Home > Trip Reports > September 3, 2012, Sholes Glacier

September 3, 2012, Sholes Glacier

9/3/12
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Posted by telemack on 9/4/12 6:58am
Dan Peck and I met up with James Wells and Julie to "take the skis for a walk".
There is still lots of snow on the north of Coleman Pinnacle-visible from the passes by the Chain Lakes trail-but carries are needed to link a lot of the runnels and patches.  We hiked in to Wells (no relation to James  ;) ) Creek, skied into that basin, and skinned to the second saddle past CP.  From there we could do a short run onto the Sholes, then climb it to the Portals.  Accessing the Sholes is no problem this way; Iluka's TR from 8/31 made it sound like they skied the Rainbow Glacier (below the back of the Portals) to access the the westernmost pass atop the Sholes.  The Portals has a nice steep shot at the top of the Sholes, then it's a decent low-angle run to about 5500'.  We had to thread some crevassess on the second steep bit, which we had not been able to see from our approach.  Despite the high freezing level the night before, it was a mix of sun & clouds and the suncups were chattery all day.
On the return we were able to link several runnels and patches on the south side of the Sholes to get more turns or gliding, then cross over the ridge and do the same thing to the north of CP.  This is much easier to sort out with a wily local like James in the crew  8).  I changed to approach shoes west of CP, and James and Dan did the turn-and-boot option, so we learned that walking back is faster but the yoyo-ing traverse is more fun and gets more vert. 
Joy-o-meter ratio was not too great, and we never got to slushy corn, but for September it was fine and the crew was tight.

60 months of TAY for telemack! 
Hooray for Mack's 60 months!

I guess there are two lumps that might be called the Portals.  We went to the top of the lower and NE one at about 6450'.  The other one is several hundred feet higher and had the very broken steep snow face shown in Iluka's TR.

I well remember going to the top of this "lower" Portal with Telemon, and so we talked about him on the trip and I wore garish shorts in his honor.

On such a nice day out, hopefully the expedition photographers will come through with a good pic or two.

Nice work guys! Sounds like it was another fun day out there...

Rock on Mr. 60 months, Mack-attack!

Mack, James, and Julie... Thanks for the excellent time!  It was a true mountain adventure and I look forward to more of it :)

Here are a few pictures:

Mack on the approach


Mack and James approaching Coleman Pinnacle


Are we ski mountaineering yet?


Meadow Skipping, or Tromping?


Examining the possibilities


Julie leads the first turns of the day


Soul Dan


Soul Mack with a big cheesy smile  ;D


Good, Clean fun--yes, by Mack!


Back up to "The Portals" above Mack's left shoulder




Baker Looms Large


More steep booting vs. scrambling through the rock fields to reach "The Portals"







Descending the Portals


James Carving the Portals slope


Mack Carving below the portals on the Sholes Glacier


Tracks


Looking back from off the slopes of Coleman Pinnacle on the way out


James skied the snow patch in the center of the photo and climbed out on the finger of snow just in the immediate foreground


Couldn't get enough of this view


Another to show what snow remains for those who hurry :)


Shuksan was nice


And finally for those of you with nothing better to do... here are more photos

http://www.flickr.com/photos/danpeck/sets/72157631414188820/with/7934335286/

I learned long ago, fifty  months or so,
to talk no smack around Telemack,
He only smiles and nods, and suggests you follow,
Then he jumps and flips
his telemarktips
And starts linking turns
Jumping left  then right, and left and down
Dropping vertical so fast
My fear makes me swallow
But my mouth is too dry, and I hope as I fall (low),
Those twin steel rods
That he calls legs
Soon run out of steam
Cuz I'm out of gas, and ready to beg
That he'll  forgive  or forget
the smack I spake at the top of the hill.

But my head is as hard as the  helmet he wears,
That protects that shining pate of his,
And the lessons that should get easy with age
still catch in my craw, and refuse to go down
So when I should be humble and circumspect,
As I shake the snow out of  my hair ,
I hear a voice that sounds like mine,
answer his brag with a challenging boast,
Let's do it again old man, if you can...

Cheers, Mack!  Good on yah for 60 months!
But when your helmet starts to feel tight
remember Silas, Jarvis, Jeanette and Zap
And your head will once again be just the right size...

It was an awesome day!

Sure looks like it! Good on you guys. How many hours from car to car pray tell?

It looks like it was a beautiful day!  Glad to see some hat-wearing action!

Mack – Much congrads on your five years of year around skiing!!

Dan – Great camera work… looked like a great day.

Don – Nice work on the poem… and thank you for honoring me in it by mentioning me in the same sentence with some of the real greats of our community.

author=ShailCaesar! link=topic=25595.msg108166#msg108166 date=1346823548]
Sure looks like it! Good on you guys. How many hours from car to car pray tell?


Mack or James can correct me, but I think we were somewhere around 8 hours car to car.  I believe it was about 9 am when we started on the TH and 5:30 ish when we reached the car. 

The good news was that Mack and I made the 10:25 ferry to kingston :) without a speeding ticket for the evening.  However, I received one on the way to Bellingham.  Mack distracted me so I didn't know the speed limit had changed from 70 to 60.  :'(


:D Great thanks for sharing!

Telemack, you teaching with week.

TR report and photos were great.

Rusty Knees, your words and Telemack's are getting great.  ;)

It was Zap who taught me to use harscheizen (sp?) to crank our way up gnarly soft suncups  8)

I think I remember it being 8-1/2 hours, but that was with all the loop-de-loops.  Iluka's TR said they took 2-1/4 hours to get to the Sholes.
author=danpeck link=topic=25595.msg108172#msg108172 date=1346865238]
Mack distracted me so I didn't know the speed limit had changed from 70 to 60.  :'(

Hmm, usually I just distract myself  ::)
Great photos Dan; you sure get that knee down there!

Thanks for the inspiring trip report telemack. I made a trip to the sholes on Friday and got some fun snowboard turns in. It was my first ever September trip and the snow was a bit icy coming off the portals this day. Only a couple more months to go

P.S.  I also saw my first mountain goats!

Great shots! Congrats on the 60 months!

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