April 17, 2004, Silver Star
4/17/04
WA Cascades East Slopes North
1990
0
Cast of Characters: This Troll, Bill, Dave, Jen, Ziggy and Methow (the Canine contingent)
We drove up to the Blue Lake Trail head on Friday night through a few morale-shattering rainstorms only to find the sky clear from Diablo on. We parked the trucks in the parking lot and hit the hay. We got up at 6 and the sky was shaping up to be blue bird so we decided to head for Silver Star as it was the longer and more committing of our weekend objectives. After a leisurely breakfast and a drive down the highway we started up (from about 3200ft) at about 8AM. The snow was firm and a bit patchy in places so we opted for boot packing and actually found crampons nice. They were not required but did prevent that annoying slipping around.
The route is very straightforward, just head up the drainage, at the basin we climbed up the west-facing slope to the bench. This was the second good view of the route and we took a break on the bench (6200??) but took off as the sun hit us to avoid spontaneous human combustion. We continued by crampon up the first steep headwall of the east most (climbers left) gully to gain the glacier proper. The snow was softening and the angle backed off a bit so we switched to skins. We skinned up to about 8200 feet just below the final steep headwall. Back to boot packing to gain the saddle. Since we decided this was a ski and not a climb (we were jones-ing for turns) we stopped climbing where the skiing stopped.
We put on the sticks and tore down the slop. The first couple turns were really firm, the next few were a bit bumpy, but then things really shaped up. It was either dust on crust or corn. Bill and I opted to ski the central gully as it looked more intriguing, it was steep and aside from the section of water ice that had to be avoided it was fun skiing on that lovely chalky snow over a firm base. Dave, Jen and the dogs stuck to the sunny gully on skier's right (climbing route).
We re-grouped at the base of the gullies, traverse to the west (skiers left) to hit the slope that was in the sun, skied down to the basin. This skiing was low angle, but really nice corn with some good kickers and little trees to go around.
We stopped in the basin below and ditched layers and refueled in the sun with a prime view of our tracks. Thunderheads loomed in the distance and it started to snow a bit so we made quick time of our food and started to 2000-foot bush whack back to the highway. Alternating between skiing the tight trees and playing the game of, how solid do you think that bridge over the creek is? We only had to ski on dirt 3 times but made it to the highway with our skis on and were back to the cars at about 4pm.
5400ft and 8 miles
We drove up to the Blue Lake Trail head on Friday night through a few morale-shattering rainstorms only to find the sky clear from Diablo on. We parked the trucks in the parking lot and hit the hay. We got up at 6 and the sky was shaping up to be blue bird so we decided to head for Silver Star as it was the longer and more committing of our weekend objectives. After a leisurely breakfast and a drive down the highway we started up (from about 3200ft) at about 8AM. The snow was firm and a bit patchy in places so we opted for boot packing and actually found crampons nice. They were not required but did prevent that annoying slipping around.
The route is very straightforward, just head up the drainage, at the basin we climbed up the west-facing slope to the bench. This was the second good view of the route and we took a break on the bench (6200??) but took off as the sun hit us to avoid spontaneous human combustion. We continued by crampon up the first steep headwall of the east most (climbers left) gully to gain the glacier proper. The snow was softening and the angle backed off a bit so we switched to skins. We skinned up to about 8200 feet just below the final steep headwall. Back to boot packing to gain the saddle. Since we decided this was a ski and not a climb (we were jones-ing for turns) we stopped climbing where the skiing stopped.
We put on the sticks and tore down the slop. The first couple turns were really firm, the next few were a bit bumpy, but then things really shaped up. It was either dust on crust or corn. Bill and I opted to ski the central gully as it looked more intriguing, it was steep and aside from the section of water ice that had to be avoided it was fun skiing on that lovely chalky snow over a firm base. Dave, Jen and the dogs stuck to the sunny gully on skier's right (climbing route).
We re-grouped at the base of the gullies, traverse to the west (skiers left) to hit the slope that was in the sun, skied down to the basin. This skiing was low angle, but really nice corn with some good kickers and little trees to go around.
We stopped in the basin below and ditched layers and refueled in the sun with a prime view of our tracks. Thunderheads loomed in the distance and it started to snow a bit so we made quick time of our food and started to 2000-foot bush whack back to the highway. Alternating between skiing the tight trees and playing the game of, how solid do you think that bridge over the creek is? We only had to ski on dirt 3 times but made it to the highway with our skis on and were back to the cars at about 4pm.
5400ft and 8 miles
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