April 26, 2009, Rock Mountain
4/26/09
3170
7
Rock Mountain
4/26/2009
In May last year I toured rock mountain and had a great time despite not making the summit. With all this beautiful spring weather I decided to give it another go, this time with Wes. Also, I was secretly (and naively) hoping to find my shoe that Rock Mountain took from me last year.
We made it to the trailhead (~2,700') at around 10am under deep blue skies. West of the pass was still a bit cloudy, so we were happy to see the sun.
The first 2,000' was steep swithcbacks with intermittent patches of snow. Once we hit snow we found bootpacking was straightforward and not to much effort. We never used our skins.
As the day progressed, the sun warmed up the snow, but above 5,500' was still firm with an at places glassy crust that broke maybe 1" deep. Made for easy bootpacking.
We made the summit, enjoyed the views, and started to ski. We did 2 laps of the main bowl, and then picked our way back down. The first lap was fun, I skied from the true summit. The crust wasn't really an issue. The lowering sun and temps made the second run a little more challenging...was missing some east coast edges on my skis.
The best snow was probably between 5,500-6,000', the sun made that stretch really nice. We did a slight mismanagement on our descent, so we missed the best way down, which would have been mellow corn (maybe 25-30 degrees) for over 500'.
Worst part is putting the shoes back on and climbing down the last 1,500'. Overall an amazing day...perfect weather, gorgeous peaks, and fun skiing.
and now some pictures:
Rock Mountain - corniced ridge to the summit
Wes making the summit push
Wes on his 2nd lap
more pics here
4/26/2009
In May last year I toured rock mountain and had a great time despite not making the summit. With all this beautiful spring weather I decided to give it another go, this time with Wes. Also, I was secretly (and naively) hoping to find my shoe that Rock Mountain took from me last year.
We made it to the trailhead (~2,700') at around 10am under deep blue skies. West of the pass was still a bit cloudy, so we were happy to see the sun.
The first 2,000' was steep swithcbacks with intermittent patches of snow. Once we hit snow we found bootpacking was straightforward and not to much effort. We never used our skins.
As the day progressed, the sun warmed up the snow, but above 5,500' was still firm with an at places glassy crust that broke maybe 1" deep. Made for easy bootpacking.
We made the summit, enjoyed the views, and started to ski. We did 2 laps of the main bowl, and then picked our way back down. The first lap was fun, I skied from the true summit. The crust wasn't really an issue. The lowering sun and temps made the second run a little more challenging...was missing some east coast edges on my skis.
The best snow was probably between 5,500-6,000', the sun made that stretch really nice. We did a slight mismanagement on our descent, so we missed the best way down, which would have been mellow corn (maybe 25-30 degrees) for over 500'.
Worst part is putting the shoes back on and climbing down the last 1,500'. Overall an amazing day...perfect weather, gorgeous peaks, and fun skiing.
and now some pictures:
Rock Mountain - corniced ridge to the summit
Wes making the summit push
Wes on his 2nd lap
more pics here
Nice TR, thanks for sharing. Help me out though -- where's Rock Mountain? East of Snoqualmie?
author=Marcus link=topic=13170.msg54883#msg54883 date=1241019651]
Nice TR, thanks for sharing. Help me out though -- where's Rock Mountain? East of Snoqualmie?
I'm thinking East of Stevens, I would guess 8 miles past.
author=1yen link=topic=13170.msg54873#msg54873 date=1240987707]
As the day progressed, the sun warmed up the snow, but above 5,500' was still firm with an at places glassy crust that broke maybe 1" deep. Made for easy bootpacking.
MMmmmm...
That would be called Firnspiegel. Gotta love skiing that stuff!
Nice trip! Love that area! That's a tough haul for strong backs.
Joedabaker is right...Rock Mountain is about 8 miles east of Steven's pass. The trail head is tucked away right off of Rt. 2 and is easy to miss
Firnspiegel eh...I like the sound of that
Firnspiegel eh...I like the sound of that
Yes and the summer trail goes straight up with a gig of switchbacks for seemingly forever, so great job guys!
Nice pics! Looks like a great area and that you guys got some good turns!
- or I've heard it called Lilly's Lace. I've been skiing some of that stuff this week, down in the Sierra, on Mammoth Mtn. I called it 'window pane' or broken shards !! - as my turns were on a thicker version of it.
Great Rpt., & showing the corniced ridge, Rob
Great Rpt., & showing the corniced ridge, Rob
Auf deutsch, firnspiegel = snow mirror. Nice pics, thanks.
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