June 12, 2011; Union Peak to Jove Peak
6/15/11
1900
7
So wonderful to be skiing regularly again.
Andy, Alisa, AP and I tossed skis and dogs in the van and headed out to Stevens Pass. After reading Andy Dappen's
Telemark Tech System
I figured we'd be hiking a bit after a week's worth of melting, but the road was still snowy all the way to the bridge, with only a single 75 foot bare stretch about 250 yards uphill. Easy, fast skinning in the shade (especially with the new "Telemark Tech System" pictured above) had us climbing the south slopes to Union Gap in short order. We continued on skins toward the top of Union, but the steep, firm-frozen snow in the forest made booting a better choice and we arrived at Union's broad, snowy summit at noon.
Andy and the dogs on Union, Jove in the background
We decided over our lunch break that the north side of Union couldn't possibly be as good as the south side of Jove (AP and I skied it
AP navigating old windlips on Union
Union's NE ridge
Alisa and AP with Union in the background
The south face of Jove is an exceptionally fun ski. Unlike the last couple of weekends, most of the mush has melted down and wet slides were small and slow moving, so we were able to ski it with reckless abandon. Or something like that. Fun, at any rate. These were also my first turns on the TTS -- it delivers as promised. Very light, good control for the tele turn. I think it'll take a little getting used to, but it's a promising platform for a lightweight-but-powerful tele binding.
Andy on the S face of Jove
Jove's S face and our (faint) tracks
We decided to ski down through the trees to the road and then straight up the valley to Rainy Pass, so Andy wouldn't have to fight the sidehill around Union's long south ridge. I'd recommend this route even without skin problems, since it adds only a couple of hundred feet to the climb back to Rainy, but is much easier skinning through a pleasant, low angle drainage.
Once at Rainy Pass we were able to connect the steep west slopes and cut the switchback, but that's the last time it'll happen this season -- a couple of log hops and lots of just-about-to-spring-up slide alder made it somewhat sporty. Smith Brook had lost about 2" of snow on the road over the day, but should still be a good access route for another week with a little more walking than we had to do. Great day out.
Andy, Alisa, AP and I tossed skis and dogs in the van and headed out to Stevens Pass. After reading Andy Dappen's
Telemark Tech System
I figured we'd be hiking a bit after a week's worth of melting, but the road was still snowy all the way to the bridge, with only a single 75 foot bare stretch about 250 yards uphill. Easy, fast skinning in the shade (especially with the new "Telemark Tech System" pictured above) had us climbing the south slopes to Union Gap in short order. We continued on skins toward the top of Union, but the steep, firm-frozen snow in the forest made booting a better choice and we arrived at Union's broad, snowy summit at noon.
Andy and the dogs on Union, Jove in the background
We decided over our lunch break that the north side of Union couldn't possibly be as good as the south side of Jove (AP and I skied it
AP navigating old windlips on Union
Union's NE ridge
Alisa and AP with Union in the background
The south face of Jove is an exceptionally fun ski. Unlike the last couple of weekends, most of the mush has melted down and wet slides were small and slow moving, so we were able to ski it with reckless abandon. Or something like that. Fun, at any rate. These were also my first turns on the TTS -- it delivers as promised. Very light, good control for the tele turn. I think it'll take a little getting used to, but it's a promising platform for a lightweight-but-powerful tele binding.
Andy on the S face of Jove
Jove's S face and our (faint) tracks
We decided to ski down through the trees to the road and then straight up the valley to Rainy Pass, so Andy wouldn't have to fight the sidehill around Union's long south ridge. I'd recommend this route even without skin problems, since it adds only a couple of hundred feet to the climb back to Rainy, but is much easier skinning through a pleasant, low angle drainage.
Once at Rainy Pass we were able to connect the steep west slopes and cut the switchback, but that's the last time it'll happen this season -- a couple of log hops and lots of just-about-to-spring-up slide alder made it somewhat sporty. Smith Brook had lost about 2" of snow on the road over the day, but should still be a good access route for another week with a little more walking than we had to do. Great day out.
Nce tour guys..
south side of Jove is still looking great!
south side of Jove is still looking great!
It's in such good shape right now -- smoooooth and buttery.
FUN!! Great tour guys. Looked like some fine Spring turnin' and great weather! Bummer about Andy's skin glue - it was starting to show signs of failure two weeks ago on Stuart so I wondered if it was long for this world.
Nice tour.
on the Dynafit skin issue... I had the same mfgs glue failure. They recommend re-glueing with BD glue. worked well. The Dynafit skins also soak up moisture more than other skins. Again, mfg recommended applying water repellant treatment. Seemed odd for brand new skins. With these I've been liberal and every other tour re-treated the water-repellant.
on the Dynafit skin issue... I had the same mfgs glue failure. They recommend re-glueing with BD glue. worked well. The Dynafit skins also soak up moisture more than other skins. Again, mfg recommended applying water repellant treatment. Seemed odd for brand new skins. With these I've been liberal and every other tour re-treated the water-repellant.
Nice work, y'all! Sorry I couldn't rally for the goods -- but glad you got after it and had a great day!
We missed you Nate - next time.
FWB, thanks -- I'll pass it along. Andy isn't really a fan of the skis he was on anyway, so may be ditching the whole setup, but I'll offer him my garage for a re-glue if he's keen on that.
FWB, thanks -- I'll pass it along. Andy isn't really a fan of the skis he was on anyway, so may be ditching the whole setup, but I'll offer him my garage for a re-glue if he's keen on that.
That was a really fun day! 8)
Great to meet AP at long last.
Your dogs were amazing, next time I'm bringing Heidi, I didnt have the heart to tell her what she missed...
Great to meet AP at long last.
Your dogs were amazing, next time I'm bringing Heidi, I didnt have the heart to tell her what she missed...
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