June 29/08 S.W.Chutes
6/15/08
3012
3
Nick BC and I had skied Mt. Adams two years ago, but we still wanted to ski the famous S.W.Chutes and the Worm Flows on MSH. I posted on Partners Wanted to give a heads-up to other TAYers on the mountain. I got a last minute call from Snowbell with a request to join us. Being a couple of easy-going guys who can always use the gas money, we decided to take a chance on a young fellow whom we had never met. It turned out to be a good decision as we had a great 4 day trip together. He didn't give us a bad time for being so slow and we didn't make fun of his inability to telemark ski.
We arrived at Morrison Creek just in time to run into Silas Wild packing up to leave after his group's run down the Chutes. It appears that there were other TAYers mingling around the many vehicles parked there by the many replies to Silas' post. We decided to camp at the car instead of at timberline and get an early start with less gear. It didn't quite work out that way because it was 5:40 before we started walking up the road. We had considered following the Morrison Creek drainage up and down but we were under the impression that we may have problems with snow coverage, so we went with what we were familiar with. We left hiking boots and beer at a point where we could ski steadily and climbed the South Butte route.
Even though we knew that the Chutes would be ready before noon, our old legs (Snowbell had a long rest waiting on Pikers Peak) couldn't get us up before 2. We choose to skin all the way, so we did travel a little longer distance. The corn was over cooked and perhaps not too pretty to look at, but we still had fun as the photos below show. We knew that the travel back along the base of our ski triangle would be a challenge but it proved to be harder than we expected. We could have got a guided short-cut tour back in the Morrison drainage, but we needed to retrieve our gear near the start of the South Route trail. The fireworks began as we reached our stuff and we were pounded by hail. We drank our beer in the Cold Spring outhouse and waited out the storm. It was after 8 before we arrived back at the car. More photos and details can be found here: http://telemarktalk.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=46643
We arrived at Morrison Creek just in time to run into Silas Wild packing up to leave after his group's run down the Chutes. It appears that there were other TAYers mingling around the many vehicles parked there by the many replies to Silas' post. We decided to camp at the car instead of at timberline and get an early start with less gear. It didn't quite work out that way because it was 5:40 before we started walking up the road. We had considered following the Morrison Creek drainage up and down but we were under the impression that we may have problems with snow coverage, so we went with what we were familiar with. We left hiking boots and beer at a point where we could ski steadily and climbed the South Butte route.
Even though we knew that the Chutes would be ready before noon, our old legs (Snowbell had a long rest waiting on Pikers Peak) couldn't get us up before 2. We choose to skin all the way, so we did travel a little longer distance. The corn was over cooked and perhaps not too pretty to look at, but we still had fun as the photos below show. We knew that the travel back along the base of our ski triangle would be a challenge but it proved to be harder than we expected. We could have got a guided short-cut tour back in the Morrison drainage, but we needed to retrieve our gear near the start of the South Route trail. The fireworks began as we reached our stuff and we were pounded by hail. We drank our beer in the Cold Spring outhouse and waited out the storm. It was after 8 before we arrived back at the car. More photos and details can be found here: http://telemarktalk.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=46643
Fine job gang. Snowbell says it was a good double-header.
I was up there that day as well. My first day snowboarding in 2008, and it was KILLER! Great corn. Firm on the way up, surfy on the way down. I strapped in on the very summit, which apparently you can't do most years. For anyone thinking of trying it, GO! It should have enough snow for another couple weeks.
Great job guys, looked like a good day was had and the views were amazing!
Chris
Chris
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