December 26, 2004, Green Mountain
12/26/04
2856
3
After 2 days of so so at Crystal it was time to head north. Picked up Sanchez in Seattle at 5am and we were off to Green Mt. We drove all the way to the trailhead at 3500ft. Only an inch or 2 on the road and it had been rained on. Wind was minimal and temps were in mid 30's. We started the hump up around 8:30.
After a mile & half of zig zaging up a ridge we were finally able to skin (around 4500ft). Up to this point things were looking dismal in terms of finding good snow. However all that changed as we soon found 6" of fresh atop rain crust. Instead of taking the summer trail up we decided there was enough snow to take a few short cuts. Ooh devils club and vine maple. We traversed until we rounded the side of an unnamed peak Pt. 5890 ? (hard to make out on topo). The clouds gave way to a bluebird day and there was Green. It looked steep up top with rolling hills and gullies below (never got steeper than 35 degrees). After traversing and gaining another 500ft or so we dropped down to the pond. Temps here felt colder and no wind. The 6" of snow soon turned to 12 to 14". Well that's about how far my poles stuck in.
We traversed up to the summit while spying the vast opportunities of the southwest face. The skin up proved to be tricky in some places. The winds had scoured the snow down to a couple inches atop the rain crust in some areas. Others had 6 to 8" of pow (by nw standards) that sluffed off easily as we traversed the steeper sections. The sun however started taking it's toll on the surface as the snow would ball up. Once on the summit ridge we were rewarded with views of Glacier Peak & surrounding to the south. The north appeared to be socked in. Surface conditions on the summit ridge varied from ice crust to windblown pow pockets, which would break off in couple inch thick slabs. We only found these slabby conditions in small sections near some trees that lined the ridge.
We soon arrived at the summit (6500ft) around 11:30. By this time some clouds had made there way but soon passed thru. Light winds would also come and go. Once it cleared Sanchez snapped some amazing photos of the north side of Green. The wind had really sculpted the snow in the bowl below (pics will come, just need to link his webshots gallery). Now it was time for our reward. Top 50ft was crusty but doable. We traversed skiers left to find the goods beneath the small cliff bands and trees. Snow varied in depth from few inches on firm to knee deep. Best areas were in the shallow natural gullies. After such a great 1st run we headed up for seconds. With just a few more switch backs to go we saw our 1st (and only for the day) party of 4 (Carl w/ son and 2 pals).
Our 2nd run proved to be just as good except it was cut short. We started in the trees adjacent to the cliff bands. The plan was to ride down below the pond but Sanchez cut a slide loose so we scrapped that idea. Lots of terrain traps below. The slide he cut was wet and about 6" in depth, south aspect, 30 degrees, about 5500ft . It didn't go far cause it got caught up in some trees we would have had to negotiate. Hard to believe how different conditions were just 50ft above. So we headed towards the summit again for our 3rd run. Instead of gaining the summit we dropped a small chute that cut thru the rock band. We were below the crusty section so it was deep carves down thru the gully. Once at the bottom we looked back up at our lines wondering if we had time for another. Sadly it was just past 2pm and time to go if we wanted to get back to the car before dark. Sanchez decided to tele back while I opted for split mode. Snow was really sticky icky and tended to slide in clumps on our way down. Ooh devils club and vine maple. Another fine day in the bc!
Here are the pictures!
http://community.webshots.com/album/194382744yLGHkH
After a mile & half of zig zaging up a ridge we were finally able to skin (around 4500ft). Up to this point things were looking dismal in terms of finding good snow. However all that changed as we soon found 6" of fresh atop rain crust. Instead of taking the summer trail up we decided there was enough snow to take a few short cuts. Ooh devils club and vine maple. We traversed until we rounded the side of an unnamed peak Pt. 5890 ? (hard to make out on topo). The clouds gave way to a bluebird day and there was Green. It looked steep up top with rolling hills and gullies below (never got steeper than 35 degrees). After traversing and gaining another 500ft or so we dropped down to the pond. Temps here felt colder and no wind. The 6" of snow soon turned to 12 to 14". Well that's about how far my poles stuck in.
We traversed up to the summit while spying the vast opportunities of the southwest face. The skin up proved to be tricky in some places. The winds had scoured the snow down to a couple inches atop the rain crust in some areas. Others had 6 to 8" of pow (by nw standards) that sluffed off easily as we traversed the steeper sections. The sun however started taking it's toll on the surface as the snow would ball up. Once on the summit ridge we were rewarded with views of Glacier Peak & surrounding to the south. The north appeared to be socked in. Surface conditions on the summit ridge varied from ice crust to windblown pow pockets, which would break off in couple inch thick slabs. We only found these slabby conditions in small sections near some trees that lined the ridge.
We soon arrived at the summit (6500ft) around 11:30. By this time some clouds had made there way but soon passed thru. Light winds would also come and go. Once it cleared Sanchez snapped some amazing photos of the north side of Green. The wind had really sculpted the snow in the bowl below (pics will come, just need to link his webshots gallery). Now it was time for our reward. Top 50ft was crusty but doable. We traversed skiers left to find the goods beneath the small cliff bands and trees. Snow varied in depth from few inches on firm to knee deep. Best areas were in the shallow natural gullies. After such a great 1st run we headed up for seconds. With just a few more switch backs to go we saw our 1st (and only for the day) party of 4 (Carl w/ son and 2 pals).
Our 2nd run proved to be just as good except it was cut short. We started in the trees adjacent to the cliff bands. The plan was to ride down below the pond but Sanchez cut a slide loose so we scrapped that idea. Lots of terrain traps below. The slide he cut was wet and about 6" in depth, south aspect, 30 degrees, about 5500ft . It didn't go far cause it got caught up in some trees we would have had to negotiate. Hard to believe how different conditions were just 50ft above. So we headed towards the summit again for our 3rd run. Instead of gaining the summit we dropped a small chute that cut thru the rock band. We were below the crusty section so it was deep carves down thru the gully. Once at the bottom we looked back up at our lines wondering if we had time for another. Sadly it was just past 2pm and time to go if we wanted to get back to the car before dark. Sanchez decided to tele back while I opted for split mode. Snow was really sticky icky and tended to slide in clumps on our way down. Ooh devils club and vine maple. Another fine day in the bc!
Here are the pictures!
http://community.webshots.com/album/194382744yLGHkH
Yep, late start and all it was a fine day on Green. We came around the "corner" just in time to see SnoSlut and company on their first decent of the upper bowl. That visual energized us and made the rest of the climb easier. Snow was getting sticky down low before the corner, with our skins loading up badly. But like he said, things were noticeably colder in the bowl making climbing and descending ( :D) much easier. One of our party was not having much of a party due to constantly pre-releasing Dynafit binding toe pieces, ejecting his skis climbing, descending, or for just plain looking at them. At the post ski chow stop in Darrington he admitted to being utterly technically defeated by his gear (including his overly complicated altimeter watch which never did capture vertical climbed). Everyone got out to the car just before darkness fell, a good end to a great outing.
Technical challenges not withstanding, Green was good, even if the lack on snow in the forest approach hike reminded me more of October than late December.
Technical challenges not withstanding, Green was good, even if the lack on snow in the forest approach hike reminded me more of October than late December.
Great photos! thanks
Thanx to Sanchez for bringing his kick butt digi cam. He did shoot some vids too. I need to figure out the easiest way to post them though.
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