July 8-9, 2008, Russell Glacier, Mt. Rainier

The rest of this month is not looking too good for me to get ski time, so when I learned that the Mowich Lake road was being plowed and clear for 3 miles (out of 5) I decided to do a bike/ski overnighter. The forecast was great so I took minimal gear - no tent, no bivy, no rain jacket, no stove, just sleeping bag, pad, and "cold" food - and was able to get everything into my day pack easily. Waxless skis and joke boots, no skins. Couldn't get my permit until 8:30, and with the Wilkeson office shut down there was an extra 16 miles to drive to get the permit at Carbon River RS. This meant that I didn't reach the gate at Paul Peak trailhead until 9:30 to start biking up the road. An interesting experience for me to be biking between plowed snowbanks, which started at about 4000 feet. The plowing stopped at 4500 feet:


I guessed there would be naturally melted out sections on the road, so I hiked through the woods, cutting the last two switchbacks, and then started skiing shortly before the last bend to Mowich Lake. The lake was still almost completely snow covered, though I wouldn't have wanted to ski across it, and the road end had from 4-6 feet of snow. From there I snuck over a little ridge into a completely filled drainage that led right up into the Knapsack Pass valley. Continuous snow to within 50vf of the pass, where I took a snack break. Another 50vf bare on the east side of Knapsack Pass, then skiing all the way (one all-terrain spot) to the shoulder of Mount Pleasant. I was amazed at the coverage I could see, and even the little south facing drop down to Spray Park was still well filled in, so turns down and then lots of striding to the high point of the Spray Park trail (~6400 feet). I then skied east and up to the "ribbon", then crossed rocks and traversed up the snowfields north of Echo Rock to a favorite camp spot overlooking Russell Glacier and the whole north face of Mount Rainier. My previous camp spot among the boulders was still snow covered, but I found a nice one-person spot just below that, with running water 100vf below:


I was tired by now so I rested, ate, and drank until 6pm, at which time I decided to ski up the Russell Glacier for 1 hour, then ski back to camp. The snow near camp was already beginning to refreeze in the shadow of Echo Rock. I made it to the flats at 8500 feet at 7pm, then started skiing down. The turns were great! Though not firn speigel, the snow skied like it because refreezing was just starting, icy fast but also soft carveable. I got a 1500 vf run in the sun, just to skier's left of the rock rib. The snow on the Russell Glacier was great in coverage - just a few hairline cracks on my route - with small runnels up higher, but these were not deep and were widely spaced. Interestingly, the runnels got smaller as I descended and were generally absent on the lower parts. Here's a shot of the Russell Glacier after my run (tracks can be made out to the right of the rock rib):


I hung out in the sun on rocks just above camp and watched the glorious sunset. It started getting a little cool but I was still able to sit in bare feet and let my feet dry out (obligatory vanity shot):


Post sunset time exposure from camp:


It got somewhat windy during the night, but my spot was fairly well protected by the big rocks and I stayed very comfortable. Brilliant, cloudless sunrise - I woke up to take photos from my bag, then went back to sleep as I knew the snow would be too frozen to fishscale up. The sun baked me out of my bag, and I lazed around camp and watched all of the hummingbirds check out my gear, leaving for another run on the Russell Glacier at about 9am. The snow was perfect for fishscaling up, and I went to the prominent 9200 foot bump on the west edge of the Russell. Another rest and food break, and a solar hot wax for my skis before skiing down. This time I took the nice fall line to skier's right of the rock rib all the way to the foot of the glacier, about 2600vf. The snow was all good, but got better as I descended, and was very smooth and fast in the bottom half. Here's a composite: left, tracks on the 9200 foot bump; right, tracks at the very bottom of the run:


I hung out in the outwash area overlooking the Carbon Glacier, which has a great view of Liberty Ridge and the north face, then did a climbing traverse back to camp, where I rested (that seemed to be a theme of this trip) and packed up, leaving about 3pm. I traversed snow on the north side of Echo Rock, crossed rocks, then did a climbing traverse across the east lobe of Flett Glacier to the 7500 foot cross-over point to the Flett lobes to the west. Dropped my pack and skied up to the top of the little run below Observation Rock (not the headwall). Cat-eye Lake and Spray Park from the high point:


That slope was a little firm on the steepest part. Got my pack and headed west to the traverse, but no snow! This was surprising given the good coverage, but then I realized that there had been a big rockfall which had buried the snowpack. I was able to use a slightly lower traverse and keep skis on. I traversed out to the flats below the headwall and skied down the Cat-eye Lake run, which was very nice - smooth and fast. Here's a shot of these slopes:


And a parting view of Spray Park from the shoulder of Mount Pleasant:


There was continuous snow across Spray Park, and in fact except for the short carry at the top of Knapsack Pass, I was able to keep skis on all the way back to my bike. The fast ski down the drainage, literally, west of Knapsack Pass was very enjoyable and brought me to Mowich Lake in fairly short time. It was beautiful at the lake in the late afternoon sun, peaceful and quiet, and I was tempted to linger, but knew I still had some work to do, so I took only a short snack and photo break before heading on. I cut the top switchback and "skied" down through the forest on completely nasty snow that I had booted up the previous day - large, hard, dirty suncups - coming out to the road right where the plow had stopped earlier that day. Fortunately, there were still good shoulders of snow remaining, and in some places the plow had left the bottom six inches of perfectly smooth and clean snow on the road, which made for some very fast gliding. One last bit of nasty forest snow cutting the next switchback and I was back at my bike. Much nicer to coast down the remaining three miles of road than have to hike it!

This trip was a lot of work but I earned complete solitude in one of my favorite places, and found great snow. I did have a song stuck in my head a lot of the time, though, and not sure if it's related to having my 50th birthday this month:

[u]Little Feat, Old Folks Boogie:[/u]
And you know that you're over the hill
When your mind makes a promise that your body can't fill
Doin' the old folks boogie
And boogie we will
'Cause to us the thought's as good as a thrill