Feb 11, 2012, Stuart Lake Dual Sport Day
2/11/12
WA Cascades East Slopes Central
6525
12
In early January of this year, Kyle Flick and I were desperate for good ice. Going off my memory, which is always a crap shoot, I remembered there being thick ice cascading off the cliffs below Stuart glacier. We found it, and enjoyed a few high quality pitches of ice. This weekend, we were desperate to swing the tools again, so decided to head back up there. It had rained and was warm the few days prior to Saturday, We had exactly zero expectation for skiable snow. As it turned out, our assumptions were quite wrong.
We arrived at Stuart Lake amidst a stillness neither of us had experienced for a long while. There wasn't a breath of wind, no breeze, no sounds. Standing there in silence, it was oddly deafening. There was a good 10 to 12" of new, light snow over the lake, and looking at the Big Stuart, plastered on the rock as well as the basin below. We arrived at the ice, and it too was covered too much to be climbable.
Upon this discovery-no ice and very skiable powder snow-we changed out paradigm for the day to "SKI!" Ascending the main gully towards Goat Pass (our ski destination high point) we found a small pillar of ice and decided to at least climb something for the trouble of carrying tools, poons and a rack of screws.
One nasty flash pump later, we continued on to Goat Pass, surrounded by the calmest of post-storm weather. We crested Goat, and for once there were no biting flies and mosquitos! The sun was out, and felt blessedly warm, reminding us Spring was on its way.
The Payoff was great. 12" of light east-side powder over that nasty crust. We had skied down about 1,000' where it steepened. Kyle took a position to the side of my line. A few turns in on the pitch, the slope cracked above and to the side of me. It threw me down, thankfully uphill. My knee started to twist in an unnatural position, and was starting to really hurt when my ski finally released, as did the other one. I plunged my whippet into the snow above me and found that nasty crust and arrested myself as the slide continued down with my skis.
Thankfully, one ski had nose dived into the slope just 50' below me, and the other one had stopped roughly parallel with our ice pillar and the rest of our ice gear. Kyle reminded me that I was quickly using up my 9 lives. We loaded the rest of our gear, heavy packs again, and skied the soft debris down to the meadows.
It was another one of those skin all the way back to the trailhead, then ski to the car, but it went quickly. Approximately 4 hours from Goat Pass to Bridge Creek C.G. Despite the unnerving slide, it was a rare day of late-winter, alpine splendor in the ALW. I swear, I'm not trying to make avalanches a part of my TR's.
Arrival at Stuart Lake:
Stuart lording over its basin:
Main ski gully with ice pillar:
I'm working through my pump:
Skinning up towards Goat Pass:
Colchuck looked Himalayan:
At Goat Pass:
The payoff:
Skiing the soft debris:
Evening stillness:
We arrived at Stuart Lake amidst a stillness neither of us had experienced for a long while. There wasn't a breath of wind, no breeze, no sounds. Standing there in silence, it was oddly deafening. There was a good 10 to 12" of new, light snow over the lake, and looking at the Big Stuart, plastered on the rock as well as the basin below. We arrived at the ice, and it too was covered too much to be climbable.
Upon this discovery-no ice and very skiable powder snow-we changed out paradigm for the day to "SKI!" Ascending the main gully towards Goat Pass (our ski destination high point) we found a small pillar of ice and decided to at least climb something for the trouble of carrying tools, poons and a rack of screws.
One nasty flash pump later, we continued on to Goat Pass, surrounded by the calmest of post-storm weather. We crested Goat, and for once there were no biting flies and mosquitos! The sun was out, and felt blessedly warm, reminding us Spring was on its way.
The Payoff was great. 12" of light east-side powder over that nasty crust. We had skied down about 1,000' where it steepened. Kyle took a position to the side of my line. A few turns in on the pitch, the slope cracked above and to the side of me. It threw me down, thankfully uphill. My knee started to twist in an unnatural position, and was starting to really hurt when my ski finally released, as did the other one. I plunged my whippet into the snow above me and found that nasty crust and arrested myself as the slide continued down with my skis.
Thankfully, one ski had nose dived into the slope just 50' below me, and the other one had stopped roughly parallel with our ice pillar and the rest of our ice gear. Kyle reminded me that I was quickly using up my 9 lives. We loaded the rest of our gear, heavy packs again, and skied the soft debris down to the meadows.
It was another one of those skin all the way back to the trailhead, then ski to the car, but it went quickly. Approximately 4 hours from Goat Pass to Bridge Creek C.G. Despite the unnerving slide, it was a rare day of late-winter, alpine splendor in the ALW. I swear, I'm not trying to make avalanches a part of my TR's.
Arrival at Stuart Lake:
Stuart lording over its basin:
Main ski gully with ice pillar:
I'm working through my pump:
Skinning up towards Goat Pass:
Colchuck looked Himalayan:
At Goat Pass:
The payoff:
Skiing the soft debris:
Evening stillness:
Looks like a great trip, but I have to agree with Kyle, you should stay off steep snow for awhile, with a twofer under your belt number three might be pushing it.
Liking the cool trip and the awesome pics(Stuart, viewed most every day from my living room window, is my totem) but not the drama. Glad you're OK. Y'all be careful out there!
Nice John.
Do you have any more pictures of colchuck you could share with me?
Do you have any more pictures of colchuck you could share with me?
Thanks! At least rock season is about a month away. You don't hear of too many avalanche accidents at Sunshine Wall.
never thought of the whippet as an avalanche safety tool...
John, I'm not sure I want to encourage this, but that second photo makes it look like you could ski from the West Ridge notch. Must be an illusion.
Oh yeah, the Stuart Glacier Couloir. It is skiable, if you're skiing super hero Dan Helmstadter. Check out his video from a couple years ago:
stuart glacier couloir
stuart glacier couloir
author=jwplotz link=topic=23683.msg100359#msg100359 date=1329168122]
It is skiable, if you're skiing super hero Dan Helmstadter.
I was kidding you know.
Hey, I was thinking of skiing in the Stuart range over the next few days but that slide you set off is kind of unnerving! Its hard to tell from the photos with the lighting, any more info on it? (length, width, depth, weak layer, bed surface, steepness etc?)
Nice lookin day John and Kyle.
I agree to. You should come ski heather ridge with me for a day or two to balance things out.
I agree to. You should come ski heather ridge with me for a day or two to balance things out.
author=alecapone link=topic=23683.msg100371#msg100371 date=1329178642]
Nice lookin day John and Kyle.
I agree to. You should come ski heather ridge with me for a day or two to balance things out.
Heather Ridge my arse! Weren't you speed splitting on Shuksan earlier last week?
author=mikemiller link=topic=23683.msg100363#msg100363 date=1329171025]
Hey, I was thinking of skiing in the Stuart range over the next few days but that slide you set off is kind of unnerving! Its hard to tell from the photos with the lighting, any more info on it? (length, width, depth, weak layer, bed surface, steepness etc?)
I'll do my best: aspect was north facing, in the shade, about 40 degree pitch. Crown was obvious 12" of new snow. Bed surface was a thick rain crust. No other weak layers were observed. I'd say it ran about 300'.
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