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Topic: June 12, 2009 Silver Peak basin (Read 2248 times)
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Don_B
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Posts: 281
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Jerry, Fred and I played hooky this PM for a nice hike from Windy Pass to top of Silver Peak basin. Saw WolfS up there doing laps, nice to meet you. Then we took our turn. Sun was mostly out, temps were perfect, snow was perfect enough for June 12 at 4000-5200'. Softened shallow suncups, not too slushy, not too much pollen, and not too much rock. A very nice afternoon. Managed to pick our way down mostly on snow near edge of meadow and on the xc tracks for quite a ways.
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Jim Oker
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Thanks for the report. FWIW, last season, I noticed that the latest mostly-continuous snow to the car was in the forest, on the Silver side of the creek. It was much more pleasant than trying to connect the maze in the clearcut, followed by a ski carry through brush. It's pretty in there too. Perhaps I'll have to go see if that's the case this weekend as well... (he writes, partly hoping others will go scrape the snow a bit smoother and cleaner in there before tomorrow now that they've read this  )
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Big Steve
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Posts: 298
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Hey Don, good to see you are making good use of your free Fridays. Gabriel and I skied Silver on Wednesday night, continuing the Wednesday night beer/ski tradition. We ascended NW bowl, descended NE (left of creek), as usual. Continuous snow up and down above 4000 feet. Ran into a guy named Aaron who was waiting on the ridge for two buddies to join him. We might run up there tomorrow for some laps.
Jim, agree that staying in forest is best bet for continuous snow. We skied within a few steps of PCT. It's melting fast.
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Don_B
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Jim,
Going up we stayed in the forest along Silver side or creek and ponds, and it there was quite a bit of not-snow. Nice hike up but not skiable for coming down. So, we tried out a bit from edge of forest into meadow on the way down, and just had one spot where we had to regain 30' or so of altitude to get really far down, and no brushy areas. Probably just lucky, because it is a bit of a maze. Either way, it's a nice hike as well as a nice ski on the kind of day we've been having.
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Jim Oker
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Oh well, a guy can dream...
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Randy
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Posts: 836
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Skied here on Sat -- drove a little ways up the clearcuts from Windy Pass till blocked by snow. Hiked snow covered roads to top of clearcuts. Booted up to North ridge, lounged on summit until thunder rumbles at noon got us moving again. A few rain sprinkles accompanied our descent down the north basin -- Sun cupped snow was soft enough to make pleasant skiing -- soft -- but not mushy. With a little "rock walking on skis" on the couple of bare patches on the logging roads, I was able to ski back to the car. My companions were smarter and removed skis for these short bare sections. I would expect the snow on the logging roads to last more than a couple more days. Pollen present -- but not as sticky as I would have expected from prior reports.
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« Last Edit: 06/14/09, 12:26 AM by Randy »
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Aaron_Riggs
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Ran into a guy named Aaron who was waiting on the ridge for two buddies to join him.
Good to meet you up there Big Steve!
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Big Steve
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Posts: 298
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Back at ya, Aaron.
Anita and I went back yesterday. Parked at PCT trail, walked trail for a few minutes, then ascended NW bowl to ridge, where we encountered a group of 4 or 5 adults and a newborn baby! Yoyoed NW, then skinned back to the ridge, where we ran into Jim Oker and his buddy. Skied out NE bowl. Significant snow loss on exit compared to last Wednesday night.
Nice to meet you Jim. 
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Jim Oker
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Nice to meet you as well, Steve.
Snow (and lack thereof) was more or less as Don had replied in response to my optimistic daydreams. And the little bit of hiking through the magical forest was indeed time well spent, so the snowmelt was not a tragedy.
After multiple weekends of lots of travel, it was nice to get out for a lazy afternoon tour with a minimal drive. Just what the doctor ordered.
We had awesome views of the insides of the clouds that were cruising by.
It was hard not to feel a little bad for the climbers I met on the ridge who were about to head down the talus to Annette Lake - they had hoped for more snow on the talus, and were quite curious to hear about the route up from Windy Pass.
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sheispiste
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Posts: 223
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Skied Silver Peak Basin on June 14. Not much different than previous posts other than some noteworthy company.
Seems Silver Peak is a family sort of place. This is the second time I've skied it with a family and their young skiers. I last skied it with a former student and his family.. Sunday, I skied it with the youngest TAYer: Linna, who is just a few months old already has a streak going (9 months in utero plus these last few on the slopes). Her mom, Lara, turns over 8 straight years next month. We also crossed paths with Frank (fh) and his brother.Thanks to the TR's from Friday and Saturday up on the mountain we knew the snow would be good.
Sunday we could drive beyond the PCT TH a bit, and just after a short carry on the road, we could skin nearly continuously. We made one carry through some brush crossing the ridge to head into the west gully. From there the skinning was straightforward, and while the snow was stable, it was also a bit slippery in the first few inches.
The weather was a mixed bag. The rockfall in Don's photos looks WAY bigger in person. The ridge crest sported phlox and Indian paintbrush and an alpine diaper change complete with blue bag. We descended in the fog skiers right of the upper bowl, following the waterfall and then into the woods. The snow was a bit cupped, but hardly difficult, and the pollen was negligible. One short carry to the car and we called it a GREAT day!
More photos here
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« Last Edit: 06/17/09, 07:06 PM by sheispiste »
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any day in the mountains is a good day in the mountains
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Don_B
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Posts: 281
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That is great! Nice to see the little one out. I love the shot up on the ridge, too.
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Big Steve
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Posts: 298
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sheispiste,
Anita and I gained the ridge shortly after your group. We were quite impressed to watch Lara gracefully ski down with Linna strapped to her torso! We only saw a few turns before your group faded into the fog.
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« Last Edit: 06/22/09, 11:43 AM by Big Steve »
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.jtb
1Member
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Jerry, Fred and I played hooky this PM for a nice hike from Windy Pass to top of Silver Peak basin. Saw WolfS up there doing laps, nice to meet you. Then we took our turn. Sun was mostly out, temps were perfect, snow was perfect enough for June 12 at 4000-5200'. Softened shallow suncups, not too slushy, not too much pollen, and not too much rock. A very nice afternoon. Managed to pick our way down mostly on snow near edge of meadow and on the xc tracks for quite a ways.
Don,
Thanks for the invite - we picked a stellar day. No question that beats looking at the computer screen. Could be a great new Friday tradition!
Jerry
More pics here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/9668224@N03/sets/72157620094568362/show/
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