6-10-11 interglacier
6/10/11
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
1703
6
Morg, matt, dan, and I traveled down to ski interglacier friday. We donned skins at the trail head
....only to take our skis off and boot the melted out trail a few thousand yards up the valley. Eventually we hit continuous dirty snow and donned skis again. I'm not sure how good the mixture of pine needle pitch, pollen, and dirt is for skins, but we skinned anyway. We got to the clearing at the base of the valley in bright blue skys and headed up the valley, eyeing unskied slopes as we skinned along.
A few hundred yards up the valley floor, we decided to turn left and skin up a ridge for a first run before we continued upward along the valley. I thought that detour was the best snow of the day. About 2" of corn on a firm snow pack base.
It was a blazing blue sky day, and I decided NOT to wear sunscreen because I optimistically believed we would get some cloud cover. My sunburnt ears look like 2 overcooked strips of bacon now on the side of my head.... :-
We got to the end of the valley floor and there was more than a few small releases of snow along the way. There was also fresh snow earlier in the week and it was unconsolidated above 7,000 feet and was more difficult to both skin up and ski down, but was still skiable since there were no terrain irregularites to worry about. It was a flat field of ankle deep whipped cream. It was skiable, but not awesome like the lower slope we skied earlier in the day.
This next part of the trip was both good and bad. I nicely told some booters that it was poor ettiquite to boot in the skin track and got a painfull look of disappointment from them. I met a young park ranger 'chick' who told me the "princess and the pea" story. My little toe was screaming in agony for relief so I sat down, ate something with my boot off and foot in the snow, I watched pair of climbers try to glissade in the boot deep pudding and only succeed in kicking off a slow wet slide that forced the climbers I had talked to previously to scurry out of the way of slide. I decided not to have a bloody toe so I sat down to eat some food, and enjoy the view back down the valley.
I got some rest and some relief from toe pain and guys soon descended so we could ski out. Dan's set up was not great and he hadn't ever skied so he booted down which was not easy I am sure. I skied over a snowbridge at the base of the valley that collapsed behind me as I crossed. It was a potentially scarey moment of personal stupidity.
The "seven summits" relaxing waiting for Dan to get his gear back on for the low angle glide downward.
On the way down the hiking trail we got spaced apart. Matt, who also had some boot pain, spooked a small bear that ran down the trail and caught up to Dan, who in turn caught up to me very quickly :) There was no incident. The bear gave Dan a good shot of adreneline for the hike out....
All told, everyone had a good day, no one got hurt, except my ears are now strips of bacon, and we all drank a beer at the trail head and celebrated.
*This is my first trip report here. I hope I didn't break any rules or omit any information anyone might want to know... 8)
....only to take our skis off and boot the melted out trail a few thousand yards up the valley. Eventually we hit continuous dirty snow and donned skis again. I'm not sure how good the mixture of pine needle pitch, pollen, and dirt is for skins, but we skinned anyway. We got to the clearing at the base of the valley in bright blue skys and headed up the valley, eyeing unskied slopes as we skinned along.
A few hundred yards up the valley floor, we decided to turn left and skin up a ridge for a first run before we continued upward along the valley. I thought that detour was the best snow of the day. About 2" of corn on a firm snow pack base.
It was a blazing blue sky day, and I decided NOT to wear sunscreen because I optimistically believed we would get some cloud cover. My sunburnt ears look like 2 overcooked strips of bacon now on the side of my head.... :-
We got to the end of the valley floor and there was more than a few small releases of snow along the way. There was also fresh snow earlier in the week and it was unconsolidated above 7,000 feet and was more difficult to both skin up and ski down, but was still skiable since there were no terrain irregularites to worry about. It was a flat field of ankle deep whipped cream. It was skiable, but not awesome like the lower slope we skied earlier in the day.
This next part of the trip was both good and bad. I nicely told some booters that it was poor ettiquite to boot in the skin track and got a painfull look of disappointment from them. I met a young park ranger 'chick' who told me the "princess and the pea" story. My little toe was screaming in agony for relief so I sat down, ate something with my boot off and foot in the snow, I watched pair of climbers try to glissade in the boot deep pudding and only succeed in kicking off a slow wet slide that forced the climbers I had talked to previously to scurry out of the way of slide. I decided not to have a bloody toe so I sat down to eat some food, and enjoy the view back down the valley.
I got some rest and some relief from toe pain and guys soon descended so we could ski out. Dan's set up was not great and he hadn't ever skied so he booted down which was not easy I am sure. I skied over a snowbridge at the base of the valley that collapsed behind me as I crossed. It was a potentially scarey moment of personal stupidity.
The "seven summits" relaxing waiting for Dan to get his gear back on for the low angle glide downward.
On the way down the hiking trail we got spaced apart. Matt, who also had some boot pain, spooked a small bear that ran down the trail and caught up to Dan, who in turn caught up to me very quickly :) There was no incident. The bear gave Dan a good shot of adreneline for the hike out....
All told, everyone had a good day, no one got hurt, except my ears are now strips of bacon, and we all drank a beer at the trail head and celebrated.
*This is my first trip report here. I hope I didn't break any rules or omit any information anyone might want to know... 8)
Good report and welcome to the exciting world of TAY-writing.
Fun report tele.skier. Nice job.
Sounds like all the classic mini-challenges of touring: bacon-ear sunburn (done that), mangled toes (done that), gear challenges (yep), snow bridge collapses into stream/river (check), and bear joins touring party - uh, nope that one's new. Guess you must have been an attractive group to bring out the big guy; I hear bacon will do that with bears. Note to self...
Sounds like all the classic mini-challenges of touring: bacon-ear sunburn (done that), mangled toes (done that), gear challenges (yep), snow bridge collapses into stream/river (check), and bear joins touring party - uh, nope that one's new. Guess you must have been an attractive group to bring out the big guy; I hear bacon will do that with bears. Note to self...
Nice Frank, great report. Were you on your chain-link-NTNs? How are they holding up?
I almost skied into that adolescent bear on the way out of IG on June 5th.
I yelled at him and waved my poles, then had to back track a few hundred feet since he was pretty much content to saunter on his way towards the river. Typical teenager.
I yelled at him and waved my poles, then had to back track a few hundred feet since he was pretty much content to saunter on his way towards the river. Typical teenager.
thanks mack, I am just sticking my toe in the trip report world.
jibber, ty too.
Nice pic Mofro! I never saw the bear myself.... but Matt had the same experience as you. The bear just looked at him calmly, then took off up the trail til it scared the shit out of Dan, who thought the sound of the bear was Matt catching up to him on the trail until he looked behind him... and saw the bear.
Marcus... those chain link bindings are bulletproof. I am thinking about skeletonizing the extra frame to lighten it up a lot more. the chrome throw lever up front looks like it weighs a lot to me, and is way more massive than it needs to be. It's going to get some holes drille in it....
The circlip fastened main pivot shaft allows the version 1's to be disassembled. I like it better than the riveted newer versions. I can take it apart to modify parts. I filled the version 1 toe stops (that rotte made stronger in later models) with white oak and polyester resin so they don't fail like they often did originally.
One of the things that I didn't get exactly right is I ordered the plain steel threaded rivet rather than the stainless steel ones which were 10 times more expensive so the last time I swapped the bindings out I noticed a little orange grit when I backed out the allen head screw. I am thinking of just leaving it alone and not worrying about it for now.
jibber, ty too.
Nice pic Mofro! I never saw the bear myself.... but Matt had the same experience as you. The bear just looked at him calmly, then took off up the trail til it scared the shit out of Dan, who thought the sound of the bear was Matt catching up to him on the trail until he looked behind him... and saw the bear.
Marcus... those chain link bindings are bulletproof. I am thinking about skeletonizing the extra frame to lighten it up a lot more. the chrome throw lever up front looks like it weighs a lot to me, and is way more massive than it needs to be. It's going to get some holes drille in it....
The circlip fastened main pivot shaft allows the version 1's to be disassembled. I like it better than the riveted newer versions. I can take it apart to modify parts. I filled the version 1 toe stops (that rotte made stronger in later models) with white oak and polyester resin so they don't fail like they often did originally.
One of the things that I didn't get exactly right is I ordered the plain steel threaded rivet rather than the stainless steel ones which were 10 times more expensive so the last time I swapped the bindings out I noticed a little orange grit when I backed out the allen head screw. I am thinking of just leaving it alone and not worrying about it for now.
Sweet -- I love that mod. Shop tinkering is always fun, which is part of why I like the TTS, I think... If I ever find my other ski I'll have to look at some of your changes again...
Anyway, great TR.
Anyway, great TR.
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