Home > Trip Reports > 4-29-12, Mt Maude north face

4-29-12, Mt Maude north face

4/29/12
WA Cascades West Slopes Central
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Posted by alecapone on 4/30/12 1:24am
Anything worth doing once, is worth doing twice. Or even 3 times in Eric Svege's case. Funny how things work out sometimes, because I was supposed to spend this weekend on the couch. I'd all but bailed on all my friends, including an ambitious pan of Eric's up north... and Leyland and Ben, who wound up on the unreportable. Saturday a.m. I get a surprise phone call from Eric. Plans changed as much as the weather this week, and we found ourselves on the same page as far as general location. Eric agreed to pick me up at my place and we would go from there.

With questionable conditions, and little beta, we came prepared.



Thankfully, mt bikes, hiking shoes, kayaks, pogo sticks, and ropes and harnesses all got left behind. And we had a rad ride to the TH camp spot. I rode girlfriend, or gay tandem. Which ever you prefer to call it. There where a few long stretches of road melted out, but auto access is a LONG way off.



Super alpine start on Sunday. great spring travel conditions, even in the steep tree sections though ski crampons where helpful. Eric did an awesome error free job of route finding in the dark. We did a mix of  skinning and booting to the summit of Maude on the standard south route from Ice Lakes. It was warm and sunny with a little breeze, and one lonely mountain goat was on top to greet us... we decided on the north face thinking there would be a better chance, and more room, to find good snow. That there was.

ice lakes



Decent was superb, exhilarating even, with a bit of everything except for bad skiing. it was rippable with caution? Conditions where such that each section looked suspect for lurking ice or thin snow cover. All the sense firing on high alert, max adrenaline. All the reasons I like to ride steep lines. Powder up top turning to spring down low.







soory. no naked pics of Bea Arthur this timeAfter hopping the schrund we decided to keep riding the smooth corn to nearly the valley bottum...  took a break to melt water,eat, and just enjoy the moment. A moment you could stay forever, but we still had a lot of travel and day left ahead. Skinning back up to the col we noticed the ghosts of previous tracks from the previous week or two. Now it was beyond warm, barely a breeze, and the sun was beating on us. With two beat up bodies, we decided to forego the ambitious plan of re climbing for the west cooler. For the exit, we climbed most of the peak to the south of Maude, then had a spicy, loose, chosy down climb to get to a neat ramp down to chipmunk basin. basin road fast, but a little sticky. Riding the trees and chutes to the valley bottum where a little heavy and a work out. but still smooth, and oh so fun.

Getting back to camp seemed to take forever and i really wanted to stop for a swim or something. Eric cruised out and had camp packed up by the time I slinked back. The sled out went pretty quick. Road melt had made the stretches of bare longer. the view from the front of a sled ripping down the wrong side of snow free asphalt road with no snow in sight is trippy.






Rocking.
I put the protractor that was lying on my desk on the screen over the last photo. Bob-on 50 degrees, not farenheit!.

Great write up on the trip Scott.  Late april pow in the sun is hard to beat!  Here are a few more photos.

wow! nicely done.

(thought i'd share my wife's comment after reading your TR... "we gotta get a snowmobile")

Yeah, because what the Northwest needs is more gas powered devices delivering us into the backcountry. Go oil companies!

author=scottb link=topic=24636.msg104108#msg104108 date=1335817792]
Yeah, because what the Northwest needs is more gas powered devices delivering us into the backcountry. Go oil companies!


...and that's a perfect example why I don't post here that much anymore.  have a nice day y'all.

author=Pete A link=topic=24636.msg104109#msg104109 date=1335819720]
...and that's a perfect example why I don't post here that much anymore.   have a nice day y'all.


Ignore it Pete. Hating is so passe. It's like wearing stripes in a plaid world.

Awesome trip Scott and Erik. Especially given the uncertainty of the forecasts all last week.

Nice work boys!
Just ignore Scottb, he is just butt hurt because he tried to skin his little skis all the way in there and ended up ripping his 100% organic rando race tights.

Its true, I did rip my rando tights, you have any idea how expensive those things are?
If your wives want sleds you should for sure go buy! easy financing available! You are Americans, you deserve it.
Seriously I got no problems how people approach the destination. I will be the first to admit I am a hypocrite(and an antagonist), Hell I just used a freaking Heli to get into the Selkirks. I do question wether we need to see pictures of peoples sleds at the gas station- in what is mostly a blog focusing on human powered endeavors.
Thanks for the TR by the way, the skiing looks awesome! 

^^ - whats the big deal about a gas station photo, don't you stop there before you drive anywhere too?

ale - PSA: I believe the correct term for a describing riding with a male pasenger on a 2 seated veichle is "mandem"

I'm just concerned Eric and Scott may have used a tandem bicycle for part of the approach.

Nice one guys! Spring goodness: powder and corn in the same descent!

Nice work!

Looks like it was worth riding on a snowmobile mandem style.

Nice pic of the goat!

Mandem... funny. Is it still mandem with the driver is in the rear?

good eye john! We had to take the bike apart to make it fit, but the other half is on the other side. That was for option b. We had no illusion of biking to trinity.


hmmmm, doesn't seem straight to me

I could have sworn it was more than 48 degrees.
I am grooving that 3 photo drop-in sequence. Nice escalation of dramatic tension.

Nice report and photos Ale and crew.  Looks like a fun time...

author=alecapone link=topic=24636.msg104133#msg104133 date=1335840087]

Mandem... funny. Is it still mandem with the driver is in the rear?



I guess that would depend on what you mean by "in the rear"  ;) Sorry - couldn't help myself.  Great trip, Scott!  Cool pics - too.

Awesome guys. I really love that you saw the ghosts of our tracks out there, even after a few weeks.

Loving the seat of the pants attitude. Looks fun. Maybe you should have used a hot air balloon.

Loved the awesome trip report.  The picture of the sled and bike is a classic.  I got a sled this spring and love that can now access all those snowed over forest service roads.  (Plus the corn on the south side of Baker.)

Thanks for sharing the stoke!!

Cascade skiing rocks!!

looks like an awesome trip!  i had to show my family the photos in scurlock's book along with the TR.

and side by side is my preferred way to ride 2 up...

Removed a post -- if folks want to discuss snowmobile use in the backcountry, Random Tracks is the place for that.

Nicely done Scotty! Would love to see more pics should you have some to link. Cheers!

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4-29-12-mt-maude-north-face
alecapone
2012-04-30 08:24:41