed the student cause he couldn't get it to budge !:-) Snow layers were as you describe but snow had drained. Were you above 6000' ? Of cousre every day and every different aspect it changes.Thanks for the report, Andy you too.
As part of a class on Sat we dug a rutcshblock on 30* west facing 5860' Edith basin . We failed the student cause he couldn't get it to budge !:-) Snow layers were as you describe but snow had drained. Were you above 6000' ? Of cousre every day and every different aspect it changes.Thanks for the report, Andy you too.
Where exactly did you do the pit, please :)
We skied Mazama Sat and Sun, mostly lower angle stuff down to Paradise Creek and the back bowl; I did ski 9-1-1 on the back bowl after 5 trips had been made down it (steep slopes to the north of the bowl)--had some short cracks propagating but all in all pretty stable; we had grauple falling on us both Sat and Sun and late in the day Sunday the sun began to peak out and temps went up. abc
We skied Mazama Sat and Sun, mostly lower angle stuff down to Paradise Creek and the back bowl; I did ski 9-1-1 on the back bowl after 5 trips had been made down it (steep slopes to the north of the bowl)--had some short cracks propagating but all in all pretty stable; we had grauple falling on us both Sat and Sun and late in the day Sunday the sun began to peak out and temps went up. abc
The reality was "went to Mazama Ridge and played in the Cascade concrete". Don't know the temp, but diffential above freezing.
thanks for the report think i'll head to mazama ridge tomorrow and play in the powder (i was worried i wouldn't get to say that again this year )thanks
The yurts are up McCully Basin at about 7400 ft. The basin is entered from the north on the same road as a little ski area - Fergusson Ridge, out of Joseph. Another popular trip is the Wing Ridge huts/yurts, which are south of McCully basin.
The McCully yurts are run by http://www.wallowahuts.com/
and Wing Ridge is at http://www.oregontrail.net/wingski/
The McCully yurts are run by http://www.wallowahuts.com/
and Wing Ridge is at http://www.oregontrail.net/wingski/
Great set of pics, russ! I was in there maybe 10 years ago, April I think. All I remember was that it snowed hard for 2 days of our 4 day trip and that it was damned cold during the storm. We were tenting it. Where are the yurts located? As I recall, it was a great location with lots of good terrain.
Ron it is a small world - I saw your report last July, so thought there was still time to ski the sw chutes. We went 2 weeks laters and camped in a sand basin below, intending to climb and ski the same route. Unfortunately a wind storm came in and as we were climbing early the next morning, the gusts were almost blowing us off our stance. I had a whippet, but my buddy only had ski poles. We decided about a 1/3 of the way up it was too risky that he was going to take a big slide, so we skied from...
http://pitkow.com/trips_2003-PowderCreek.html
Pictures.
Of course, ignore the silly ones. ;)
Pictures.
Of course, ignore the silly ones. ;)
Nice report, Great Pics, Russ.
Small world, too. I just happened to note that your friends, Carl and Lisa, skied my favorite run of all, the SW Chutes on Adams, on the very same day last year that Mad Dog and I skied them. Same trip right down to the Goats! (they got better goat pics than we did, however) :)
http://www.turns-all-year.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=tr0207;action=display;num=1031764279
Small world, too. I just happened to note that your friends, Carl and Lisa, skied my favorite run of all, the SW Chutes on Adams, on the very same day last year that Mad Dog and I skied them. Same trip right down to the Goats! (they got better goat pics than we did, however) :)
http://www.turns-all-year.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=tr0207;action=display;num=1031764279
I think it was those martinis you kept mixing up, Russ!
=8-O
=8-O
Yea Jim, I was being a little cautious in my reporting. First couple of runs on Monday we hit a glade that was probably 16"-18" of nice light powder. I just didn't want everyone rushing off think they find that everywhere in the basin.
BTW, I'm sure I saw Jim levitate a time or two in the yurt. He probably reached nirvana and can't remember it! ;)
BTW, I'm sure I saw Jim levitate a time or two in the yurt. He probably reached nirvana and can't remember it! ;)
In reply to David - yes that was me, but I guarantee I'm not enlightened (yet).
Also, we were in Mcully Creek Basin - not sure what the passes we got to were named. It's a moderate haul up to the basin floor (~2000vf, something like 5-7 miles one way), but there's a trail that obviously gets used a fair bit in the winter by the yurtniks. Once up into the basin proper, travel is indeed pretty straightforward through the trees. Never been to Bonney Lakes, so I can't compare. It looked like...
Also, we were in Mcully Creek Basin - not sure what the passes we got to were named. It's a moderate haul up to the basin floor (~2000vf, something like 5-7 miles one way), but there's a trail that obviously gets used a fair bit in the winter by the yurtniks. Once up into the basin proper, travel is indeed pretty straightforward through the trees. Never been to Bonney Lakes, so I can't compare. It looked like...
Yes, thanks for the photo links! Lots of great shots showing those of us who have never made it there (yet) what the terrain is like. The low snowpack is really striking, but it looks like the group found enough coverage to have a good time. The panoramas are great, too.
Thanks for sharing that awesome set of pics. Jim, is this you in the pic titled "D1_green yurt_Jim"? It looks like you've attained Buddah nature!
What was the name of the pass you headed to? It looks like the valley floor is less forested, thick, annoying than the route up to Bonney Lks.?
Since I'm a skin-flint, I'm going to pulk up my own tent and stove to the parking area up above Big Sheep Shelters soon-maybe. That or any other infinitude of tre...
What was the name of the pass you headed to? It looks like the valley floor is less forested, thick, annoying than the route up to Bonney Lks.?
Since I'm a skin-flint, I'm going to pulk up my own tent and stove to the parking area up above Big Sheep Shelters soon-maybe. That or any other infinitude of tre...
At least in my memory there was even more like 5-8" of powder on some of the slopes we farmed on the last day of the trip (when our visions of a reasonable return time to Seattle evaporated due to the thought of "hmm, when will we likely next see any snow like this??). It was a very fun trip which included some 4-500 vf slope farming on high ridges and glades as well as an awesome ski up a 9000+ ft peak with views of the Wallowa range and the ice fog that plagued the valleys while we e...
Bruce: Nice report; wished I'd been there! Good to see that you're getting out a little bit. I'm still hoping to find enough snow to go to Whitehorse Mtn. in May. See ya............Greg Lange
Matt,
If you short a skiing partner for tours such as this just let me know. I'm free seven days a week 24 hours a day and ready to tour on a moments notice. I'll be doing plenty solo trips this year if the weather and snowpack cooperate.
Darin
If you short a skiing partner for tours such as this just let me know. I'm free seven days a week 24 hours a day and ready to tour on a moments notice. I'll be doing plenty solo trips this year if the weather and snowpack cooperate.
Darin
Mark: My wife twisted my arm into booking a Snowater condo from 2/19-22. If it comes to pass, might you be able to sneak away for a day shot?
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Good to see you out and about.......Greg
Good to see you out and about.......Greg