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Very nice! What a gorgeous part of the park to do a 3500 v.f. half marathon! Those look like absolutely bone-rattling conditions!
A well-written trip report plus the photos and video tells the story.😃
For those seeking 'easy' September turns, the Pinnacle 'glacier' snowpatch near Paradise is looking pretty small. There is a much larger patch in the big gully between Pinnacle & Plummer peaks. Shortly after the Pinnacle trail turns left at a big rock and before it steepens about a half-mile from Reflection Lake, make a slightly descending SW traverse starting on forested benches. The patch looks like maybe a couple hundred vf at ~30 degrees. Check out the far right marg...
Congrats on 15 years!
Thanks for posting your TAY limerick 😁
Now to find my own postage stamp.....
Jill has had surgeries on both hips over the years. Plus, she still skis both downhill and backcountry even at 78. 😀
Welcome to the "club". 😊
...if you make turns the first week of November, have your surgery on the 9th, take 7 weeks to recover, present your "patient wife" with note from your doctor, make turns again on December 31st, then you can continue your "fine madness" into the 16th year. We need heroes!
That glacier is unique! I'm surprised this July it didn't look better. Such a cool area.
That’s awesome you guys. Some serious motors by you all, nicely done!
Bravo Rusty. Twofer. And thanks for the Telemon reminder. Scholes looking good!!
You are the "BEST" circumnavigator at Coleman Pinnacle. 😀
The marmot has a unique gene. 😏
Dude Kam, I just noticed the new rock bands that have shown up on the lower face. There's that huge rock and the two smaller rocks. That is mind blowing. I climbed this face a few years back on one of my trips, and that lower face was full on glacier ice, with small crevasses in it. Now to see that there are basically mini nunataks forming in the middle of it really shows the scale of the ice thinning. I think we're probably looking at 20-30 feet of ice thickness loss in the past few ye...
Repeated this trip July 18 solo. Sunday night the White River Campground had plenty of space to stay. It rained pretty good for awhile in the middle of the night, so those in tents got a good test. I started up the trail at 7am, made Glacier Basin by 8:30. Still no snow so I walked another half mile to where the valley turns left to start skinning. Made it to the top of Steamboat Prow at 12:30, a personal best time. It was occasionally windy and cold on the...
Sorry a bit late for your headwall beta but at that point it went on far skier's right, when I looked back from below.
No way Allen that's so awesome! The pollen was really bad, yes. It was a recurrent subject of discussion as you can imagine. Dan hypothesized that perhaps it could be a reaction to the previous summer's stress?
Yeah, Russman, the underlying ice has receded a lot. The feel of being on the face is really different, less planar and more concave. My last time going up there, I think.
Good stuff, I think I saw your party navigating off of Sherman onto the upper Talum yesterday as I took a friend up the Squak. From the Boulder glacier (not ridge) you can cross under the cleaver back to the Talum as well to get back towards your camp, but that wouldn't have given you another run down the Wall!
Yesterday the snow was great corn off the Roman wall at noon, nice consolidated snow down the glacier as well until the bumpiness started around 7k. Pollen on th...
Sorry I missed the message Rich. I hiked in with crocs, switching to boots at Lake Lillian. I went back and got my poles.
Thanks again for the photos, Kenji. They were really helpful for our trip to N side Adams last weekend.
Kam thanks so much for posting this. This is honestly a really sad post. I can't even believe how much thinner the upper face looks now. Its almost like the underlying glacier ice has completely melted off, probably in last year's glacier heat death.
Even with the fat spring snow this year, the receding ice on the NFNWR is quickly destroying the route. I was last there in July 2017, and the rockband was a totally different situation, smooth skiing with no ice shenanigans. The face is less planar and more concave now. Every year's snowpack is different, I guess, but the past 5 years of hot summers has not been kind to that face. Two descents of it in perfect corn is enough for me... after Monday's sphincter-clenching ice-capades, I don't t...
Nice! We did almost the same thing the day before (Sunday): NFNWR was icy, we decided to ski the Pinnacle Glacier headwall, but the snow on the west ridge looked waaaay better, so we skied that. Perfect corn all the way down, such a fun run! Honestly it's one of my favorite descents I've done on Adams.
3x up Liberty Ridge in one season with skis. Impressive!
Looks sweet -- glad you fellas enjoyed the descent. I was one of the three waiting for the NFNWR to soften. My buddies said it was in the worst shape they'd skied it, but still we had some kind of fun. Those turns up high were exhilarating, but yeah, the icy crux and trappy mank lowe...
Ooooh - nice variation on the Kautz - video looks like snow was pretty decent - next year!!
Too Funny! I did the same traverse with a friend from Bham the day after you guys did. We appreciated having a set of tracks to follow but never thought it might be the same set of tracks the whole time. How about that pollen? We ended up not using skins for a big portion of the trip, just using it as kick wax instead (our attempt at finding a silver lining). Having to push to ski down 15-20 degree slopes was pretty rough though.
We also wimped out on the bike shu...
Nice to see your lines on Dege Peak. Brings back memories of a few years ago.😀
Sick, Dylan! I can see the ripping Park Glacier video but not your pictures. The bike shuttle sucked. 😅
Good to recognize those times when we get away with it, stoked for your descent of the gnar
Did you get eyes on the Park Headwall 'schrund?
Love the persistence. Congrats on getting one of the big fish, and doing it on your own terms!
Great work on the stitched together image. I'll be mentally skiing it all summer.
I'm planning to be out there this Sunday - I'll keep my eyes peeled and reply back if I find them! It'll be my first time up there - what's the hike in from the trailhead like? Worthy of hiking boots or ok with ski boots? Thx
Great report Kenji and stunning photos as usual. Way to get out there and thanks for sharing
Hi TimD, it was nice chatting with your friend Harry. Glad you enjoyed the day trip... I think in some ways it's easier to do a big push with light packs!
Certainly conditions were not nearly as good as last week, unfortunately. Recent rain & snow up high and lack of consolidation had some real mushy conditions. Luckily the highest elevations still had some decent supportive snow. It was fun to ski off of both Sherman and the Roman wall.
Inspired by Kamtron's report my friend Harry, my son Teal, and I did this route July 5. We were skeptical that a single push from sleeping in the parking lot was something mere mortals could do in a reasonable time. We left at 6am and were back 11.5 hours later. Harry stopped around 9000' and my son and I continued on to summit in good conditions. Which resulted in Harry meeting Kamtron coming down from Sherman Peak about where we had left him behind. Most...
Myself, I found great skiing above 6k ft, exept on steeper sun exposed slopes.
I skied Snowgrass flats to Johnson Pk and back. The difficulties on the trail getting to Goat Lk have probably melted out by now. When you get soft corn over frozen snow, it can all slide away.