Just to the right of the tree in the foreground of picture #1, you can see the (now overgrown) old ski hill. It is still skiable, but won't be for long as the trees are taking over. Yes, this is a good year. It is very brushy so it needs a significant base.

12/30/15 3:39am

aaron_wright

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

author=radka link=topic=35229.msg144482#msg144482 date=1451349903]
Savegondor - we went up the Henry Creek side in April 2014 with Kenji et al. and it was ok, but there was a lot more snow then. All the little trees and almost all of the slide alder was covered at that time. BUT - an avalanche came down and across our skin track while we were higher up. A little scary:

12/30/15 2:58am

savegondor

December 27, 2015, Mount Si

seems like there were some glades off the hiking trail?

12/30/15 12:32am

radka

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

author=savegondor link=topic=35229.msg144495#msg144495 date=1451402571]
sure would be fun to do some "thinning".

Hey, I already did my part for thinning ;D

Maybe they will bloom before spring?

They are from the Henry Creek drainage, of course, so now we can...

12/30/15 12:19am

Patarero

December 25, 2015, Mt. Hood Elk Meadows ish

Nice. Always think about skiing that burn, but newton is that much closer.

12/30/15 12:11am

savegondor

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

that IS scary. and is exactly the exposure I was talking about.

author=radka link=topic=35229.msg144482#msg144482 date=1451349903]
Savegondor - we went up the Henry Creek side in April 2014 with Kenji et al. and it was ok, but there was a lot more snow then. All the little trees and almost all of the slide alder was covered at that time. BUT - an avalanche came down and across our skin track while we were higher up. A little scary:

12/29/15 3:30pm

savegondor

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

sure would be fun to do some "thinning".

12/29/15 1:54pm

filbo

Dec 28 Xtal Area Mystery Crust Oh No!!!

At WP at 7000 Ft it was a bit settling POW about 6" on an even more settling base of another 6" and then consolidated snow all the way down deep. All aspects of the compass were skied with no consequences and it will just get better with the new cold temps. Midweek is pretty quiet, soloing til anyone shows up.

12/29/15 1:30pm

peteyboy

Dec 28 Xtal Area Mystery Crust Oh No!!!

In the Baker BC today it was a rind - more than a skin but not breakable crust - like on fancy round cheese. But instead of breaking through it you sort of splooged through it to light fluff beneath it; as the day went on, the upper snow got warmer and what was under got more supportive. Weird. We blamed it on the fog.

12/29/15 12:23pm

jtack

Secret Stash

That looks fantastic! Thanks!

12/29/15 10:33am

jtack

December 24, Simcoe Mountains, Satus Pass area

Nice going, one of my back pocket plans is to ski as many of the old Washington ski areas as possible, and I know there was one around there, looks like it would be a good winter to get that one!

12/29/15 4:38am

pabloson

Adams butts

Hey, way to go! My stomping grounds for fishing in the summer :)

12/29/15 3:35am

radka

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

Savegondor - we went up the Henry Creek side in April 2014 with Kenji et al. and it was ok, but there was a lot more snow then. All the little trees and almost all of the slide alder was covered at that time. BUT - an avalanche came down and across our skin track while we were higher up. A little scary:

Right now, Henry Creek is a mess and I would say going up tha...

12/29/15 12:43am

cchapin

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

author=savegondor link=topic=35229.msg144474#msg144474 date=1451346444">
So you skied up Lehman lake side and down Henry? I'm confused. or did you go up from Lehman to the ridge and then up? if so I found going strait up near Henry creek an easier up. If you can avoid the alder lower down the upper sections have ways that don't involve tight trees. But you'd know that if you skied down Henry side.

route:

12/29/15 12:40am

kamtron

December 27, 2015, Snoqualmie Mountain

Skied the Slot today. We did notice the upper Phantom had some new wind slab. Hand pits on this SW aspect showed moderate planar releases about ~4" down. New snow in the couloir and apron was not very wind affected, although there is a dense layer below (old wind slab) from last week that is pretty well bonded. 3 friends ahead of us had put in the skintrack and skied the route before us. Watch out for these slab layers even though they seem difficult to propagate. Also, there are some nasty...

12/28/15 11:46pm

Secret Stash

author=savegondor link=topic=35226.msg144472#msg144472 date=1451345560]
oh the intrigue. i think i found it on satellite imagery. funny thing about the best stashes is that they are startlingly close to common ski routes, shockingly close to freeways.... like the stash at Rainier, obvious but hidden from the masses.

Indeed Shocking!!!

12/28/15 11:23pm

Chuck C

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

#ObnoxiousCzechPeople

Careful there....

12/28/15 11:22pm

savegondor

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

So you skied up Lehman lake side and down Henry? I'm confused. or did you go up from Lehman to the ridge and then up? if so I found going strait up near Henry creek an easier up. If you can avoid the alder lower down the upper sections have ways that don't involve tight trees. But you'd know that if you skied down Henry side.

route:

Jim Hell

12/28/15 12:18pm

savegondor

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

awesome effort! still on my bucket list. I have approached from the Henry Creek Side and did not find it that difficult....just seemed rather exposed approaching the saddle. At lower elevations it seemed to work to stay 100 yards or more west of the creek. I made the saddle and found barely breakable crust. wasn't skiable. to breakable to stay on top, the inch crust was not breakable enough to pound through...usually just broke through half way through an attempted turn. The tree sk...

12/28/15 11:17am

savegondor

Secret Stash

oh the intrigue. i think i found it on satellite imagery. funny thing about the best stashes is that they are startlingly close to common ski routes, shockingly close to freeways.... like the stash at Rainier, obvious but hidden from the masses.

12/28/15 9:52am

flowing alpy

December 27, 2015, Mount Si

global warming missed Si for a few days!

12/28/15 9:49am

Matt Kurjanowicz

December 27, 2015, Mount Si

author=Frank Sosa link=topic=35228.msg144462#msg144462 date=1451337541]
Congrats! I figured this would be a good spot to share my similar story...

I figured we weren't the only ones eyeing Si. Is that the Black Canyon? Looks spicy. Cool!

author=jakedouglas link=topic=35228.msg144467#msg144467 date=1451341298]
Yup. Been eyeballing this every day for a while now but I wasn't...

12/28/15 8:45am

jakedouglas

December 27, 2015, Mount Si

author=Charlie Hagedorn link=topic=35228.msg144466#msg144466 date=1451340909]
I'm so glad you guys are skiing these things. That way none of us need to do them either! :).

Yup. Been eyeballing this every day for a while now but I wasn't looking forward to it by any means.

12/28/15 8:45am

Charlie Hagedorn

December 27, 2015, Mount Si

I'm so glad you guys are skiing these things. That way none of us need to do them either! :).

12/28/15 8:43am

Pete A

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

good idea heading back to reuse a hard-earned skin track! great write-up and pics as always

12/28/15 8:10am

Nate Frederickson

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

Entertaining read, thx!

12/28/15 7:58am

Frank Sosa

December 27, 2015, Mount Si

Hey there,

Congrats! I figured this would be a good spot to share my similar story...

On Christmas morning mt si was ripe, but couldnt find a partner so I solo skied the deep walled canyon with a 12 foot rock step 2/3 down. Side step down steep rock slab with shrubs to grab (60') to get into it, then several hundred feet of good pow turns before jump turns on 10'' covered rocks. Rock step near bottom is very obvious, it crosses the whole line from w...

12/28/15 7:49am

ron j

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

Awesome Pictures as usual, Radka.
Great TR.
Keep it up.

12/28/15 7:47am

Alex

December 27, 2015, Snoqualmie Mountain

author=mattgoyer link=topic=35223.msg144445#msg144445 date=1451276816]
The slot had been well skied out by the time we got up there this morning so we gave it a pass. Peeked into the Crooked but the southerly wind was likely loading it so we gave it a pass too. Skied the phantom instead; a few 5"-12" wind slab pockets released, so caution is still warranted out there. But otherwise, still lots of great skiing!

We came up...

12/28/15 7:40am

jwplotz

December 19 and 26, Mt. Cashmere, 2015

Thanks Ryan and Jamie!

I hate to say it but it felt really good to be out There suffering again in the snow. Felt almost nostalgic.

12/28/15 7:32am

jtack

December 19 and 26, Mt. Cashmere, 2015

I guess it's official, we have a skiing winter, nice going! In contrast to your program, I usually like to start out lapping 600 vert with an easy ski out, not an all day suffer fest!

12/28/15 7:21am

telemack

Adams butts

Sounds like a good adventure; thanks for posting it up.

12/28/15 6:41am

kamtron

December 27, 2015, Snoqualmie Mountain

Good info, thanks for sharing

12/28/15 6:21am

tabski

December 27, 2015, Snoqualmie Pass

I was with Kamtron. Around 4,500 on sheltered NE slopes we observed around 250cm of settled total snow. Shovel shear test showed some planar interfaces between storm snow layers in top 100cm, but in all we found good stability.

At our location we had calm winds and didn't note many cornices or wind slabs, but "loose-dry" snow slides combined with serious tree wells, trees shedding their snow load, deep open creek holes, and bergschrund-like hollows below cliff bands all...

12/28/15 6:15am

Robie

December 27, 2015, Snoqualmie Pass

Our lap and a half in Kendall trees was quite nice. Quit early due to another holiday party.

12/28/15 6:08am

kamtron

December 27, 2015, Snoqualmie Pass

We were in the Commonwealth vicinity, up to ~5000' and found settled stable pow on all aspects traveled.

12/28/15 5:45am

MtnPavlas

December 26, 2015, Snoqualmie Pass

Mt Catherine trees skied really nice yesterday, too. We observed similar conditions with what's described above.

Thanks to the good elf who put in the skintrack and whom we met on his way down. All in all, saw some 10 people on the mountain, including our group of two.

12/28/15 5:19am

ryanl

December 19 and 26, Mt. Cashmere, 2015

Core. Way to get after it

12/28/15 4:13am

flowing alpy

December 26, 2015, Snoqualmie Pass

nice report, silas. you get a nice parking spot?

12/28/15 2:59am

hillybilly

December 17,15 Avalanche: Big Trees and Spin Drift

Later in the season many of those cliff bands in there disappear. It's a moderately steep gladed area. Lots of room for things to move around and lots of propagation points for slides.

I wonder if they were actually going down big trees and not more on the no-fog side of things.

12/28/15 12:08am

Eric Johnson

December 17,15 Avalanche: Big Trees and Spin Drift

author=danpeck link=topic=35132.msg144228#msg144228 date=1450808324]

2. "Considerable" avalanche danger. All of us have different risk tolerances. But sometimes we are all blinded to the amount of risk we are taking. My personal observation is that many backcountry skiers forget that "considerable" means that human triggered slides are likely.

Also slides very likely given certain terrain features su...

12/27/15 11:33pm

jtack

Christmas Full Moon - Clara Lakes Basin

What a tour, the light is spectacular, thanks!

12/27/15 4:19pm

sam18802

December 26, 2015, Mailbox Peak

Old trail. I have yet to take the new one for that exact reason.

12/27/15 12:47pm

SkiinLou

December 26, 2015, Mailbox Peak

Nice! Did you do the new route or the old route?

Looks like the distance has almost doubled with the new route, with the same elevation gain though.