TR Replies

beautiful photos... had been thinking about that trip for the weekend, but settled on just skiing Rock on 2nd. Stiff winds on ridgetop made summit traverse there a bit interesting, so I can imagine what it was like being exposed to that for longer!

Did the Swath get brushy down low? We weren't quite sure looking across the valley from the oblique angle from Rock.

1/4/16 2:36am

z-bo

nice work!

1/4/16 2:34am

silaswild

Jan 1, 2016, Mt. Rainier, Paradise environs

"The swath"? In the old days known as "highway to heaven (above the Bible Camp)". :)

1/4/16 2:30am

DenisSeattle

My pleasure, ron j, volunteering comes with nice benefits. 8)

And thanks for moving this post up. You can delete the reference post with the same title.

1/4/16 1:21am

PhilH

January 2, 2016. Colchuck Col

Strong work! Thanks for posting.

1/4/16 1:04am

AlpineRose

Your ambitious trip reminds us you don't have to be having fun to have fun.

1/4/16 1:00am

Kenji

Very nice! We were talking about the traverse when we were on Arrowhead/Rock. It's definitely on our list. Good to know the Swath is in a good shape. I love skiing powder with a headlamp :) Thanks for the report.

1/3/16 10:47pm

lrudholm

Methow Valley - New Year's 2016

Very nice!

1/3/16 2:09pm

dfhkvs

The 10 year old loved the target shooting...

1/3/16 12:43pm

jwplotz

January 2, 2016. Colchuck Col

Thanks!

Your trip looks like a whole new level of misery.

1/3/16 12:33pm

JibberD

Jan 1, 2016, Mt. Rainier, Paradise environs

Fantastic photos, Kenji. Thanks!

1/3/16 11:47am

ron j

Thanks, Denis,
For your report and your Volly Service.

1/3/16 11:45am

telefly

January 2, 2016. Colchuck Col

Wow, beautiful photos! And nice report. Thanks

1/3/16 10:43am

kciari

Nice report. I totally hear you on the cold and misery: 2014 January Suffering.

1/3/16 9:56am

Zap

Great TR and the photos were wonderful. Rocks West Face . ;)

1/3/16 8:54am

cumulus

Kendall W ridge right where the skin track pops out. Super popular of late. You may have gone by it when you exited via the Commonwealth from the twins...though you may have dropped in earlier, rather than traversing. Lookers right of the Kendall Peak Avalanche of April 9th, 2010.

Great to see slope testing before skiing. Once a skin track is in place seems some folks don�...

1/3/16 5:23am

kamtron

author=cumulus link=topic=35268.msg144646#msg144646 date=1451683448]
here's a pic of Kendall west ridge area Dec. 30 -

Cumulus, I'm curious, where exactly is this W ridge spot?

1/3/16 5:02am

kamtron

I'm glad to hear people got out again yesterday! Those winds were brutal (I tried going up Mt. Snoqualmie's S ridge for a change and got shut down by wind).

Here are a couple inline photos.

Opening the Mainline chute on a rope:

1/3/16 2:25am

cumulus

January 1, 2016, Tour De Hyak

just a conditions update...

here's a pic of Kendall west ridge area Dec. 30 -

We traveled through the same area the next day Dec. 31. None of the ski tracks in the above photo were extant. They were all blown over and there was a lot of highly reactive wind slab -

1/3/16 2:17am

telemack

Only a super-early bird could have gotten 2016 turns in before you---Congrats on the turns and the experience.

1/3/16 1:20am

bscott

December 31, 2015, - Mt. St. Helens - Soft Slabs

It's not a secret if you post pictures.

1/2/16 10:39pm

blackdog102395

Originally planned on lapping Monitor Peak. It was obvious that wasn't going to happen after breaking out of the trees and seeing the snow plumes billow hundreds of feet in the air off the ridge. Just to satisfy my curiosity I did nose over that way off the main climbing route. Everything was crazy cross loaded. Scary.

Toured up to about 5500K on the main route before the wind finally sent me packing. I was almost blown off my feet several times. The...

1/2/16 9:34pm

JKordel

Dec 30, Chair Peak circumnav

Hi Pete. Nice to see your group and others out on such a nice day. My son and I came past you with fresh legs off the high traverse first - sorry about that ;). We found our least wind affected snow in the wonder gully and experienced the wind board you mentioned on the north slopes of chair peak on our second run. Wind transported snow settled into more protected features were relatively reactive but we only observed this up to a few inches deep. I suspect best skiing to be found now would be...

1/2/16 2:03pm

author=vogtski link=topic=35270.msg144613#msg144613 date=1451609494]
Well-played; nifty tracks, thanks for the stoke!

One of the finest continuously steepish lines close to Paradise, that 'secret' was shown to me by an oldtimer back in the 70's and I passed the favor on to Ron J & Mad Dog in the 90's. The long steep snow ridge from the summit down to the lake to the E of your line was also sometimes done back then, but not b...

1/2/16 1:59pm

kciari

Mike and I followed up on this tour today (31st), and several others approached via Kendall, leaving any remaining untouched hero pow lines to the more creative out there. Really nice out, and thanks for the skin track! Beautiful bluebird day with some stiff winds on the ridge tops, blowing beautiful snow plumes all around.

1/2/16 1:05am

Griff

Dec 26, 28, 29, 2015, and Jan 1, 2016, ONP Hurricane

Nice, saw ur tacks as I headed up to Alpy yesterday. Very inspiring. Good work!!!

1/1/16 10:19am

ovrthhills

Nice meeting you on the trail on Tuesday. The south facing slopes skied pretty well considering how sunny they were.

Sidnie signing Hurricane Hill Bowl

1/1/16 5:39am

kamtron

Some photos of the 2 days are here:
https://goo.gl/photos/y8jjMfUkQBwjNfva9

Thanks to whoever put in the track to the top of Stirling, and to my awesome partners Brendan, Marina, and Will.

1/1/16 5:37am

lrudholm

Nice work.

1/1/16 5:24am

Gary Vogt

Well-played; nifty tracks, thanks for the stoke!

One of the finest continuously steepish lines close to Paradise, that 'secret' was shown to me by an oldtimer back in the 70's and I passed the favor on to Ron J & Mad Dog in the 90's. The long steep snow ridge from the summit down to the lake to the E of your line was also sometimes done back then, but not by me ;)

1/1/16 3:53am

degnaw

Dec 25-26, The Jim Hell Project aka Jimmy Jab

author=savegondor link=topic=35228.msg144501#msg144501 date=1451407387]
seems like there were some glades off the hiking trail?

Gave this a shot today! I basically cut the switchbacks the whole way down - didn't want to stray too far from the trail since I was solo. Trees are a bit thick so I couldn't pick up much speed, except in the clearing at the very beginning of the run - Also, spent about half the run traversing...

1/1/16 2:09am

rippy

Good choice and perseverance to the goal. The south end of Lanham lake and staying right was found to be our easiest up-climb. It's all steep but there are some better little lanes through the tree's & undulating features. We had a few "field trips" before jumping on an early start and getting to the col on a short winter day. I'm remembering the TUA Excalibers w/ Fritschi red n' whites now, whooaa. Great report and pictures as always!

1/1/16 1:22am

carlfofarl

December 17,15 Avalanche: Big Trees and Spin Drift

Hi Dave - My partner and I saw you and yours shortly after you had regrouped and started to head out. Thanks for sharing the details of your experience here for everyone to learn from.

Did you happen to dig a pit while you were out? My partner and I used the day as our skills refresher so we dug a pit on a Southern aspect and practiced burial search and rescue in some very low angle terrain. We noticed a repeatable and easy (between 5-10 hand hits) Sudden Planar shear failure at abou...

1/1/16 1:13am

Charlie Hagedorn

:). Oh, noes! ;).

12/31/15 12:12pm

dkoelle

Fantastic! Beautiful snow and mellow, shaded terrain, great tidewater views!

12/31/15 11:24am

jtack

That looks fantastic, you know it's good when you are on cold smoke at sea level!

12/31/15 11:01am

Matt Kurjanowicz

author=Lowell_Skoog link=topic=35228.msg144584#msg144584 date=1451541063]
Based on Facebook posts I've been seeing, it appears that Peter Avolio, Dave Jordan and Trevor Kostanich skied Mt Si today from the top of the Haystack. I'm gonna guess this doesn't get done very often. ;)

Whoa, cool. I found the video of them skiing of the haystack. Way cool! Looks fun :)

author=Lowe...

12/31/15 10:59am

discostew

Thanks Zap! Being from the east, I'm always blown away by how close to town this stuff is. It's not often this good, but when it is, there's no need to go anywhere else.

12/31/15 10:26am

Lowell_Skoog

Based on Facebook posts I've been seeing, it appears that Peter Avolio, Dave Jordan and Trevor Kostanich skied Mt Si today from the top of the Haystack. I'm gonna guess this doesn't get done very often. ;)

12/31/15 9:16am

cumulus

sounds like a great day! definitely post some pics.

12/31/15 8:51am

Lowell_Skoog

If you want to get in touch with Mark Dale, author of the Brush and Bushwack Rating System, I can put you in touch.

Mark's treatise is part of the Sub-Alpinism page on my website. It was one of the first things I posted on alpenglow.org back in 1999.

I also highly recommend "Travels in the Enigma Range," by the late Kathy Phibbs:

http://alpenglow.org/themes/subalpine/enigma-range.html

12/31/15 7:24am

kciari

Dec 30, Chair Peak circumnav

Thanks! The Brush and Bushwhack Rating System is always a great read. I'm pushing for it's inclusion in Freedom 9.

Ha! I don't know how I have never seen this before! And I do work for The Mountaineers - perhaps i can put in a good word with the Freedom 9 Committee...

12/31/15 4:55am

GregLange

Thanks for the beta, Pete. Am considering this route as an alternate to another tour this coming Sunday. Nice to know about what's up out there! Your sweat equity deserves many beers from the rest of us...

12/31/15 4:24am

Matt Kurjanowicz

author=savegondor link=topic=35228.msg144501#msg144501 date=1451407387">
seems like there were some glades off the hiking trail?

Maybe? Like up high when the ridge starts getting narrow? I could see that. Snow looks like it's holding up well ...

author=kciari link=topic=35228.msg144543#msg144543 date=1451492352">
Great first report! Thanks for the beta, and I appreciate the Bus...

12/31/15 4:20am

Zap

Your videos are GREAT.

The Hollyburn reminds me of tree skiing on the backside of Stevens Pass. Nice tight lines.

The Cypress backcountry line was beautiful. Thanks for showing us what is near TOWN. ;)

12/31/15 3:01am

Griff

Dec 25-26, The Jim Hell Project aka Jimmy Jab

Very cool! My son and I have been thinking about those for years. Definitely only under certain conditions. We had named the lines:

1. The Big Crack (Main Chute)
2. Line viewers right that is thin - Daddy's Crack
3. The Cleft - the 2nd line skied in the TR

LOL. Thanks for the great reports.

12/30/15 11:50pm

Haugs

Great trip report! I definitely followed most of your skin track up from Lanham Lake yesterday...thanks for putting in the work! There were several "challenging" sections. I think a track that's 100-200 yards north of yours will have a little easier time. Awesome skiing down the bowl and back down to the lake!

12/30/15 3:42pm

rootsman

December 24, Simcoe Mountains, Satus Pass area

It's always nice to see a report from one of the less-visited, dare I say, "exotic" areas. Thanks for posting.

12/30/15 2:02pm

kciari

Dec 25-26, The Jim Hell Project aka Jimmy Jab

Great TR and awesome photos as always. I tried this a few years ago when it was -3 and we turned around due to cold. After seeing all the work you put in, I feel like we made a solid call.

12/30/15 1:51pm

kciari