Home > Trip Reports > OcTAYberfest, Hadley, Oct 6, 2012

OcTAYberfest, Hadley, Oct 6, 2012

10/15/12
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Posted by James Wells on 10/7/12 12:37am
Telemack, Mosetick, Yansen and I headed out on the long FS dirt road to the Cougar Divide TH and were able to make it to the end at 4,700'.  The road is definitely the limit for a regular passenger vehicle but would be easy for higher clearance.  And it's long.

After a nice walk along the divide, we cut down to the bottom of the snow field below Hadley.  The snow had not softened up at all, we found none of the smooth corn reported from this recent report: http://www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboarding/trip_reports/index.php?topic=25683.0

There was a steep section going up on something betwen snow and ice, we had not brought boot crampons and that was definitely an error.  We ended up taking refuge by scrambling up the rocks to the side of the steepest part of the chute.  So here's the learning experience: Clear cool nights + late season + steep snow = bring your crampons!

We topped out at the top of the snow ridge at about 7k and had a nice though chattery run back down, as the snow never softened up.

Great views athough Yansen was disappointed not to spot any of the cougars we had suggested might be present, except for one who was well escorted.

Hopefully the expedition photographers will post a pic or two.
Good job, gentlemen.  Sorry I couldn't make it, I thought about you all weekend, as I relaxed around home.

Congratulations to James for his first 60 months of TAY!  It was a beautiful day to take the skis for a walk and then bounce them around on frozen size-A suncups.

Despite not finding any cougars on the trail, the views were spectacular. Crampons were sorely missed, but we made the best of it.

I posted a handful of pictures on my website. More to come in the future.

All in all it was a spectacular fall day.





Alex, the pix are just fantastic. 

Perhaps we need to make sure to mention again just how long the FS road is.  And bumpy!  Definitely not worth going here.

author=James Wells link=topic=25731.msg108847#msg108847 date=1349706320]
Perhaps we need to make sure to mention again just how long the FS road is.  And bumpy!  Definitely not worth going here.


Looks from Alex's photos that it probably IS worth the trip :)

Ah man, great photos.. I really wish I could have come. Thanks for posting these

Yea!  Nice work for sure.  I wish I could have come.  Next year perhaps!  I love fall weather--even if it means icy skiing.  My wife and I were in the Leavenworth area and were inhaling smoke.  So... those clear blue skies looked rather nice.


What a great trip! Amazing photos Yansen! I had a great time with you guys. Congratulations to James and Mack on their 5 year streaks. All I can say is that I wish my (~ 4 yr) streak that ended last year was still going strong...  >:( Perhaps this will be the start of a new TAY streak for me! This was Holly's first glacier trip and I think the general consensus was that she did great, so glad I had her with me!

Here is a link to my photos from the trip
http://gallery.the808.net/index.php?/category/october-2012

And here is James and Mack celebrating:
[img width=800">http://gallery.the808.net/i.php?/galleries/OcTAYberfest-2012/P1050551-la.JPG" />

Love this one of my Holly and Mack
[img width=800">http://gallery.the808.net/_data/i/galleries/OcTAYberfest-2012/P1050525-la.JPG" />

sorry i couldn't make it guys. looks like a great day...

Chris...Holly looks like she is going to be an awesome ski partner!

looks like a fun time & a beautiful autumn day.  thanks for the invite, but i had one last rock climbing objective to go after before the dry weather ends.  seems like i picked the last possible weekend to tick it off!

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octayberfest-hadley-oct-6-2012
James Wells
2012-10-07 07:37:01