Feb 21, 2010, Mt. Ellinor, Olympics
2/21/10
WA Olympics
6983
12
The road is open & passable to a few hundred yards below the UPPER trailhead; Snowbell said there had been road repairs that helped.
Just below the summer-winter split we headed off sideways to a bit of a shwack that gained a bowl and a beautiful steepening climb straight up to the summit. Warm air but crampons almost all day.
All the five WA volcanoes paraded by to the east while we saw much of the SE Olympics up close.
We skied the exciting upper SW face off the top, cut left into the notch of the summer route, then traversed onto super buttery carves, to the bootpack and the slippery trail down.
Spectacular day!
Just below the summer-winter split we headed off sideways to a bit of a shwack that gained a bowl and a beautiful steepening climb straight up to the summit. Warm air but crampons almost all day.
All the five WA volcanoes paraded by to the east while we saw much of the SE Olympics up close.
We skied the exciting upper SW face off the top, cut left into the notch of the summer route, then traversed onto super buttery carves, to the bootpack and the slippery trail down.
Spectacular day!
Love that picture! Is that your doing, Mr. Bell? WOW!
Glad to see you guys were out getting some :) while I had to work :(
Great photo Snowbell,
Gary
Great photo Snowbell,
Gary
THAT looks like fun! 8)
That is a great view and a great shot!
I think I can see Mount Hood :)
Nice work!
I think I can see Mount Hood :)
Nice work!
That's a great photo you, Mack.
Nice work, looked like a great day to be out!
Awesome pic. Can it be the home page shot?
Wow! That's a magazine cover shot!!
Thanks for the kind comments lady and gentlemen. We can't all take photos like JH but I guess we all get lucky sometimes. ;D This trip happened to come after a particularly late night and once at home, unpacked and had the kids in bed it was all that I could do to post this one picture. I didn't realize that it was "magazine cover shot" material (Thanks Jim) but I did recognize that it made the rest of my pictures from the day seem less presentable. I look forward to returning to the low expectations of my slightly sub par photography.
Gary- I mean to take you and Jan up there one of these days. I thought about you but our plan came together at the last minute. As it turned out, I would not have wanted to subject anyone but Mack to the route we took. I suppose that if you look at topos long enough a route will appear that could go.
Thanks for the nomination jimjar. I would be honored to have any of my pics on the front page. I do not however want to conjure the rage of Mike Scherer for his displacement! (Does he post here?) You may want to ask Mack though. He may be embarrassed by how his heels are flailing under him unattached to his skis. ::)
Thanks Mack. "A bit of a shwack" to be sure and the ever present possibility of being cliffed out beyond the next outcropping weighed constantly but payed off in the end. Even though the hours that it would have taken to retrace our route through the forest would have been a day ender, I'm glad that we gambled.
Gary- I mean to take you and Jan up there one of these days. I thought about you but our plan came together at the last minute. As it turned out, I would not have wanted to subject anyone but Mack to the route we took. I suppose that if you look at topos long enough a route will appear that could go.
Thanks for the nomination jimjar. I would be honored to have any of my pics on the front page. I do not however want to conjure the rage of Mike Scherer for his displacement! (Does he post here?) You may want to ask Mack though. He may be embarrassed by how his heels are flailing under him unattached to his skis. ::)
Thanks Mack. "A bit of a shwack" to be sure and the ever present possibility of being cliffed out beyond the next outcropping weighed constantly but payed off in the end. Even though the hours that it would have taken to retrace our route through the forest would have been a day ender, I'm glad that we gambled.
Nice job Gents! I sure was impressed by that photo Joe took, looks beautiful out there. Glad to hear you guys got out there and enjoyed the good weather. I need to see the terrain out there with my own eyes someday soon.
Chris
Chris
Just got back from the Wallowas and was greeted by the goodness in my backyard. Nice work on the shutter Joe.
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