May 18-20, 2011, Nooksack Traverse
5/18/11
7744
10
Enjoyed a spectacular weather window on a three day traverse across Shuskan, the East Nooksack Glacier, Icy Peak, Ruth Mountain and exiting via Hannegan Pass Trail. Conditions were mostly spring-like with 2-5" of recent snow at most elevations in various stages of corn-ification over a supportive crust.
We took a scenic drive up to Heather Meadows to take a look around. Driving back to the White Salmon base area we found a slide had hit the road covering it with 10' of debris. Luckily we had a spot to park so just walked the extra 1/4 mile to the normal parking.
Entering White Salmon valley was fairly easy. Amazing how several of the stream gullies are filled to the brim with avy debris. We skinned up the treed knoll before the White Salmon Glacier, got onto the glacier high and topped out at Winnie's Slide.
From there it was the normal crossing of the Upper Curtis and up through Hell's Highway.
Camp was on the Sulfide just at the top of Hell's.
We slept in the next morning hoping to find the balance of soft-ish skiing off the summit and not too hot in the day for the Nooksack crossing.
Skiing on the summit turned out to be good about 1130h.
After repairing a pole that snapped on the summit descent we rallied around the summit pyramid and onto the Crystal Glacier. By turning the SE Ridge of the pyramid just below the rocks we were able to glide, shuffle, a bit of side step cleanly onto the Crystal above the highest cracks and glide all the way across to the entrance of the East Nooksack Glacier.
Getting into the Nooksack required a short section of ~40 deg. skiing and a short hop across a 'schrund.
We stayed very high across the Nooksack, often between the cliffs of Jagged Ridge and the bergschrunds, sometimes a little lower. Towards the end we got on a steep section that felt a bit more serious as the soft dry snow on it was interspersed with icy runnels that channeled the detritus off the cliffs above. This slowed us down a bit but we got through on to friendlier terrain.
In hindsight it might have be possible to ski the lookers right side of the glacier down to the flatter area and make a slower traverse with less exposure. Not certain, but it might be worth considering. Once on the Nooksack Glacier it would be difficult to get out other than the upper west entrance and lower east entrance. A continuous band of cliffs guards an egress into the valley below.
After a long break on the north ridge of Icy we start up the ridge. Upon looking back at our route we witnessed a dry slab avalanche off a steep north aspect at ~7200'. This steep face gets little to no sun. Initial slab probably D2, but as it entrained wet snow below and ran over the cliffs I'd bump it up to D3. It had annihilated our tracks through the steep slow section we had been on 3 hours earlier.
The northwest slopes of Icy Peak were proto-corn from the recent new snow over a semi-supportable base. Working the the most westerly/solar aspects we could eek out some decent turns.
Camp was at the col between Icy Peak and Ruth Mountain. Absolutely stunning location with the northern North Cascades from Redoubt through the Pickets to the east and Nooksack Cirque to the west.
The next morning we headed towards Ruth. We traversed west on the steep south slopes to gain the rolling southwest slopes which led us toward the summit. On the last steep pitch to the summit ridge I noticed my ski crampon sitting at a weird angle.
Bad News: toe piece had pulled out of the inserts Good News: there was a second set of toe inserts and the heel peice had enough forward adjustment
After remounting a Dynafit toe piece on the summit of Ruth we launched into the Ruth Creek canyon.
We skinned up a little to give a better glide through the trees, but eventually we in the valley bottom poling along. Under Granite Mtn. we crossed to the south side of the creek to lessen our exposure to the big south facing slopes. Got to the trailhead and had a mixture of skating, poling and footing getting most of the way to our shoes which were stashed about 2 miles from the trailhead. From there we walked the 3.5 miles to the 542 and hitched back up to the van.
We took a scenic drive up to Heather Meadows to take a look around. Driving back to the White Salmon base area we found a slide had hit the road covering it with 10' of debris. Luckily we had a spot to park so just walked the extra 1/4 mile to the normal parking.
Entering White Salmon valley was fairly easy. Amazing how several of the stream gullies are filled to the brim with avy debris. We skinned up the treed knoll before the White Salmon Glacier, got onto the glacier high and topped out at Winnie's Slide.
From there it was the normal crossing of the Upper Curtis and up through Hell's Highway.
Camp was on the Sulfide just at the top of Hell's.
We slept in the next morning hoping to find the balance of soft-ish skiing off the summit and not too hot in the day for the Nooksack crossing.
Skiing on the summit turned out to be good about 1130h.
After repairing a pole that snapped on the summit descent we rallied around the summit pyramid and onto the Crystal Glacier. By turning the SE Ridge of the pyramid just below the rocks we were able to glide, shuffle, a bit of side step cleanly onto the Crystal above the highest cracks and glide all the way across to the entrance of the East Nooksack Glacier.
Getting into the Nooksack required a short section of ~40 deg. skiing and a short hop across a 'schrund.
We stayed very high across the Nooksack, often between the cliffs of Jagged Ridge and the bergschrunds, sometimes a little lower. Towards the end we got on a steep section that felt a bit more serious as the soft dry snow on it was interspersed with icy runnels that channeled the detritus off the cliffs above. This slowed us down a bit but we got through on to friendlier terrain.
In hindsight it might have be possible to ski the lookers right side of the glacier down to the flatter area and make a slower traverse with less exposure. Not certain, but it might be worth considering. Once on the Nooksack Glacier it would be difficult to get out other than the upper west entrance and lower east entrance. A continuous band of cliffs guards an egress into the valley below.
After a long break on the north ridge of Icy we start up the ridge. Upon looking back at our route we witnessed a dry slab avalanche off a steep north aspect at ~7200'. This steep face gets little to no sun. Initial slab probably D2, but as it entrained wet snow below and ran over the cliffs I'd bump it up to D3. It had annihilated our tracks through the steep slow section we had been on 3 hours earlier.
The northwest slopes of Icy Peak were proto-corn from the recent new snow over a semi-supportable base. Working the the most westerly/solar aspects we could eek out some decent turns.
Camp was at the col between Icy Peak and Ruth Mountain. Absolutely stunning location with the northern North Cascades from Redoubt through the Pickets to the east and Nooksack Cirque to the west.
The next morning we headed towards Ruth. We traversed west on the steep south slopes to gain the rolling southwest slopes which led us toward the summit. On the last steep pitch to the summit ridge I noticed my ski crampon sitting at a weird angle.
Bad News: toe piece had pulled out of the inserts Good News: there was a second set of toe inserts and the heel peice had enough forward adjustment
After remounting a Dynafit toe piece on the summit of Ruth we launched into the Ruth Creek canyon.
We skinned up a little to give a better glide through the trees, but eventually we in the valley bottom poling along. Under Granite Mtn. we crossed to the south side of the creek to lessen our exposure to the big south facing slopes. Got to the trailhead and had a mixture of skating, poling and footing getting most of the way to our shoes which were stashed about 2 miles from the trailhead. From there we walked the 3.5 miles to the 542 and hitched back up to the van.
Pretty cool Nick. It's awesome to see someone get out on this traverse. You are the first I've heard of since we went in april of 2004. In my opinion, it is a classic. Nice image. I look forward to the rest of the TR.
Excellent trip report. How far does the snow cover extend on the Hannegan road? Thanks!
*Bump* to add a trip report to my trip report.
WOW--FANTASTIC! Excellent tr and photos...really appreciate it.
Great report. Thanks. The camp on the Icy-Ruth Col looks like a classic, I may have to give that a try sometime.
Wow... Way way cool
Well you sold me on that trip, that looked awesome.
Great trip and report.
Just curious, your problem with your toe pc - do you think that it was somehow caused by your ski crampon or did you just notice it first because of your crampon? From the pictures it looks like you were using all dynafit equip (skis/bindings). I have heard of others having problems with inserts (binding pulling out / miss aligned) on dynafit skis.
Just curious, your problem with your toe pc - do you think that it was somehow caused by your ski crampon or did you just notice it first because of your crampon? From the pictures it looks like you were using all dynafit equip (skis/bindings). I have heard of others having problems with inserts (binding pulling out / miss aligned) on dynafit skis.
I might try to answer this for Nick.
Nick mentioned his toe piece was loose early in the trip, he thought maybe the screws were stripped. The ski crampon definitely puts alot of torque on the toe piece and that maybe that is a contributing factor. Working at the Mountain Shop in Portland, I have seen a few problems with the inserts on Dynafit skis. There are some common problems in mounting the skis that lead to stripping the inserts and these stripped inserts are probably the root of all the failures we have seen (these inserts are not prethreaded and are soft, so they are fairly easy to strip).
1) not cleaning threads on screws when mounting an old binding
2) the toe piece housing around screw is tight on Dynafits, so when you start turning the screw, the whole housing is pulled away causing the screw to not thread properly (usually it takes a second or third try and by then you probably have cross threaded the insert)
3) in most of the skis we have mounted some of the inserts are blocked (epoxy resin) and they have to be drilled out before you can thread the screw in.
4) overtightening (the best way to strip any screw)
This was a great trip. Big thanks to Jason, Josh, Skye, Sam, and Lowell for the route. I also wanted to thank Nick for the plan. It was all new terrain for me, so I played tourist and Nick graciously answered my "what peak is that?" at least 150 times a day. Driving north from Portland, Nick kept throwing out ideas. When he mentioned Shuksan plus a few other peaks thrown in over the course of a few days, I was psyched. I did kind of a double take when he handed me the topo at a Kinko's in Everett and I saw all the stacked squiggly lines above the East Noocksack Glacier labeled Jagged Ridge.
I did throw a few more pics and words up here
author=ebeam link=topic=20919.msg89897#msg89897 date=1307141259">
Great trip and report.
Just curious, your problem with your toe pc - do you think that it was somehow caused by your ski crampon or did you just notice it first because of your crampon? From the pictures it looks like you were using all dynafit equip (skis/bindings). I have heard of others having problems with inserts (binding pulling out / miss aligned) on dynafit skis.
Nick mentioned his toe piece was loose early in the trip, he thought maybe the screws were stripped. The ski crampon definitely puts alot of torque on the toe piece and that maybe that is a contributing factor. Working at the Mountain Shop in Portland, I have seen a few problems with the inserts on Dynafit skis. There are some common problems in mounting the skis that lead to stripping the inserts and these stripped inserts are probably the root of all the failures we have seen (these inserts are not prethreaded and are soft, so they are fairly easy to strip).
1) not cleaning threads on screws when mounting an old binding
2) the toe piece housing around screw is tight on Dynafits, so when you start turning the screw, the whole housing is pulled away causing the screw to not thread properly (usually it takes a second or third try and by then you probably have cross threaded the insert)
3) in most of the skis we have mounted some of the inserts are blocked (epoxy resin) and they have to be drilled out before you can thread the screw in.
4) overtightening (the best way to strip any screw)
This was a great trip. Big thanks to Jason, Josh, Skye, Sam, and Lowell for the route. I also wanted to thank Nick for the plan. It was all new terrain for me, so I played tourist and Nick graciously answered my "what peak is that?" at least 150 times a day. Driving north from Portland, Nick kept throwing out ideas. When he mentioned Shuksan plus a few other peaks thrown in over the course of a few days, I was psyched. I did kind of a double take when he handed me the topo at a Kinko's in Everett and I saw all the stacked squiggly lines above the East Noocksack Glacier labeled Jagged Ridge.
I did throw a few more pics and words up here
Just what Jeremy said. I would blame installer error and haste (ie. mine).
The two big take aways for me are 1) make sure the insert hole is clear of any obstructions like epoxy inside and cut away all the top sheet material from the hole. That way the screw has the best opportunity to cleanly seat in the insert. And 2) FIRM steady pressure as you slowly turn the screws in the first time. You must not let the binding ride up the screw as you turn. There is a lot of resistance between screw and base plate so you have to work to get the screw to move down and engage the insert.
I think the inserts are plenty strong for skiing and for ski cramponing. They are not robust enough to recover from shoddy mounting errors.
The two big take aways for me are 1) make sure the insert hole is clear of any obstructions like epoxy inside and cut away all the top sheet material from the hole. That way the screw has the best opportunity to cleanly seat in the insert. And 2) FIRM steady pressure as you slowly turn the screws in the first time. You must not let the binding ride up the screw as you turn. There is a lot of resistance between screw and base plate so you have to work to get the screw to move down and engage the insert.
I think the inserts are plenty strong for skiing and for ski cramponing. They are not robust enough to recover from shoddy mounting errors.
author=jeremy rooper link=topic=20919.msg89966#msg89966 date=1307299344]
I might try to answer this for Nick.Nick mentioned his toe piece was loose early in the trip, he thought maybe the screws were stripped. The ski crampon definitely puts alot of torque on the toe piece and that maybe that is a contributing factor. Working at the Mountain Shop in Portland, I have seen a few problems with the inserts on Dynafit skis. There are some common problems in mounting the skis that lead to stripping the inserts and these stripped inserts are probably the root of all the failures we have seen (these inserts are not prethreaded and are soft, so they are fairly easy to strip).
1) not cleaning threads on screws when mounting an old binding
2) the toe piece housing around screw is tight on Dynafits, so when you start turning the screw, the whole housing is pulled away causing the screw to not thread properly (usually it takes a second or third try and by then you probably have cross threaded the insert)
3) in most of the skis we have mounted some of the inserts are blocked (epoxy resin) and they have to be drilled out before you can thread the screw in.
4) overtightening (the best way to strip any screw)
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