TR Replies

I am so excited to see this!  We need (4) partners to join us at this Tam McArthur Rim hut April 22-25 (3 nights, 4 days).  We hope the conditions are this good and it's looking good with the predicted late-season storms. Check out partners wanted page for more info. 

Thank you for all the glorious photos-we can't wait!

~Lara (and Derek)

author=Mr_Burns link=topic=36050.msg147308#msg147308 date=1458660224]
Beautiful photos and cool video- great trip report! I am headed to Icefall in a few weeks and I wondered, was there anything you took along that you didn't need or anything you didn't take that you wish you had? Thanks!

I brought my own harness. They supply them for the tours that go on glaciers but they were pretty big and bulky. Also brought flipflop...

The road was in great shape to the trailhead. This page has the latest;

http://www.nps.gov/olym/planyourvisit/current-road-conditions.htm

It had been closed earlier in the winter due to storm damage but they got it open again and I noticed snowshoe trip reports began appearing on the WTA site again. I just had to wait for a good weather window to line up with my free time.

As for the inspiration I have to give credit to Roger Merrill Oakes and his book about skii...

Nice work and photos. I'm also interested in gate status.

Good effort, it's great to see big goals, you'll get it next time!

Thanks for the inspiration and pics. Sounds like it was a great trip.
Was the road open all the way to the trailhead parking lot?
That bowl above Deer Lake is a lot of fun, and it would be even more so in midwinter---but how would you get in? At least in past years I think they've kept the road gated at the highway (15 miles from the trailhead) until it melts out. I've had fantasies of mountain biking it as far as possible and then flat-tracking the rest of the way to the tr...

Worth it? I think so. It wasn't a complete sprint. I lost about an hour to route finding snafus and still had time to drop way below the trail to avoid slide paths and then take a second long run in the basin. I had originally wanted to summit Bogochiel but the direct route was getting really sun affected and when I was in the basin I preferred the sub peak closest to the summit because it had more protected snow and was still high enough to enjoy the views of Olympus. There would have been...

author=Rusty Knees link=topic=36050.msg147259#msg147259 date=1458516284]
"As the only short-legged asthmatic splitboarder in the group..."

Yeah, but it looked like you showed 'em how on the way down!  Nice video, Stew!  And Wow!  the scenery looks fantastic.  Thanks.

Haha, yeah in my humble opinion, surfing pow will always be superior to skiing it. And, despite almost always bringing up the rear on the skin track, du...

Any wet feet on the Henry Creek crossing? We stayed high and it was fine, but that low road looked interesting. Splitter day up there.

And your very own disco clothes! Stew...I may be totally wrong but your a...shredding fool.  I'm smiling right with you on the last few seconds of that video!

Thanks for the stoke!

Nice!

Is the tour worth trying to do this time of year in a day without it feeling like a sprint?

Couple more;

author=powersa link=topic=36060.msg147227#msg147227 date=1458440026]
From that spectacular vantage, we could see Doctor Suess like cornices hanging from more or less every ridge line.

took this photo of cave ridge today

From the ridge

Sunrise

Beautiful

Wow. That looks like a ton of fun. The photo of Mt. Arras is mind-bending.

:).

Skied the standard routes down from the Castle today (3/18).  Very windy (+30 out of the east).  The wind slab was surprisingly unreactive on the N aspects I skied, nor was there as much transport as I would have expected.  I think the melt/freeze from sunny wx from yesterday reduced available snow for transport today.

Thanks for the report.
How thick was the windslab?

Looks like a lot of fun.

It didn't suck over at Yodelin either. It was a little too deep/thick in the open and especially where the sun hit it later in the day, but the stuff that stayed shaded stayed great. I got moderate sluffing going on particularly steep pitches and knocked out  a few very small chunky bits near the ridge but that was it.

Jimw, thanks for the great pic, really like the Tam pano, had to go back and check Mikes vid to see the kicker.  And Ben, your pic are really great, thanks.

Great summary of weather/conditions. The best splitfest conditions ever?  I rode the chairs Sunday morning and it was good, except I had no camera for that cool silver light, the glaciers glowed blue!  My last trip down the blueberry's into swift then out to grandmas put me just behind the last visibility of the day. Made for a slow exit. Wanna thank the crew that puts this on every year, Pete at chair 9 is a great host. See ya next year.

No sorry for the confusion. Hiked out the standard "exit". Slot would be a pretty fun mountaineering hike out though.