September 13 Coleman Pinnacle
9/15/08
WA Cascades West Slopes North (Mt Baker)
4043
3
Photos pending, football's distracting me too much.
Worried about my knee that'd been bothering me for the last week, I turned down Skierlyes' offer to join him at the Stash. Instead, I figured I'd hit some snow right around Artist Point. Stupid me.
After talking to King and Eppie, I realized there was no decent snow around Artist Point. Five miles of hiking later, I ran across Lurker Rod's campsite, and after a short discussion decided to do a 700 ft run with a herd of goats. By the time I got to the run, Telemon and two others were dropping in. I stopped, had lunch (with a microbrew in a can), and watched them hiking back up. I dropped in and met them halfway down for a short discussion. The conditions were firm, but the suncups were fairly small, and it wasn't awful.
I took a shortcut back to Lurker Rod's campsite, annoying the goats and taking pictures. They didn't seem interested in me, but kept moving further away. Eventually I gave up and slogged back to the campsite, where I tried to talk Lurker Rod into doing a run down a 500 ft run right above his camp. He declined, so I started up. At the top, I saw Ron had changed his mind and was halfway up. By now it was getting late and the sun was setting behind Mt Baker, and the snow was very soft. It was a great run, and I would have lapped it if it weren't for the setting sun and five mile walk back.
Once back to the car, I was fortunate enough to watch the moon rise over Picture Lake, and snap a few photos of that.
All in all, a good day out, but my legs are sore... I'm working every weekend for the rest of the month, which means it'll be October before I ski again -- and that means it's time to change the batteries in the beacon and start re-reading my avy books!
Worried about my knee that'd been bothering me for the last week, I turned down Skierlyes' offer to join him at the Stash. Instead, I figured I'd hit some snow right around Artist Point. Stupid me.
After talking to King and Eppie, I realized there was no decent snow around Artist Point. Five miles of hiking later, I ran across Lurker Rod's campsite, and after a short discussion decided to do a 700 ft run with a herd of goats. By the time I got to the run, Telemon and two others were dropping in. I stopped, had lunch (with a microbrew in a can), and watched them hiking back up. I dropped in and met them halfway down for a short discussion. The conditions were firm, but the suncups were fairly small, and it wasn't awful.
I took a shortcut back to Lurker Rod's campsite, annoying the goats and taking pictures. They didn't seem interested in me, but kept moving further away. Eventually I gave up and slogged back to the campsite, where I tried to talk Lurker Rod into doing a run down a 500 ft run right above his camp. He declined, so I started up. At the top, I saw Ron had changed his mind and was halfway up. By now it was getting late and the sun was setting behind Mt Baker, and the snow was very soft. It was a great run, and I would have lapped it if it weren't for the setting sun and five mile walk back.
Once back to the car, I was fortunate enough to watch the moon rise over Picture Lake, and snap a few photos of that.
All in all, a good day out, but my legs are sore... I'm working every weekend for the rest of the month, which means it'll be October before I ski again -- and that means it's time to change the batteries in the beacon and start re-reading my avy books!
Just remember, as some on this website can attest to, avalanches can hit you just as hard in September!
Of course, avalanches can occur any time of year, but I have to say I'm a lot more worried about them right after a big storm than in the middle of September. If nothing else, September skiing frequently means evaluating one single slope as safe or unsafe, whereas in February you frequently have to evaluate not only the snow you ski on, but the areas you traverse to get there and back. Also, the current conditions don't make you wonder about deeply buried weak layers that could cause large slab avalanches -- instabilities are generally detectable at the surface. Anybody dig an avy pit this weekend?
Anyway, as promised, here are some photos from the trip:
Anyway, as promised, here are some photos from the trip:
Enjoying lunch | Telemon and crew | Lurker Rod |
W00t! | My goat friends |
Giant panographic shot |
You were among a half dozen TAYers that I meet this weekend. Yes, my son, a friend and I just got back a few hours ago from two full days of vistas, turns, goats, turns, camping under the stars, turns and some more turns on Ptarmigan Ridge.Definitely my best September since I joined the club.TRs will have to wait until tomorrow.
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