Feb 27, 2010, Teanaway Standup Creek
2/27/10
WA Cascades East Slopes Central
1880
1
Pictures @ http://picasaweb.google.com/mlangley7019/StandupCreek?authkey=Gv1sRgCImYtZWdhpqjxgE&feat=directlink
Patrol day for Cascade Backcountry Ski Patrol started about 9am at the 29 Pines Sno-Park in the Teanaway. The Cle Elum ranger said there was only about 6 inches of snow there, which was about right. There were a couple of snow machine rigs at the Sno-Park when we got there. We skied out and gingerly stepped across a couple of bare patches on the road, and I commented, "I wonder how much those will be melted out when we come back?"
We were able to keep our skis on and after the first half mile or so the road was well covered. We skied to the Stafford Creek junction and headed E, then N to the end of the road at the Standup Creek trailhead (about 3 miles from the Sno Park). There is a good foot bridge across the creek which still had about 2-3 feet of snow on it. We followed an old road grade up the W side of the creek to ~3400ft. There has been ski traffic up this trail, but it looks like it has been a while. We made an easy creek-crossing (shallow, narrow, with stepping stones) and continued North on the E side. There was a tree across the path which we used our ski edges to cross, and Patrick dubbed this tour the "Log Hoppit" in honor of the "Hog Loppit" race being run just a few miles away. We came to what looked like the next crossing (~3600ft), but decided to stay on the E side since it was only a short distance 'til it crossed back again. Oops.
After grunting our way up and around a short, steep, sun-mushed, bouldery sidehill section to avoid dense brush and a braided stream inlet, we picked up the trail again. We took the next stream crossing (~4000ft) back to the W side. With the rapidly softening snow and the obvious distance and elevation to good turns, we opted to head up a 400ft bump that looked like it would offer good views of the terrain beyond (WGS84 UTM E100662516 N5251065). As we neared the top the combination of moisture and old glue caused one of my skins to start flopping off my ski, so the last 100 ft of elevation required very deliberate stepping. I didn't bother trying to tape it on since we were so close to the top.
After lunch we dug a couple of pits, one on the S side and one on the N side of the very sharp ridge top. It is cool to see how different the pits, about 30 feet apart, were. They were instructive in the general layering, but the terrain was so broken up and discontinuous due to barely-submerged large boulders, trees, features etc., I doubt either provided very reliable data about slope stability. The most relevant (and unsurprising) element was the amount of water present throughout the snowpack and the layer of total mush on the top. We did observe tracks of some small, wet releases on steep terrain a little higher up.
We found a line down that avoided the most obvious of submerged boulders and actually linked a few fairly pleasant turns to the trees. While Patrick skied aggressively downward, as the angle eased, my "skinny" (at one time they were considered wide) Tourcaps lacked the mass and floatation to effectively turn through the mush, and the rest of the hill to the creek was a real hack job. When we reached the braided section, Patrick attempted to avoid taking his skis off by hopping across the braids, until his launching point collapsed under him. We carried a short way and avoided the mistake we made on the way up by crossing the stream where we were supposed to. Much of the run back out was very pleasant until just below the foot bridge at the summer trailhead.
The road down to Stafford Creek was IMHO the most miserable section of skiing all day. It was flat, too soft to skate, and in places had a crust that broke when you tried to kick. Once at the road it was heavy and mushy, but better due to old packing by snow machines, and we were able to do some skating. There was no evidence anyone else had been this way all day. When we reached the Teanaway Road we were passed by a group of about 10 snowmobilers. They were very courteous and slowed as they passed and a couple of them indicated how many machines were coming behind them. We did a lot of slush-skating back to the car. The bare patches from the morning were much larger with a lot of water draining out of them. We reached the Sno-Park a little after 4. Not much turning, but a great day for exploring.
Total distance: 10mi. Elevation: 1800'
Enjoy the spring...looks like it could be a short one!
Patrol day for Cascade Backcountry Ski Patrol started about 9am at the 29 Pines Sno-Park in the Teanaway. The Cle Elum ranger said there was only about 6 inches of snow there, which was about right. There were a couple of snow machine rigs at the Sno-Park when we got there. We skied out and gingerly stepped across a couple of bare patches on the road, and I commented, "I wonder how much those will be melted out when we come back?"
We were able to keep our skis on and after the first half mile or so the road was well covered. We skied to the Stafford Creek junction and headed E, then N to the end of the road at the Standup Creek trailhead (about 3 miles from the Sno Park). There is a good foot bridge across the creek which still had about 2-3 feet of snow on it. We followed an old road grade up the W side of the creek to ~3400ft. There has been ski traffic up this trail, but it looks like it has been a while. We made an easy creek-crossing (shallow, narrow, with stepping stones) and continued North on the E side. There was a tree across the path which we used our ski edges to cross, and Patrick dubbed this tour the "Log Hoppit" in honor of the "Hog Loppit" race being run just a few miles away. We came to what looked like the next crossing (~3600ft), but decided to stay on the E side since it was only a short distance 'til it crossed back again. Oops.
After grunting our way up and around a short, steep, sun-mushed, bouldery sidehill section to avoid dense brush and a braided stream inlet, we picked up the trail again. We took the next stream crossing (~4000ft) back to the W side. With the rapidly softening snow and the obvious distance and elevation to good turns, we opted to head up a 400ft bump that looked like it would offer good views of the terrain beyond (WGS84 UTM E100662516 N5251065). As we neared the top the combination of moisture and old glue caused one of my skins to start flopping off my ski, so the last 100 ft of elevation required very deliberate stepping. I didn't bother trying to tape it on since we were so close to the top.
After lunch we dug a couple of pits, one on the S side and one on the N side of the very sharp ridge top. It is cool to see how different the pits, about 30 feet apart, were. They were instructive in the general layering, but the terrain was so broken up and discontinuous due to barely-submerged large boulders, trees, features etc., I doubt either provided very reliable data about slope stability. The most relevant (and unsurprising) element was the amount of water present throughout the snowpack and the layer of total mush on the top. We did observe tracks of some small, wet releases on steep terrain a little higher up.
We found a line down that avoided the most obvious of submerged boulders and actually linked a few fairly pleasant turns to the trees. While Patrick skied aggressively downward, as the angle eased, my "skinny" (at one time they were considered wide) Tourcaps lacked the mass and floatation to effectively turn through the mush, and the rest of the hill to the creek was a real hack job. When we reached the braided section, Patrick attempted to avoid taking his skis off by hopping across the braids, until his launching point collapsed under him. We carried a short way and avoided the mistake we made on the way up by crossing the stream where we were supposed to. Much of the run back out was very pleasant until just below the foot bridge at the summer trailhead.
The road down to Stafford Creek was IMHO the most miserable section of skiing all day. It was flat, too soft to skate, and in places had a crust that broke when you tried to kick. Once at the road it was heavy and mushy, but better due to old packing by snow machines, and we were able to do some skating. There was no evidence anyone else had been this way all day. When we reached the Teanaway Road we were passed by a group of about 10 snowmobilers. They were very courteous and slowed as they passed and a couple of them indicated how many machines were coming behind them. We did a lot of slush-skating back to the car. The bare patches from the morning were much larger with a lot of water draining out of them. We reached the Sno-Park a little after 4. Not much turning, but a great day for exploring.
Total distance: 10mi. Elevation: 1800'
Enjoy the spring...looks like it could be a short one!
Nice Mark -- exploratory work for another day.
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