Home > Trip Reports > 11 Mar 2008, Stevens Pass Full Moon trip

11 Mar 2008, Stevens Pass Full Moon trip

3/15/09
WA Stevens Pass
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Posted by haggis on 3/12/09 5:23am
Jim had the idea, 4 others tagged along for the full moon tour at Stevens.  Crystal clear night with temps dropping to near 0F on the East side with the slight E breeze.  With the snow as stable as it was we felt quite confortable riding down some mellow lines and a couple of gentle chutes.  Snow was delightful powder, untouched and so close to the Pass.  Skinning up by moonlight only was an excellent experience and the light dancing off the nearby mountains drew out the kids in all of us.

Fun, safe night.  Hopefully Salal will post some pictures if they turned out OK.

Touring under a full moon in fresh snow is amazing. I haven't done it in a while, though. Good job getting out for it this week!

This week has been the highlight of the season so far. Nice getting out with you all. Most of my photos did not work due to cold hands.














Great pictures that came out!  All that time hanging around getting cold and the others never came out!

Wish I could start again from last Friday, the past week certainly has been the highlight.

One of the coolest ideas and days to do it -- nice initiative for the full moon skiing!  It was indeed a beautiful cold night!  Would have loved to join that one!  We saved up for a tour of the North Face of Chair down to Snow Lake today.  Lots of wind affected slabs -- it was a wind tunnel.  South facing slopes are getting very crusty. 

What fun !  And nice pics, too.  I've done some midnight touring, but only on levelish ground and track gear.  Getting in some turns in a 3D environment where you are embedded in a photographic negative must be a rush, if slightly disorienting sensation.  It's been a few years, but we would occasionally fly our hangliders under a full moon when we could find an upslope wind.  Ridge soaring, in black and white, where terrain features and objects, like trees, which during the day are dark, but now are white, and where light colored areas now are shadowed black, is an excercize that holds your attention on several levels.  For landing, we would either have a volunteer, or the first hapless soul who could not remain aloft, would be the first to impact in the LZ.  It was then his/her job to start the truck and turn on the headlights to give some sense of depth perception.  Often as not, though, somebody would end up smacking the truck - the deer in the headlights thing...  Why more of us weren't injured I still can't figure, but what a blast it's been.

Those are some stellar pictures!!

Great idea and cool shots. I used to do this almost every month when I lived in Salt Lake. We also went ice and rock climbing by full moon, sometimes without headlamps at all, which led to some tricky work placing and retreiving pro out of dark cracks!

Thought I would add a few pics from the night.  Amazing trip, thanks for joining up and burning the midnight oil!  Can't wait till all the cards fall into place again.

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haggis
2009-03-12 12:23:02