November 4-5, 2011, Skyline Divide Powder
11/4/11
WA Stevens Pass
4613
9
My party and I opted to try and beat the crowds on Heliotrope and took a risk on going out to Skyline Divide to get some pow turns. We headed out from Bellingham on friday afternoon and with the help of our 4wd car we were able to make it to the trail head. From the car we skinned the about 3 miles to the ridge and set up camp for the night. We were greeted with a gorgeous moonlight which aided us in some moonlight pow laps.
After a cold night of sleep we awoke to an amazing sun rise. We skied down into the basin and quickly realized only north aspect slopes had kept quality snow. The coverage was okay, in places it was a foot or so deep but definitely had to be weary of rocks. Were the snow was deep enough we all enjoyed great light pow turns,. We ended up skinning out along the divide a ways and picked our way through a few nice little chutes and lines. All in all a great day of riding, and we didn't see another skier the whole day.
Check out the edit from the day: http://vimeo.com/31715204
After a cold night of sleep we awoke to an amazing sun rise. We skied down into the basin and quickly realized only north aspect slopes had kept quality snow. The coverage was okay, in places it was a foot or so deep but definitely had to be weary of rocks. Were the snow was deep enough we all enjoyed great light pow turns,. We ended up skinning out along the divide a ways and picked our way through a few nice little chutes and lines. All in all a great day of riding, and we didn't see another skier the whole day.
Check out the edit from the day: http://vimeo.com/31715204
Good TR and video. How many rocks were hit during your tour???
We all defiantly caught a few rocks depending on what we were trying to ride. A few of us got core shots too, worth it though for those pow turns!
Nice vid and pics -- way to get the early turns at Stevens. That one header in the video is spooky in such low snow cover!
I was the one who blew up coming out of the chute. Looking back i realized how lucky i was to not hit any rocks and how bad the situation could have been. I let my stoke to ski a sick line with fresh powder override my sensibilities about skiing safely while in the BC far away from help. The crash was a good wake up call.
Glad you came out all right! I've whacked my knees on early season stumps and rocks before -- doesn't take much to hide the nasty stuff.
Early season hazards = Let's be careful out there! My new Trabs have a long gouge from October.
Last November I remember skiing almost 2' of fresh with a base of nil---had to pull up before the full
"diving porpoise" effect so I didn't hook a tip under the hidden, snarelike branches.
Last November I remember skiing almost 2' of fresh with a base of nil---had to pull up before the full
"diving porpoise" effect so I didn't hook a tip under the hidden, snarelike branches.
I like to remind myself that many people are killed by short falls in small rooms.
I think you have the wrong skyline Marcus. This would be the skyline divide in the mt baker area.
I don't think turns on heather/skyline ridge would even be possible.
the storm that gave 542 so much early season love barely left 2"s in the stevens pass area.
Nice outing by the reporting party. sunrise alone looked worth the effort. thanks for the pretty pictures.
I don't think turns on heather/skyline ridge would even be possible.
the storm that gave 542 so much early season love barely left 2"s in the stevens pass area.
Nice outing by the reporting party. sunrise alone looked worth the effort. thanks for the pretty pictures.
Doh! Thanks Scott -- yeah, that'd be me not paying much attention to snow reports and the details... That makes a lot more sense... :)
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