TR Replies
Skinning on the descent, eh?
Happy birthday, Mike!
Thanks. Always amazed at how fast that melts out. Planning on going up Beverly and down Bean shortly.
Tried to avert my eyes, but it was too late. Mooned!
What an aesthetic line, guys. Inspiring
Sick! Tower provides nice descents on many flanks. Bummer about the knee.
Tim, you gotta be a little more gentle with your partners. If they all end up in crevasses or with blown knees, you are going to be doing a lot of solo skiing. :-)
Bonus points if anyone can explain why this is called the NE, not the NW, couloir.
filbo, thanks for the report, particularly liked the quote from Spike, I hope to have that grit. As I slogged up the hill yesterday , white rain falling on my head, every step taking me up another foot of what would surly be sticky skiing slop, I had a few good turns, and a beer in the parking lot. Making it all totally worth the time. It’s a crazy addiction we have.
@kamtron sorry to hear you're struggling with the recovery also, but given our current snowpack and weather, you have some time to recover before the corn cycle! The general declining trend of the Eastern Sierra snowpack has been very sad. Looking at the multi decade trend, they used to regularly get incredible amounts of snow, more reminiscent of the central Cascades! The last decade has been rough down there. I hope it is just some multi year variability and not a permanent fixture.
Nice post as usual, Kyle. Sorry to hear about the virus putting a damper on your mutant crusher ability. "Only" skiing 8/9 days and at most 13k per day must've been hard. I'm hoping I also bounce back from the sickness to full ski sickness by the time a true corn cycle arrives. I will need to head to the E Sierra some time before I'm too old and fat and climate change makes the desert more desert.
Cheers
Thanks! I love reports of soloists in their element, but still being safe.
You're lucky the hit wasn't directly underfoot. If it flexes more than usual, the core is suspect. Edge is cracked which isn't great, but from the looks of things the edge seems to have taken the brunt of the hit more than the ski itself. Is that dark/light line on the base near the cracked edge due to the impact or something to do with your skins or wax?
I would try to hammer the edge flat and fill in everything with a slow-cure epoxy, then clamp it all in place with some parchment o...
An update on the ski damage... I ended up using these skis for Shasta on Wed and... it held up fine. Before setting off I did a bit of flexing of the ski. Although it flexes more where the damage is, I didn't hear any cracking, and it seems like most of the core of the ski is still intact. I assumed the ski was toast, but somebody in the Shasta parking lot seemed to think there's a chance that it's repairable. Pictures attached, what do people think?
Great trip report. It brings back memories of a visit years ago. 😀
Zap
Well played. By Sunday that sweet sweet powder was heavy slurpy death mank!
Cool report. My one time up Lassen we were beseiged by massive swarms of butterflies, which was really cool. Got food poisoning from pizza that sat in our hot car all day too, memorable.
How busted is the rock-hit ski? Maybe you can repair. Post a pic.
Awesome! Wish I could see all the photos, a few aren't working for me.
I'm going to get in touch next year, this is still on my list...
I bet that was an awesome run! You must be darn tough to break knee deep for such a big day.
Nice report! I like your MMAV.
Mush season is in effect.
I think the photo issue is somehow related to some kind of embedded metadata. I have no idea if it can be fixed via the forum interface but have fixed similar issues in my image editor.
If anyone knows how to rotate uploaded photos on this platform please let me know!
Very rad, a good one to tack onto the Magic S Loop. I remember looking up at that thing from the Yawning.
@bigeo the poles are called Les Batons d'Alain and they are great for allowing you a variety of different pole lengths for both the uphill and downhill. The long foam grip allows you to choke up or down on the pole as you need.
That's a beautiful line that looks skiable by ordinary mortal types. Question: I have noticed in the photos in many TRs that people are using what looks like extra-long ski poles on the descent. What's the advantage?
🙏 somehow it all just came together without feeling like too much beatdown...
I miss Snoqualmie!
Thanks Kam. I definitely took a hit of helium before skiing that bottom entrance... shark proofing!
Will told me a bit about your trip, massive, spandex worthy--well, I at least would need all the help I could get on an excursion like that.
I think we can all laugh about your "stern talking to" ... doubt they'd ever call the cops to come get you out there, I mean, sheesh.
Good to see so much Snoqualmie radness happening.
Yeah!!!
The Pow is Risen
Nice job wiping off your snotty nose. I looked at that a few weeks back and didn't think it looked "in" enough for me. But shit, you guys got it done. Wouldn't have wanted one of those sharks to toss you though, eh?
Cumulus, I do remember chatting with you on our way out the Commonwealth after our first attempt in February. I think I was a bit surprised you even knew what I was talking about. I actually found out about the line digging up your old post from the first descent in 2012 and then Scott Rink skied it last year.
It is a spooky place for sure and does get all sorts of weird wind patterns. Alpental telemetry and observations made other places around the pass seem to be pretty useles...
8. Holds crevasse falls in a two person rope team.
I made a video edit with footage from this trip, it's available at https://youtu.be/qgC9zlmeYTU
Nice! I skied a bunch of Snoqualmie couloirs last week too--it was good! Might have run into you if you hadn't beelined to McClellan... I haven't posted at all this season...I may throw up a few pics too.
How was the waterfall in the Thomson North Couloir? Skiable?
The North couloir is dear to my heart. Rob and I tried a few times to ski it back about ten years ago, always wanting to ski it in powder, but the entrance and subsequent "mini ampitheater" makes i...
Great trip report. It makes me laugh that Preacher is getting done as a day tour...y'all should bring a tent and spend more time once you're back there :) Granted it used to be a lot easier to do multi-day tours out of the Alpental vicinity a decade ago when they allowed overnight parking by the maintenance sheds.
I've heard that road walk is really soothing ;)
More photos.. Not sure how to change the sideways ones, will play with it later.
Swis has been been my list for a long time. Nice work.
Very cool, hope to spend some seasons up in CA exploring the range! thanks for the fodder
I guess Law Enforcement doesn’t care? What if I send them the pictures? Seattle Times? I know an old guy who used to ski all sorts of peaks in Wilderness areas but gave it up cause always tracked out and wrecked. Would Inslee care or would it just be the Feds?
Charlie the Dog is looking wistful. Might be the frozen water dish 😂