Ptarmigan Ridge, Mt Baker area, July 25, 2009
7/15/09
WA Cascades West Slopes North (Mt Baker)
2879
4
A couple of friends, my wife and I took a beautiful hike out to the end of Ptarmigan Ridge to the summit of the East Portal. I took a single 900 vf run down the east side of the Sholes Glacier to claim some July skiing. Conditions were poor as sun cups were deep and firm. The company, wild flowers, mountain goats, and lack of bugs made up for the marginal skiing. We even made it out before thunderstorms hit in late afternoon.
I was surprised by the lack of snow in the entire area compared to other years for late July. There really wasnt much for skiing snow along Ptarmigan Ridge until the large north facing bowl in the immediate area of Colman Pinnacle. However, even this area has much shorter snow fingers than other years. In the Camp Kiser area, the spur ridge to the south (and east of the small lake) has a nice east facing snow finger that might be nearly 1000 vf. Sholes is fine, but as I said earlier, pretty sun cupped and does have a few crevasses on its steeper (more fun) parts.
The two pictures show:
1 - Climbing out of the Sholes Glacier. East Portal on the left, West Portal on the right, Mount Baker in center.
2 - How you spend most of your day 'skiing this area in late summer.
I was surprised by the lack of snow in the entire area compared to other years for late July. There really wasnt much for skiing snow along Ptarmigan Ridge until the large north facing bowl in the immediate area of Colman Pinnacle. However, even this area has much shorter snow fingers than other years. In the Camp Kiser area, the spur ridge to the south (and east of the small lake) has a nice east facing snow finger that might be nearly 1000 vf. Sholes is fine, but as I said earlier, pretty sun cupped and does have a few crevasses on its steeper (more fun) parts.
The two pictures show:
1 - Climbing out of the Sholes Glacier. East Portal on the left, West Portal on the right, Mount Baker in center.
2 - How you spend most of your day 'skiing this area in late summer.
I am planning on following a similar route on August 1st. Hopefully this heat wave will not destroy the snow pack significantly.
Thanks for the TR. Is the Artist's Point road open?
- I'm wondering how the cups got firm. It seems a bit early to become firm, as you guys have been getting hot weather. I could see if a cold front came through, and cooled the West Coast down (which it eventually will).
Artist Point is open.
I am sure someone can comment on the nuances of sun cups ... but in the case of where I skied on Sholes they were definitely firm (not frozen hard) even though it was a rather warm (and humid) day. Sometimes sun cups can be slushy and you carve through most of each cup on each turn so it doesn't matter (to a point) how big the they get. This was not the case on Saturday - you bumped along reducing the fun of each turn. The steeper areas of the glacier were much better, but mostly because the cups were smaller, not because they were soft and creamy.
I am sure someone can comment on the nuances of sun cups ... but in the case of where I skied on Sholes they were definitely firm (not frozen hard) even though it was a rather warm (and humid) day. Sometimes sun cups can be slushy and you carve through most of each cup on each turn so it doesn't matter (to a point) how big the they get. This was not the case on Saturday - you bumped along reducing the fun of each turn. The steeper areas of the glacier were much better, but mostly because the cups were smaller, not because they were soft and creamy.
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