Home > Trip Reports > Tatoosh 1-23-10

Tatoosh 1-23-10

1/15/10
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
3345
7
Posted by Snow Bell on 1/24/10 8:43am
So first of all: I am sorry to be so lame as not to have authored a TR for quite some time (June 08   :-[).  It is not that I have not been skiing, rather just being busy with a young family when I am not skiing.  I try to chime in when my partners (nearly all of whom post here) write up one of our trips but other than that my contributions have been limited.  I thoroughly enjoy reading other€™s TR€™s  and will try to report on conditions and bring some stoke more regularly as I am feeling like a bit of a mooch.
Here goes:

Saturday, January 23, 2010
6:45 AM
Tacoma

Stugie looks like shit.  He is sent back to bed.  No room for the weak or infirm today.
Itchy rolls up not having had his breakfast but we can work with that.  He will rally.
Kneel Turner arrives on point and ready.  What a stud.
We€™re off.

We breeze past an open Longmire gate at 8:30 followed by the Silver Fox who arrives at Narada shortly after us.  We show our respect and he reciprocates with some sagely morsels to chew on: Our destiny lies on the west slopes.
Robie made the scene and added a secluded shot to our menu for the way back.  Thanks.  It was delicious.

We made short work of Steven€™s Canyon Road to Reflection Lakes in the skin track set by those off to siege the Castle.  It was a bit slower cutting trail past Lake Louise but being on the road it was still fast enough.  Soon, we jumped off the road onto the bench and chased down Snow Lake.  Lots of sporty lines above this area with a bit more snow pack.

As we continued, clouds hid the peaks beyond but we could clearly see the constriction ahead up Unicorn Creek.  Reaching the bottom of the chute, the wind packed powder was reacting a bit more between skin tracks than it had been down lower which compelled us to perform some more thorough assessments than the hasty hand pits we had done previously.  After examining the layers of concern, we discussed and debated stability and our exposure and decided to push on up the crux.  Ed heroically lead the charge followed by Chris while I waited for Ed to top out before entering the chute.


Holding it down at the back of the pack is not my normal role but I think that I could learn to like it. 

Visibility in the sparsely treed basin above was rather poor and also held wind effected snow so we adapted our course and set our sights to the ridge line above.  We topped out a bit over 6K and looked down one of the longest West facing line in the area.  We took a short rest and scrutinized the topo to find the best possible line of descent.  A short climb found us above our line with improving visibility.  It was immediately evident that the snow was perfect and that a couple thousand feet of it were imminent.  Things were certainly looking good for us.



We skied, and skied, and skied and traversed and climbed and climbed and skied some more finding ourselves at Lake Louise just as dark settled in. 











The skin out was quick and quiet under a clear night sky.  It was a great day and once again the Tatoosh gave up the goods. 
Thanks fellas.

Who€™s game for tomorrow?
Excellent TR and photos ! Welcome back !  Keep writing TR's. You brought back a storm cycle.  ;)

Mr. Joe Bell,

I'm amazed to come home to your post, it's inspiring to start writing more of mine again. Wish I could've joined you all today, but had good AVI search practice in lieu of skiing in the BC. Next weekend hopefully is spent in the Enchantments, hope you're game. Stugie better get back on his! Cheers.

Brad lies...he told me he just lost $50K gambling in Vegas.  That could have gotten a lot of new ski gear Brad, or a few new MOSS tents!

Wow, sorry again guys, thanks for understanding.  I am proud to announce I am no longer bowing to the inadequacies of my immune system to fight off some dumb flu bug.  This week is going to be difficult to get through knowing that there's some snow to be had.  Glad you guys got goods!  Nice pics and great read Joe!

Joe- nice job on the TR. An amazing day out in the Tatoosh, I look forward to many more.

A few more pics
http://picasaweb.google.com/christopherlyles/TatooshUnicorn?feat=directlink

Video of Joe-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDFxr5MFsZU

video of Ed-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XR3S-cVeEpU


Good report ! nice pics by all .
What a day !

Way to tap the 'toosh. Looks great!

Thanks for the kind comments guys.

I'm a gonna tack a bit a stoke onto this here post.
(do I have to tell you to click the thumbnails for big pics?)

Same range four days later with my buddy Jeff.


He sure does enjoy skiing




Foss to Plummer skin track stoke


we almost dropped in on this line


and this line.


and they both would have been great...

but we came for this one


the sun was setting and we still had one more peak to bag so one last picture before the camera was put to rest


Thanks for being game buddy.

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tatoosh-1-23-10
Snow Bell
2010-01-24 16:43:28