May Day 5.1.10 Chinook/Cayuse
5/15/10
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
2924
7
The last time I skied Chinook was with Scotsman and we got booted out and they closed the pass behind us for the winter season.
I wasn't the first up this Spring, but it was quiet none the less, saw skintracks, but no skiers.
First of all a special thanks to who ever decided to open Cayuse when there is still a plentiful snowpack! Kudos!
I wanted to try my waxless Karhu XCD skis with the Switchback binders driven by Scarpa T3 boots. All new setup for me, been years since I skied a waxless ski.
I went up late, left the house at 2:30 or so and started skiing up the junction of 123/410 at about 3:15.
Had I gone early in the AM there may have been powder, but at this point there was a snow/rain combo at the junction with breaks in the clouds. The sun saturated the new snow on the present skintrack and gave a good grip on the waxless base, but it takes a little getting used to sidehilling on the steeper sections, but not a problem at all. I particularly like the free hinge feature on the Switchback with the Karhu skis camber you can really kick and glide on the flatter areas. I can see that one could get lazy and not switch to down hill mode and possibility do some damage to the pivot point on the binder.
I would encourage anyone who likes to ski tour, for the tour to go check out Chinook tomorrow, because by next week WSDOT will have done more plowing and it is almost perfectly intact and pristine right now. A reminder to NOT SKI DURING THE WEEK since they will be doing extensive work on the Chinook Pass, don't want to blow this early opening stuff.
Right now most of the highway is still buried under 12-14 feet of snow so if you are just ski touring on the road it is a sight to see the surrounding area under so much snow.
I forgot my camera, but only the bridge was showing at 5432ft and the outhouses on the east side only about 6 inches of the vents were showing. It's great to see that area with so much snow!
The tracks I followed looked like they did a circumnavigation of Naches Peak and came back over the saddle by Yakima Peak and skied all the way to highway 410 on the west approach to the Cayuse pass.
The snow climbed great, but skied between barely tolerable and heinous. Maybe it was me on that light set up, and my AT gear possibly would have been marginally better. Although, bring at least two pairs of skins as lower down the top of the snow was saturated with melt water. That was the real advantage of the waxless setup, I literally waded around in slush and didn't worry about getting my skins wet.
The snow pack was a very saturated (percolated) supportable base with 3 inches of rebaked/semisaturated snow in most aspects. Great for meadow skipping, but a little challenging for lightweight tele gear on the steeps.
There were no slides that I saw or created, but very recent snow fell off the trees and created HUGE snow balls, I mean HUGE that left big 1 foot furrows, so look out above. I know they were recent because they went across the skintrack that was set earlier. Snow came in pretty hard when I left blowing about 30 on the ridge and coming out of the west
Good Luck and have fun!
I wasn't the first up this Spring, but it was quiet none the less, saw skintracks, but no skiers.
First of all a special thanks to who ever decided to open Cayuse when there is still a plentiful snowpack! Kudos!
I wanted to try my waxless Karhu XCD skis with the Switchback binders driven by Scarpa T3 boots. All new setup for me, been years since I skied a waxless ski.
I went up late, left the house at 2:30 or so and started skiing up the junction of 123/410 at about 3:15.
Had I gone early in the AM there may have been powder, but at this point there was a snow/rain combo at the junction with breaks in the clouds. The sun saturated the new snow on the present skintrack and gave a good grip on the waxless base, but it takes a little getting used to sidehilling on the steeper sections, but not a problem at all. I particularly like the free hinge feature on the Switchback with the Karhu skis camber you can really kick and glide on the flatter areas. I can see that one could get lazy and not switch to down hill mode and possibility do some damage to the pivot point on the binder.
I would encourage anyone who likes to ski tour, for the tour to go check out Chinook tomorrow, because by next week WSDOT will have done more plowing and it is almost perfectly intact and pristine right now. A reminder to NOT SKI DURING THE WEEK since they will be doing extensive work on the Chinook Pass, don't want to blow this early opening stuff.
Right now most of the highway is still buried under 12-14 feet of snow so if you are just ski touring on the road it is a sight to see the surrounding area under so much snow.
I forgot my camera, but only the bridge was showing at 5432ft and the outhouses on the east side only about 6 inches of the vents were showing. It's great to see that area with so much snow!
The tracks I followed looked like they did a circumnavigation of Naches Peak and came back over the saddle by Yakima Peak and skied all the way to highway 410 on the west approach to the Cayuse pass.
The snow climbed great, but skied between barely tolerable and heinous. Maybe it was me on that light set up, and my AT gear possibly would have been marginally better. Although, bring at least two pairs of skins as lower down the top of the snow was saturated with melt water. That was the real advantage of the waxless setup, I literally waded around in slush and didn't worry about getting my skins wet.
The snow pack was a very saturated (percolated) supportable base with 3 inches of rebaked/semisaturated snow in most aspects. Great for meadow skipping, but a little challenging for lightweight tele gear on the steeps.
There were no slides that I saw or created, but very recent snow fell off the trees and created HUGE snow balls, I mean HUGE that left big 1 foot furrows, so look out above. I know they were recent because they went across the skintrack that was set earlier. Snow came in pretty hard when I left blowing about 30 on the ridge and coming out of the west
Good Luck and have fun!
Thanks for the report Joe. It's been so long since we've been able to ski from Cayuse before they open Chinook. Hopefully Brenda and I will be able to get up there in the next week or two. Great to hear there's so much snow. Now if the weather would settle down long enough for it to corn up. That's when you'll really start appreciating that setup.
I'm glad you liked our skin track but we didn't exit via 410. ;)
author=Kyle Miller link=topic=16535.msg69118#msg69118 date=1272774252]
I'm glad you liked our skin track but we didn't exit via 410. ;)
Thanks for the track it was very effective. It's hard to believe the skin tracks were yours, so mellow.
Sorry to have missed you.
author=md2020 link=topic=16535.msg69117#msg69117 date=1272772973]
That's when you'll really start appreciating that setup.
I was thinking of you when I was highside sidestepping the skin track. I do like the setup and can't wait to hit the corn. It's amazing how easy it is to glide.
Thanks for suggesting the Switchback binding it really makes a difference on that ski.
author=Kyle Miller link=topic=16535.msg69118#msg69118 date=1272774252]
I'm glad you liked our skin track but we didn't exit via 410. ;)
Myself and two others can claim the tracks out to the HWY. Skiing above ~5,000' was gerenerally really good, with good visibility holding throughout the tour.
Definitely can vouch for the amount of snow up there; the cornices near Naches are fat!
You really do get a sense of how much snow the equipment operators have to deal with!
Slightly off topic... but for those of you using the Switchbacks, if you have issues with snowballing up under the toe or on the heal piece, which I and others seemed to have had quite a problem with in the past, clear packing tape applied to the plastic is the trick. No problems whatsoever now!
Let me know next time you break out those teles Joe, I'll join ya! :)
Let me know next time you break out those teles Joe, I'll join ya! :)
author=Teleskichica link=topic=16535.msg69164#msg69164 date=1272866986]
Slightly off topic... but for those of you using the Switchbacks, if you have issues with snowballing up under the toe or on the heal piece, which I and others seemed to have had quite a problem with in the past, clear packing tape applied to the plastic is the trick. No problems whatsoever now!
Let me know next time you break out those teles Joe, I'll join ya! :)
Sounds good Chica!
I had thought of your recent problem and kept a bladder full in reserve. ;D
I was wondering if there would be snow or some ice that would effect the operation of the Switchback. I think the snow I experienced was not compressible enough to make a significant problem or icing real quick.
The Switch worked real well, the operator had some difficulties on the downhill though, hardly graceful.
Thanks for the tip on the tape.
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