Newton Creek conditions

I'm sure someone has been into Newton Creek this year. What is the snow pack like? Is it anything like what is in Heather Canyon?

Where is Newton Creek?

Where is Newton Creek?

<br><br>One drainage east of Heather Canyon on Mt Hood.<br>

Where is Newton Creek?

<br><br>If I had a dime for every time someone on TAY mentions some obscure peak and/or terrain feature in WA that I have no idea where it is, I'd have almost recovered the amount of money I'm going to lose on my MHM pass this season! (You question, BigSnow, is of course perfectly justifiable, I'm just letting you know you're not alone.)<br><br>I don't have an answer to "OldHouseMan"'s query and I too would like to hear from people who have been in there though I'm not sure there have been many. My hypothesis (that OldHouseMan already knows), is that because the aspect and elevation are so similar to Heather, snow conditions would generally be about the same though there would be more variety of terrain which you might not be able to take advantage of because of the shallow coverage. The biggest issue right now would be the access. From what I can tell, if you went in from HRM, either skinning up the Newton Creek drainage or skinning up Heather and over "Jill's Woods", you'd still have to deal with the creek crossings and various other obstacles of arduousness (the trees at the bottom of the Newton Creek drainage are pretty thick, see this photo looking up the drainage in summer from near HRM). Going in from MHM's main base area and skiing across Heather and up Jill's Woods sounds like an interesting way though it'd be a lot of work for skiing that may currently not be much better than what is in Heather. I was really hoping you'd do it this weekend and report back .<br><br>Regardless of the skiing, getting over there with current snow coverage would certainly be an interesting and educational outing -- one I might not mind doing soon if we don't get more snow. <br>

Well, I thought that there might be others who would also like to know. I also noticed that since there were no replies for some time to the post that maybe a less specific query might cough up some help from others who didn't know the specific area but had been nearby. But I have to admit, that mostly, even though I have lived here since '93 and ski mostly areas that I know, I am always curious to learn about other areas, hence the question. Now all I need to do is get me a copy of Topo! for Oregon.<br><br>Alan

In The Oct 2004 Couloir Magazine there is an article including maps to Newton Creek through Clark Creek off of Mt Hood. The article starts on Page 76 and is the feature of a page called Avy Science. <br>In my (Hopefully) endless pursuit of Avy knowledge I just happened to stumble and read the article today. Pretty interesting article that ends in trouble shooting decisions made while touring in what I would consider a high avalanche day.

Sunday, our goal was heather canyon. neither of us had hiked in nor taken the full runout from the upper slopes so the HRM parking lot approach was a total guess on our part. judging by my 100k map (bad idea) I thought heather creek was a feeder for clark creek (which, btw, is in between heather and newton), so we headed straight north out of the lot.<br>we ran into a kindly ol' man who shook his head and suppressed his laughter long enough to give us some tips on finding heather next time.<br>oh well, we said...I had been up newton a couple of times before so we said what the hell. it was a beautiful overcast day with absolutely no one around.<br> <br>anyway...conditions. <br>3" of new snow, 6" - 1' drifts on S slopes, upper reaches of N slopes were scoured clean.<br>well packed trail all the way to timberline trail crossing. we hoofed it up about half way to the ridge (~ 5500') and stopped b/c the clouds were close and dropping.<br>from there, we had the finest powder I've had this year! E slope, 6" - 1' fresh, for a whopping 500' vert. and it was so worth it.<br><br>there are a couple pics that are worth posting, but I'll have to do that tomorrow.<br><br>-rick<br><br>note- even the small creek beds are not snow covered

from there, we had the finest powder I've had this year!  E slope, 6" - 1' fresh, for a whopping 500' vert.  and it was so worth it.<br>&lt;snip&gt;<br>note- even the small creek beds are not snow covered

<br><br>Wow, thanks for the report. I was in the HRM lot this wkend and told myself there definitely wasn't adequate snow to easily approach either of the canyons from here. Did you actually skin to the Tline trail or approach on foot?

I skinned and my friend Adam was snowshoeing. I was testing out my new approach skis! they are way better than snowshoes and it was hard refrain from pointing out all the benefits to Adam. although he had plenty to laugh at since this was my first time on skis in over 10 years.<br>Off trail had a lot of brush and small trees still showing through but it's definitely doable. <br>i'll reiterate the warning about creek crossings. clark cr. has a bridge, everything else you're on your own. i would generalize that flood plains are not passable, and small creek beds are also not fully covered. a newton cr. trib was 2' wide and exposed at ~5000'<br>i brought some pics with me...now to figure out how to post them...<br><br>

ok figured it out...<br><br>newton cr. 1/4 mile upstream from elk meadows trail<br> <br><br>here are links to the other pics since i'm new here and don't want to break the &gt;1 image rule...<br><br>newton cr. drainage from ~5500' where we turned around.  the right drainage is the smaller trib, and to the left of the ridge is newton cr.  the trail traversed along the right side (S) of the ridge in the foreground<br>xs17.xs.to/pics/05083/NewtonCrDrainage.JPG

i had to include this...check out the lichen levels.  this is at ~5300'.
xs17.xs.to/pics/05083/NCrTrib_lichenlevel.jpg

Thanks for the photos Ricardo. Your friend should get a split, there are a lot of splitboarders here.

he just started boarding last year so it might be a while before he makes that move. although a few more trips getting untracked turns may speed up that motivation. <br>hey, if you want a partner up heather, newton, etc sometime i'd love to join. i've been out of commission with a bad ankle but my 'test' last weekend tells me that it's ready for more.<br>-r