May 14, 2010, Teanaway, Beverly Creek
5/14/10
WA Cascades East Slopes Central
2167
0
Ski tour up Beverly Creek on a spectacular sunny day. After rattling up the heavily potholed Teanaway Road and coaxing my Civic to the Beverly/Bean Creek trailhead I hit the trail about 7am. I mean trail because there is no snow at the trailhead (3600'). The creek crossing to Beverly Creek at .4 miles was on slippery logs that were nearly under water. I hate putting my skis on and off, so I carried them until I was on consistent snow patches for a couple tenths and them on at about 1 mile from the TH. Naturally, about 100 yards later, I had to take them off again. I put them back on for good at about 1.2 miles (~4400') and managed to leave them on with a minimum of ground contact for the rest of the ascent.
As the terrain opened up in the basin, to stay on snow I angled away from the creek to ascend N to the saddle between Beverly and Fourth Creek (5600'). I encountered widely variable snow, including some areas that were already turning quite mushy at 10am. I then traversed to the N side of the ridge and switchbacked in the trees up firmer snow to a high point a little below 6000'. I sat in the sun, admired the view of the Stuart range, had lunch, and dug a pit. There were hard layers at about 12 and 30 inches down. I pounded on the top of my column with my fist and all it did was compress the snow. The shovel shear required a pretty substantial pull and sheared at the 30" level.
At about 11:30 I skied down the shoulder of the ridge toward the saddle on very nice snow to the flatter terrain about 200' below and NE of the saddle. That's where it got interesting. As I ascended the very gentle slope back to the saddle on softer snow, several times I heard a "whoooosh" shooting under the snow pack. While not in a hazardous area (low angle, heavily treed, no evidence of avalanche activity), it was still very spooky. For my run back down to the Beverly Creek basin from the saddle I stuck to the lower angled terrain.
On the way out my skis found some rocks only slightly below the snow surface, and I got on a little lower line than on my way up, so I ended up carrying the skis for the last 1.5 miles or so. I got back to the car at 1.
I observed lots of evidence of avalanche activity on the steeper, sun-exposed slopes on most aspects, though I did not see any while I was on the tour. The E and SE slopes appeared especially active. There were still cornices on the E, NE slopes of Iron Peak.
The Beverly Basin is spectacular and there appears to be a lot of great looking moderate-but-fun terrain. There is still decent skiing to be had in that area if chosen carefully. The access is going to get more miserable as it melts out. Unfortunately my camera battery died before I took one picture, so all I have are low-res camera pics. I may add those later if its worth it.
As the terrain opened up in the basin, to stay on snow I angled away from the creek to ascend N to the saddle between Beverly and Fourth Creek (5600'). I encountered widely variable snow, including some areas that were already turning quite mushy at 10am. I then traversed to the N side of the ridge and switchbacked in the trees up firmer snow to a high point a little below 6000'. I sat in the sun, admired the view of the Stuart range, had lunch, and dug a pit. There were hard layers at about 12 and 30 inches down. I pounded on the top of my column with my fist and all it did was compress the snow. The shovel shear required a pretty substantial pull and sheared at the 30" level.
At about 11:30 I skied down the shoulder of the ridge toward the saddle on very nice snow to the flatter terrain about 200' below and NE of the saddle. That's where it got interesting. As I ascended the very gentle slope back to the saddle on softer snow, several times I heard a "whoooosh" shooting under the snow pack. While not in a hazardous area (low angle, heavily treed, no evidence of avalanche activity), it was still very spooky. For my run back down to the Beverly Creek basin from the saddle I stuck to the lower angled terrain.
On the way out my skis found some rocks only slightly below the snow surface, and I got on a little lower line than on my way up, so I ended up carrying the skis for the last 1.5 miles or so. I got back to the car at 1.
I observed lots of evidence of avalanche activity on the steeper, sun-exposed slopes on most aspects, though I did not see any while I was on the tour. The E and SE slopes appeared especially active. There were still cornices on the E, NE slopes of Iron Peak.
The Beverly Basin is spectacular and there appears to be a lot of great looking moderate-but-fun terrain. There is still decent skiing to be had in that area if chosen carefully. The access is going to get more miserable as it melts out. Unfortunately my camera battery died before I took one picture, so all I have are low-res camera pics. I may add those later if its worth it.
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