June 13, 2010, Tinkham Chute, WA

6/13/10

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Posted by The Snow Troopers on 6/19/10 4:42am

June 13th, 2010 brought me back up to Windy Pass, WA just 4 miles from the home base. Instead of the norm on Silver Peak today I would traverse around the East side on the PCT to go for The Tinkham Chute. Traveling from Windy Pass you would hit good swaths of snow on the steep slopes of Silver above Twin Lakes, wanting your ice axe for added comfort. I was able to skin the last 1/4 mile to Silver Ponds, where I put the skis back on the pack and started the boot up. At the bottom of the chute I scaled the slope at 49 degrees, however 5 steps or so above that spot the snow was much closer to my face. The snow was sun cupped but soft and perfect for boot packing not to mention great for some nice steep June turns on a partly cloudy day. Once on top of the chute made a quick change over and had Trooper go down first nice and easy. Dropped in and got to say it was quite the good rush even for all the beatin' brush

6/19/10 10:32am

zap

Nice line down the chute. It appeared that Trooper Dog was unable to ascend that last pitch. But it seems he enjoyed a nice swim towards the end. :)

6/19/10 3:43pm

the-snow-troopers

Saw that huh... Yep tried to get him to go further but he stopped right at the apex and was WAITING so I dropped. Trooper did the Zipper Chute back in May of 06 and traversed the whole thing, so never again, too steep. Therefore I get a little jittery for him when we hit 50 degrees w/ trees or rocks below, so I had him go first nice and slow not following and chasing w/ speed increasing his chance for a tumble.

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6/21/10 2:39am

gravyb

I've done Tinkham when there's no snow from the south side of Mirror Lake up the ridge to the top. Is that the route you skied, or where did you ascend and descend I'm curious to know. Nice work!

June 13, 2010, Tinkham Chute, WA

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