|
|
|
|
|
|
Turns All Year Trip Reports
(1) Viewing these pages constitutes your acceptance of the Terms of Use.
(2) Disclaimer: the accuracy of information here is unknown, use at your own risk.
(3) Trip Report monthly boards: only actual trip report starts a new thread.
(4) Keep it civil and constructive - that is the norm here. |
|
|
|
|
Author
|
Topic: Feb 13 2011 - Upper Rainy Creek (Read 1199 times)
|
bobS
Member
Offline
Posts: 117
|
Skinned from Smith Brook Rd, over Rainy Pass and skied down into the Rainy Creek drainage vicinity with the idea of ascending and skiing the south slopes of Jove. But the sun was out early and the south face was getting baked. Even from across the valley the impact of the previous night’s high wind was evident: The entire upper slope of the mountain having the rippled look of a beach on an outgoing tide. No worries, the ridge leading around to Union had plenty of sheltered old growth slopes holding good snow and fun turns. After some of that we headed west and on the north aspect directly south of Jove we found some slide paths that remained shaded all day. New snow was about 12” deep. Light on top, it increased in density with depth, and was bonded very well to the solid crust. In short stability was not a concern. We lapped the open slopes enjoying some great turns. On the third trip up Mike commented on a couloir entrance he had spotted from below. I was psyched and extended our skin track up and over to the apron below the col where a dogleg kept us from seeing far. Booting the entrance was a grovel but as the pitch increased in the col footing improved. Still, it was definitely a full body workout! Once around the corner things looked good. The col gradually narrowed and steepened as we climbed (about 12’ wide and 45+ deg at top), eventually cul-de-sac-ing at some cliffs with beautiful desert canyon-like ice formations. The deep and forgiving snow made for a dye-no-mite descent with the joy meter going off the charts.
|
|
|
|
|
Scotsman
Member
Offline
Posts: 3169
|
Nicely spaced trees in first picture... I like them. Please post GPS map to location. Thanks.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
Chief Etiquette Officer of TAY and TAY's #1 Poster
Poet Laureate of TAY.
Chairman and Founder of FOTAY( Friends of TAY)
Moderator of the moderators.
"Most Brilliant Move" of the 11/12 ski season
" Knows what he is talking about"
Expert Typist.
|
|
|
bobS
Member
Offline
Posts: 117
|
Nicely spaced trees in first picture... I like them. Please post GPS map to location. Thanks.
Just go over rainy pass hang a left and look around a little.
Oh, one minor hazard I forgot to mention regarding this area: snowmobiles. They caused no problems what-so-ever during the day but DID run over a couple beers I had stashed in the snow bank next to the car.  In their defense the snow on the road from the morning had melted out, so they had to forge a new way back to their rigs. Thankfully one Deschutes Obsidian Stout was spared the wrath of the ‘bilers. I’ll never make that mistake again.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
John Morrow
Member
Offline
Posts: 499
|
Neat stuff. We have searched but have never found a clean line through the cliffs between the upper and lower NE slopes of Union. All those gullies seem to have potential but did you happen to see if any go through?
The snowmobiles did stay off all the slopes we all skied yesterday. However, they did destroy the NE Bowl of Jove Peak and Lake high marking, which is plenty deep in the Henry M. Jackson Wilderness to know where they were.
Thanks,
John
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
bobS
Member
Offline
Posts: 117
|
We have searched but have never found a clean line through the cliffs between the upper and lower NE slopes of Union. All those gullies seem to have potential but did you happen to see if any go through?
The line we took was not off Union Peak proper, but off the East-West section of the ridge connecting Union Peak to the Pass. I think it would take a rappel to get in from the top. I’ve been up Union, but don’t know anything about the NE slopes -other than that they look promising on the topo. I hope I’ll be doing some more exploring around the area soon- lots of good terrain.
Sounds like you guys had a great day out there too!
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
Alan Brunelle
Member
Offline
Posts: 382
|
You mentioned the snow conditions went from dense to light and was well bonded. That second picture looks like a classic avi trap. How long was it and were you confident that the conditions on the top of that were as solid as when you started out at the bottom? Certainly looks like a nice ski.
Alan
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
bobS
Member
Offline
Posts: 117
|
That second picture looks like a classic avi trap. How long was it and were you confident that the conditions on the top of that were as solid as when you started out at the bottom?
Alan
Alan
That’s a good question because before turning the corner I had no idea what was up there- it could have ended in 15 feet or had a monster cornice high above baking in the sun- The big factor that day was sun. Once around the corner I could see that the upper section was in total shade as was the cliff band above which had very minimal/no cornice.
From this point confidence was good, but obviously we continued to evaluate the snow and communicate.
The second picture is taken from near the top with a 28mm lens- so it’s not as long as the photo might make it look. From the turn it’s about the same distance again down to the apron. It was not really a significant trap at the corner in my opinion.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
Alan Brunelle
Member
Offline
Posts: 382
|
Wide angle lenses!
My GoPro video cam is also real wide and it makes my runs look longer than they actually are and also a lot faster as well.
Alan
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
Thank you to our sponsors!
|
Contact turns-all-year.com
Turns All Year Trip Reports ©2001-2010 Turns All Year LLC. All Rights Reserved
The opinions expressed in posts are those of the poster and do not necessarily
reflect the opinions of Trip Reports administrators or Turns All Year LLC
|
Turns All Year Trip Reports | Powered by SMF 1.0.6.
© 2001-2005, Lewis Media. All Rights Reserved.
|
Page created in 0.343 seconds with 20 queries.
|
1UnionRidgeSML.jpg
