Silver Basin 12/14

author=danengel link=topic=11484.msg47757#msg47757 date=1229307173]
Temps were low

I would say ridiculously low would be a fitting description as well!  Tophervw, nice meeting you and putting a face with a name.  Awesome board too!  Seems as though goods were had all around.

We actually were late in arriving and getting up there (long story).  Anyways, we saw the nice looking easterly chutes off Three Way and made our way up there.  We weren't sure we were going to get as protected snow, but thought we'd see what it looked like.  Skinning up went fine until about 50' from the top of the chute.  The windpacked snow began propogating cracks left and right.  We decided to turn around pronto.  After switching over, we made cuts to safe zones, and both of us got a little bit of action in small 6"-12" soft slab releases.  Something to keep an eye on.  The flat light made it impossible to see and a few ice chunks were hit with no damage.  Winds were HOWLING when we left around 2:30-3:00pm.  Temps made me feel like I was playing some hockey in Minnesota again.

Cold ! It was so cold Mindy Ed and myself retreated early to Bullwheel for a beer just to warm us up.  check out the telemetry  3 degrees plus wind chill ! maybe -20 ? Good powder for sure but that cold puts me in reptillian thought mode.

author=Robie link=topic=11484.msg47770#msg47770 date=1229314908]
Cold ! It was so cold Mindy Ed and myself retreated early to Bullwheel for a beer just to warm us up.  check out the telemetry  3 degrees plus wind chill ! maybe -20 ? Good powder for sure but that cold puts me in reptillian thought mode.

What a difference in just a few days . . . Just Tuesday we were at the Banf film fest, discussing warm weather and a 2" base at Crystal. Mindy and Ed were trying to convince others to participate in a weekend outing with a lot of guffaws from the naysayers . . . haha, we even got a little wind deposited leftovers down at the lower elevations too!

While skinning up to the basin, we were a bit optimistic in hoping that the forecasted cold day (and wind) wasn't going to be too rough. Man, it got cold quick. Got a few good laps and bolted for the car. Even the car was cold.... the left front tire kept locking up for the first half mile until it warmed up (cold breaks or grease/oil maybe? I dunno). Was nice to get some good powder runs, though.

WHAT A START...

I hardly had to dry any gear out.....

Okay, maybe cold was an understatement. It was really really cold!!

Glad we departed earlier, because it doesn't sound like it got any better later in the day.

Interesting thing is that the telemetry says it was actually warmer up top than at the base of Crystal. I'm sure that once you factor in the wind chill, it was close to 0˚.

I had to front-butt my H2O bladder inside my bibs to keep it from freezing.  Besides that, I'll take the cold & dry stuff over our usual conditions any day!
Nice to see so many people out having a good time.

Looks most excellent. I miss you partners, dan and topher, already. Down here Bachelor is "not bad" at all. In fact it sucks. Well, "sucks" at least to be skinning above the open lift-assisted area without my buddies. ;-) I've got to meet some peoples down here in Bend right quick. Peeps with sleds would be especially nice to meet...

Jer~

hey, good to hear from you.  Missed you sunday fer sure, twas good to get after it again.  Hope Bend treats you well in the partner department and you can get some recon done before we come to visit...