May 30, 2004, Tatoosh Range, MRNP
5/30/04
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
3188
6
Jerry (JW), Evan, Eric (snoslut) and yours truly entered the park in the rain and headed for a last fall reconned tour of our fancy.
With some trepidation over the recent soggy freshies, we left the car skinning on old, rain soaked and consolidated snow. At 5000 ft a dusting of fresh wet snow appeared on the old snow. At 5400 about 6 inches of wet, fresh snow was on top of the old (also wet) snow, and well bonded (like a "no shear" on the shovel shear, it required a pry to break it loose). 6600 had about a foot or more of wet fresh, still with no instability noted except for the pinwheels.
Here's a shot of some of the lines we skied:
My guess is Joedabaker will recognize the lines... who else can peg the location?
More pics at:
http://groups.msn.com/WildHeartsSkiing/_albumlist.msnw?pgmarket=en-us
With some trepidation over the recent soggy freshies, we left the car skinning on old, rain soaked and consolidated snow. At 5000 ft a dusting of fresh wet snow appeared on the old snow. At 5400 about 6 inches of wet, fresh snow was on top of the old (also wet) snow, and well bonded (like a "no shear" on the shovel shear, it required a pry to break it loose). 6600 had about a foot or more of wet fresh, still with no instability noted except for the pinwheels.
Here's a shot of some of the lines we skied:
My guess is Joedabaker will recognize the lines... who else can peg the location?
More pics at:
http://groups.msn.com/WildHeartsSkiing/_albumlist.msnw?pgmarket=en-us
Ron,
Nice report and photos, especially the well composed shot of snoslut and the beautiful view :)! The skiing looked pretty fun and I'm glad you guys found stable snow. I was up near Mnt. Roosevelt and witnessed a wet snow avalanche on a 45+ degree NE aspect that ran for 500 ft. or so. The slide generated a lot of noise -- very exciting.
-kam
Nice report and photos, especially the well composed shot of snoslut and the beautiful view :)! The skiing looked pretty fun and I'm glad you guys found stable snow. I was up near Mnt. Roosevelt and witnessed a wet snow avalanche on a 45+ degree NE aspect that ran for 500 ft. or so. The slide generated a lot of noise -- very exciting.
-kam
All day long I've sat around wondering who'd be dedicated enough to be out there skiing the slush today, rather than waiting for the sunshine and warm, caressing breezes arriving tomorrow....and now I know the answer. Thanks for the stability testing and the new benchmark phrase: "eclectic weather."
Ron, some of your thumbnails don't open full size for me. Might be one of those Mac vs. PC artifacts.
Ron, some of your thumbnails don't open full size for me. Might be one of those Mac vs. PC artifacts.
Nice pics Ron. Can't wait to see Jerry's. Sure could have used some clippers from the trailhead. Anyway I really enjoyed making turns in zero visibility, boot deep styrofoam powder up top. Couldn't even feel how steep it really was. Below that I could not help but notice, when I stopped after the first traverse, how the slope felt like it was moving down and so did my body. Avalanche? Nope. Oh yeah vertigo. Was an adventure filled with wind, rain, snow, sleet, sun breaks in the distance, calmness at times, and nice cups of shut the f up, let's get hell outta here. ;D
Well,another fun trip. I'm amazed at how much enjoyment can be found in a truly crappy day if you just go out there. Thanks again to Ron and Jeanette for the great recon hikes they do each fall to search out the lines we ski each week. Once again it was difficult to get any good shots. What I have are at
Ron-My guess would be-What are the N-NW chutes below the Unicorn to Snow Lake? I'm surprised that those chutes still had snow in them. I looked at skiing them about a month ago, but due to time restraints and sloppy boot deep goo they were left to melt away. I figured that by the time the Stevens Canyon road opened those sweet lines would be gone! Great work! What did the pitch-O-meter say how steep those are? My guess was 40 plus degrees and the ones skiers right are maybe 45 plus? Sorry that I missed out-Snoslut gave me a heads up and I ventured that way only to get side tracked at Chinook. Maybe next time?!
Yeah, Joe, you nailed it. About right on the pitch angles, too. You're a regular walking encyclopedia of Rainier area ski tours.
I suspect there will be some skiable lines in there for a couple more weeks.
Mark, I suspect the difficulty in pic viewing rests with msn groups, and not with your machine. I suspect msn must use their slowest servers for the groups function.
Try it later, it'll probably work.
Yeah, Kam, I second Jerry, glad you didn't participate in the roar.
I suspect there will be some skiable lines in there for a couple more weeks.
Mark, I suspect the difficulty in pic viewing rests with msn groups, and not with your machine. I suspect msn must use their slowest servers for the groups function.
Try it later, it'll probably work.
Yeah, Kam, I second Jerry, glad you didn't participate in the roar.
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