Dec 8, 2009, Eldorado
12/8/09
WA Cascades West Slopes North (Mt Baker)
11287
17
Froze our asses off on Eldorado and got sunburnt too. Half the turns were good, a quarter were decent, and a quarter were "good training." All part of a spectacular experience in the high mountains.
The story and pics are here:
www.skistories.blogspot.com
The story and pics are here:
www.skistories.blogspot.com
Pretty cold weather for that one.
May I assume since you didn't mention the scree field that it is pretty well covered?
That part is just insult to injury after the hike up to it.
Thanks for the photos.
May I assume since you didn't mention the scree field that it is pretty well covered?
That part is just insult to injury after the hike up to it.
Thanks for the photos.
That made me shiver a little just reading it. Way to take advantage of this high pressure while it lasts. Great TR/photos.
The scree field was buried. That was where we ditched the hiking boots and bootpacked the first bit to get above the brush line, then skinned from there.
Thanks for another great TR and photos. I've taken the liberty of using one of your Sperry shots that inspired me to climb it last weekend in my TR here.
JimD - thanks for cross posting! The summit shots are great.
cons - that's a big day. Way to get at it, thanks for sharing the photos.
cons - that's a big day. Way to get at it, thanks for sharing the photos.
Jim D-That climb looked really fun and I'm stoked that a picture of mine was an impetus! Thanks
Jim H-Yeah it was a long day for one of the shortest days of the year. It's great to be able to take advantage of this high pressure though. As soon as it snows everything will be dangerous for awhile and I'll be resting up a bit more then.
Jim H-Yeah it was a long day for one of the shortest days of the year. It's great to be able to take advantage of this high pressure though. As soon as it snows everything will be dangerous for awhile and I'll be resting up a bit more then.
Nice work -- loving the blog you've got going. I'll be putting it on my list for "bored at work surfing".
author=JimD link=topic=14771.msg61821#msg61821 date=1260380783">
Thanks for another great TR and photos. I've taken the liberty of using one of your Sperry shots that inspired me to climb it last weekend in my TR here.
Ah ha! You guys were the ones in the subaru at the trail head. We skied Vesper that day. Maybe you heard our skis scraping down the ice from the Sperry summit? We were definitely curious what you guys were up too. (seeing that your car was parked when we got there and when we left.)
I think skating across the lake was my favorite part of the day. Or the chutes above it with just enough snow to get a grip with the edges.
Awesome! Thanks for posting. Makes me wish I had taken better advantage of this uncommon combination of high elevation snow pack and access.
lrudholm, couldn't hear you scraping, but I hope you got down to Headlee before we summited. I wished I had skis for the long traverse over there! Did you see someone climbing the standard route on Sperry? We found footprints at the summit.
Nice work heading out there. I pondered going into that general area but with marginal conditions and brutal cold it didn't seem worth slogging in all my overnight gear.
JimD,
I'm pretty sure we were the only other party that went past Headlee pass that day. There was a party of four at the Trail head, they said they only went too the pass though. You can tell there has been a lot of traffic in that area. I did eat it right before the pass on the way back when I tried to hot dog it. Almost slid into some of those rocks.
At the top of Vesper peak we could tell a lot of men were up there due to a lot of yellow snow.
I'm pretty sure we were the only other party that went past Headlee pass that day. There was a party of four at the Trail head, they said they only went too the pass though. You can tell there has been a lot of traffic in that area. I did eat it right before the pass on the way back when I tried to hot dog it. Almost slid into some of those rocks.
At the top of Vesper peak we could tell a lot of men were up there due to a lot of yellow snow.
author=Kyle Miller link=topic=14771.msg61856#msg61856 date=1260402651]
Nice work heading out there. I pondered going into that general area but with marginal conditions and brutal cold it didn't seem worth slogging in all my overnight gear.
We camped at the parking lot and just did it in a day, didn't want to slog heavy stuff up either. Camping would have sucked in that cold. For the most part though, whenever I felt cold I just put on my puffy with a hood and faceguard and felt fine. It was just dealing with the camera that was cold on the hands. Or when the wind picked up. The section below the summit cap though was windless and I was just in a capilene t-shirt for half an hour. As soon as the wind arrived I had to throw it all back on again. Anyhow, I like to think of it all as a damned good way to get exercise.
author=lrudholm link=topic=14771.msg61857#msg61857 date=1260404133]
At the top of Vesper peak we could tell a lot of men were up there due to a lot of yellow snow.
Women just hold it? They're better hydrated? Or was it artfully arranged?
Nice work getting up into a beautiful area!
Cons, you are inspiring!
Man, with as much as you guys are skiing, I wonder how you afford to feed yourself!
Man, with as much as you guys are skiing, I wonder how you afford to feed yourself!
Thanks Vertically Inclined. I prefer to just work hard in summer and ski fall/winter/spring/early summer. Gonna be gone for the next two weeks though, so no more posts for awhile.
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