Home > Trip Reports > June 9 -13, 2009, Buck - N. Star high traverse

June 9 -13, 2009, Buck - N. Star high traverse

6/9/09
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Posted by davidN on 6/14/09 2:26pm
On a 5-day solo ski traverse from Buck Mt. to North Star Mt. I found good coverage in the alpine and excellent skiing conditions.  I approached via the S. Fork Buck Creek, which involved 2 hours of trail hiking on the Buck Creek Trail from Trinity, followed by 3 hours of cross country travel before reaching continuous snow about 4500 feet.  I arrived at the Buck - Berge  saddle in time for an evening ski of Buck's W face, which afternoon clouds had fortunately kept from over-softening. 

On the morning of day 2 I skied Mt Berge's SE face, then skied the W side of the S ridge, and traversed to High Pass.  In the afternoon I skied the W side of Mt Cleator.  Continuing on the crest north, on day 3 I skied the SW faces of Fortress and Chiwawa Mts.  On the 4th day I did a morning ski of North Star Mt, and returned to Chiwawa on the morning of the 5th day to ski the Lyman Glacier, followed by an afternoon ski/hike out Phelps Creek from Spider Gap, carrying skis the last 2 hours on the trail.

While the approach up S Fork Buck Creek was arduous and would have benefited from a better low elevation snowpack, the rest of the trip was wonderful, with interesting route finding, fun skiing and remarkably few carries in the alpine. Even the weather was a plus: each day saw afternoon storms develop, which added spice to the day and provided much appreciated shade for the snowpack, but none hit me with rain.  In the evenings clouds would clear in time for sunset, and the calm, clear nights gave a good freeze of the snowpack.
Quite a trip! Bet it was fun.

AWESOME! way to go ... seriously  :)

Photos, damnit!

:)  Awesome trip in my favorite spring ski area!

Several of us were up on Clarke Mtn. this past weekend.  The clouds did help the snow conditions but definitely made it touch and go for the summit and surrounding high points.

Did you get a few pics around Buck?


I'll try to get some pics posted Tuesday.  Thanks for your interest.

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june-9-13-2009-buck-n-star-high-traverse
davidN
2009-06-14 21:26:05