Home > Trip Reports > April 29-30, 2011, Maude, north face/west coulior

April 29-30, 2011, Maude, north face/west coulior

4/29/11
WA Cascades West Slopes Central
8871
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Posted by esvege on 5/2/11 12:26pm
Dan Helmstadter and myself skied the north face followed by a west coulior on Maude.

Friday evening we met and the Midway store and made our way to the Chiwawa River road for the approach to Trinity where Greg (care taker) at Trinity graciously allowed us to stay in one of the spare cabins for the night. 

Saturday morning started an hour later than planned as my alarm didn't wake me up...but we were skinning up Phelps Creek by 4:30am after a short sled ride to the TH from Trinity.  We climbed up Chipmunk Creek and once on the ridge above Ice Lakes we took a short break and enjoying the sun, views and some coffee. 

The climb to the summit from Ice Lakes is direct and can be skinned most of the way.  We had some concerns about stability on the east face with the morning sun and a trip to Fortress last week I had a slab release on me in very similar conditions.  With careful route selection we made safe travel back on the ridge and made out way up to the summit.

Once on the summit we enjoyed spectacular views all around with very light winds.  We skied off the summit to the ridge to have a look at the north face.  We were happy with how the face looked, good consolidated powder!!  We quickly side stepped up to drop in at the top of the convex rollover.  The face skied great as we played the steeper right side with more features.  We exited the main face and headed right getting a great view of the NE couloir (sure looked good and Dan really wanted to ski it, next time...).   Turns down the remainder were smooth and fast. 

Dan used the word amphitheater to describe the basin with Maude, Seven Finger Jack, and Fernow towering above.  We began the climb out to Ice Lake, once there we went back and forth on climbing the ridge and skiing Chipmunk down or climb back up to the summit and ski the west coulior that Jason Hummel skied years back:

http://www.cascadecrusades.org/SkiMountaineering/maude/westface/westface2005/wf2005.htm

We chose the latter and were back at the summit in 1.5 hours. 
We were unsure how conditions would be on the west face.  As we dropped onto the face the snow was wind effected with a soft crust, but good skiing.  As we continued down the coulior got steeper and steeper with surprising powder in areas.  The exit out to Leroy basin was smooth corn.

We decided to hold a traverse to Chipmunk where the trees space out some and allow for better skiing and put out closer to the exit.

After a quick stop at Trinity to pack up we began to make our way out the bumpy road on the snowmobile for 20 miles...We made it back to the vehicles little after 11pm, about 19 hours in all.  After parting ways with Dan I made it to the Headwaters Pub for a burger then made it as far as Stevens Pass ski area before pulling over to sleep in the back of the truck for a few hours before getting home.
Nice trip you guys!  Eric,  my only complaint is that you didn't post enough pics! I'm sure you have plenty more ...

awesome trip! looking forward to the next one Erik! my camera autodestructed but I snaped a few before it went.








author=esvege link=topic=20722.msg88358#msg88358 date=1304393192]

Dan used the word amphitheater to describe the basin with Maude, Seven Finger Jack, and Fernow towering above. 


Nice!  I'd agree with amphitheater but cirque works, too.  It's an amazing view east from 7 Finger Jack down the glacier-carved valley.  Thanks for sharing!

Wow guys. Awesome. I wanted to get over there while in the area a few weeks ago, but weather and conditions weren't in the cards for us. Anyhow, that n face is always a fun ski. I'd love to do it in fatter conditions like you guys had....same for the west couloir. Nice work!

Very nice Eric and Dan!!

That west face was looking so rad when we seen it recently. glad you got on it!


Thanks guys! 

Scott -- your tr from last year was the inspiration! 

http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/966126/Re_TR_mt_maude_west_ridge_clim

looks like the boobie pictures were moderated.

author=jwplotz link=topic=20722.msg88362#msg88362 date=1304397056]
Nice trip you guys!  Eric,  my only complaint is that you didn't post enough pics! I'm sure you have plenty more ...
Thanks John!  Here are some more pics, sorry for the long delay...

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april-29-30-2011-maude-north-face-west-coulior
esvege
2011-05-02 19:26:32