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Topic: April 5, 2004, MRNP "Dream Bowl" (Read 2393 times)
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Mad_Dog
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Posts: 614
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Neener, Neener, I didn't fall down today   Unlike some of the others, I kept the slippery sides down, and working good all day!! With it being another beautiful day in the PNW our usual gang, Darryl, Maureen, Stefan, Jerry, Ron and myself had designs on "Dream Bowl". It was a dream come true, with first track all day. After some rather interesting bush whacking and a "belayed" stream crossing, we finally emerged upon the bowl. With the warm weather, the snow was soft and quite skiable. You did have to watch for the occasional "death cookie" that would chase you down the hill. There were no noted surface releases until we were about to make our final descent onto the Nisqually Glacier Moraine. Jerry volunteered to do a ski cut on the west slope of the moraine, releasing a wet surface slide that took the top two inches, which gathered momentum and collected more snow before running down and stopping on the valley floor. Interesting how the sound was much like hearing the Nisqually River itself. Jerry carefully continued the ski cut across the intended ski slope releasing more of the surface. The rest of us waited at the top until he had reached the bottom safely. Stefan volunteered to cut the rest of the area releasing what was left of the wet snow, while the rest of us waited patienlty at the top until this slope had been properly "groomed". The remaining snow under the releases was very stable and skiable, as one by one we managed to safely descend to the Glacier Valley. Once down we were able to ski most of the way back to the cars, only having to endure a couple of stream crossings. All in all it was a beautiful.
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There is nothing worse than refusing to learn: this is where old age begins.
Jeanette
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ron j
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Posts: 2459
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Yeah, a great tour with great company.
Hindsight might suggest a little earlier in the season and/or day for this tour. Most of the good access for this one is rapidly melting out. Here's a shot of Jerry after his "Y'All Watch This" ski cut:
Additional pics are at:
http://groups.msn.com/WildHeartsSkiing/dreambowlmrnp4404.msnw
I suspect Jerry and Stefan have a few shots to post as well.
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« Last Edit: 04/05/04, 12:39 PM by ron_j »
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"When I stop having fun I'm turnin' around"
“Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future.” - Niels Bohr
"If a given person makes it a priority not to die in an avalanche, he or she stands a very good chance of living a long, happy life in the mountains." - Jill Fredston
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BrentH
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Posts: 107
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Was that April 4? Not April 5?
If so, we watched you from the Nisqually Chute (which wasn't sliding).
We were concerned. Happy it was under control.
BTW how about that huge slide down the Turtle?
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ron j
TAY Moderator
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Posts: 2459
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Yep it was yesterday (Sunday), Brent.
Even though the sloughs were fairly routine from our perspective, I'd bet they did look pretty spectacular from where you were... I suspect it was hard to see that we were only dealing with a thin wet surface layer and our runout had no exposure.
We saw a group headed for the Nisqually Chutes and later saw the tracks in the main chute; that musta been you, eh?
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"When I stop having fun I'm turnin' around"
“Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future.” - Niels Bohr
"If a given person makes it a priority not to die in an avalanche, he or she stands a very good chance of living a long, happy life in the mountains." - Jill Fredston
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BrentH
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Posts: 107
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Yep, that was us looking for the entrance to the Chute. I'm getting old, memory is going (but you know how that goes, right). I remembered 8800' as the elevation. We started scouting at that elevation and it took us a while to find the correct entrance at 8300'.
Easy to see how people disappear descending from Muir in a white-out with those cliffs there.
Anyways, next weekend is it for me. I'll be moving to Connecticut the week after. My East Coast friends (common connection being Canadian hut trips) say they'll get me into backcountry skiing in VT, NY, and NH. I just don't see how it can compare, but I'll give it a go.
Take care, Ron.
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« Last Edit: 04/05/04, 05:44 PM by BrentH »
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ron j
TAY Moderator
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Posts: 2459
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Yeah, Brent, that one's kinda tricky from the top. Especially if our old dementia riddled brains forget the entrance elevation (or we don't have a waypoint for it). I usually look for the "entrance eyebrow" on the (climber's) left side of the entrance. It usually seems to be the only chute with that unusual feature at the top.
'Course you'll not be needing that info touring on boilerplate east coast ice now, will ya?
Hey, it's gonna be a little empty around here not running into you every other weekend at our favorite stashes.
How 'bout joining us next Saturday for a "Brent Fairwell Tour"? We'll do St Helens if the Wx forecast holds, or a south Cascades day trip if it deterioriates.
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"When I stop having fun I'm turnin' around"
“Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future.” - Niels Bohr
"If a given person makes it a priority not to die in an avalanche, he or she stands a very good chance of living a long, happy life in the mountains." - Jill Fredston
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Charles
Administrator
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Posts: 1087
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Great photo, Ron! Glad that Jerry decided to hang around at the top and not ride it down.
Brent, it is hard to believe that you won't be skiing around here any more, and I'm sorry that I didn't get a chance to ski with you. Thanks for all of your work on the original trip reports, from which this forum has grown, and please send an occasional update from back east (especially from your August and September ski trips!).
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All's well that ends well 
here are a few photos in no particular order 
