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March 27, Steeple Rock, Hurricane

3/15/10
WA Olympics
2074
5
Posted by chmnyboy on 3/28/10 10:55am
Caught a ride up with GaryJan but made a last minute decision to ditch them (sorry!) when I got a phone call from another local who needed a partner out to steeple rock. I'm sure I was a sight to see for all the skiers driving up when I was walking back down the ridge road in all my gear, double breve in one hand, scone in the other, skis on back and sandals tucked into my waist strap.

Through careful planning we were able to skin almost to the top of steeple and were pleasantly surprised with the coverage: despite the low snow, the wind worked its magic and we were able to access the main chute (large chute left of the summit in pic) directly from the summit; last year we had to climb up the chute to ski it due to a sizable cliff at the top. We then hiked around steeple to access the top of the long, narrow, skinny chute (left of the main chute in the pic) but found this to be the only slope that hadn't slid yet. We weren't able to make it slide from above, but knew it would if we skied it, so we called it a day and headed back to the lot, just in time to snag a beer from GaryJan's cooler.
chmnyboy:  Did you get at the top of that couloir from Obstruction Point Road, If not, how?


So .......... Chmnyboy suggests we go skiing on Saturday, lets us do the driving, ditches us at the last second for another partner, and finishes off the day drinking our beer .............. what kind of partner is this  ???

Actually, a really great one. It was a good call on your part to join Les. This is some challenging terrain and not a good place to be going alone. Would have been fun to join you guys, but our day turned out to be fun too. We will definitely get out to Steeple before the season is over.

These two pictures are from a trip to Steeple Rock in early-May, 2009. The boarder is Les, the skier is Chmnyboy dropping off the summit

Gary

author=GaryJan link=topic=16172.msg67475#msg67475 date=1269834816]
So .......... Chmnyboy suggests we go skiing on Saturday, lets us do the driving, ditches us at the last second for another partner, and finishes off the day drinking our beer .............. what kind of partner is this  ???


Either a smart one or a mooch.  You be the judge!  ;)

author=skier8484 link=topic=16172.msg67480#msg67480 date=1269836872]
Either a smart one or a mooch.  You be the judge!  ;)


does it really have to be either/or?

author=telemack link=topic=16172.msg67465#msg67465 date=1269828354]
chmnyboy:  Did you get at the top of that couloir from Obstruction Point Road, If not, how?


Yep. To get to the top of Steeple we turned left just after the below picture was taken and skinned the ridge up, although its easy just to bootpack up the face up to a point just west of the summit pyramid. From there its an easy pack up the N side to the summit (see the first pic). The summit drops directly into the main couloir, although the entrance is hidden by rock in the above pic. To get to the entrance of the narrow, skinny couloir we gained the saddle to the east of steeple and booted up the ridgeline.

author=GaryJan link=topic=16172.msg67475#msg67475 date=1269834816]
.............. what kind of partner is this  ???


and the worst part was that when I left your group, so did the whiskey ; )

author=chmnyboy link=topic=16172.msg67544#msg67544 date=1269922328]

and the worst part was that when I left your group, so did the whiskey ; )


Another compelling reason we should have joined you .........

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march-27-steeple-rock-hurricane
chmnyboy
2010-03-28 17:55:14