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12-28-12, Thunder and Mac

12/28/12
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Posted by alecapone on 12/29/12 2:15am
Yesterday was one of them days when everything came together and deliverd an expceptional day in the alpine lakes.

I love it when a plan comes together.. but this wasn't planned. I got a dinner time phone call from Chris Mandell wanting to go do some skiing up at surprise lake with his friend Kevin. They stopped by and broke me out of the compound and we where at the th at an alpine 7 am. I had a phone signal so I sent out a text to Brian, who was a solid hour behind, and told him where to find us. The intial skin up under the power lines gave us a good view of the setting near full moon. The beautiful co-worked trench shared by us skier and snow shoers made for a brisk pace to the lake.. at 9 am, we where haveing a snack and taking in the view of the shocker couloir which Chris rode with me last year, but he never got to see due to vis.

a cool breeze and great snow made for fast travel. Chris was throwing down a super skin track all the way,  and we found ourselves nearing thunder col around 11. I was so surprised and stoked to see Brian had caught up, and was only a few hundred feet below us! IRON MAN! We where running a marathon and dude sprinted up on us... We turned teh corner to the south east side of thunder and enjoyed the wamr sunny climb to the summit... a little post holio at the end.

Chris and I clicked in on the summit, while brian and Kevin wisely started 20 rhimeless feet below...we ripped the se face down to square lake.. zipper fast pow groomer face skiing soon turned to great snow tree and pillow riding.so fun, bouncy bouncy! we party skied the lower section.. looking back up from square lake all super stoked we realised the 'approach ski' was a pretty damn fun 1,500'...we skinned across square lake to the bace of teh north side of mac and took a direct route up the open slopes.stability was super through out the day, and some steep skinning was had.... a little conversation on how to obtain the summit,  we found our notch, and rapped to the south side for a warm skin to the summit of mac.... Yeah buddy! 3-ish i think? a couple decent options allowed us to ride two seperate slightly commiting entrances, and then to teh north slope and more fun party riding all the way to the lake.. party riding= all at once and no rules for silly spooning and non track crossing. ride your own line... but only under 100% stability confidence...

setting sun made for a chilly skin back to thunder col where we clicked in one last time for the best headlamp run of my life... fsast turns and whoop whoops.. 1,500 or so back to surprise lake, a little cross country ski, then another fun ride through some of perfectly spaced old growth and pow pillows.... so much fun. SKiers stayed skinless, but me the lone splitter put my skins on. all of us back to teh cars before 8, catching the moon rising full...

Super strong work by all, but highly impressed by chris's day long trail breaking, and brian being able to do this circuit in an hour less.  Great effort boys!


also, thank you Kenji for your initial inspiration, and route for the first part of this perfect day.

7g, and 15 miles..... ish
oops.. to avoid confusion, when I said 'rapped', I meant turned.. no ropes or climb gear was used..


BURLY! 

I like your approach.

My favorite place in the Homecourt.

Sounds awesome. Wish I didn't have to work...

The Mac Attack! Nice work!!!

That sounds totally dope!


Amazing how good conditions make for fast travel. Sick trip.

the turns have been so good this season, you can't help but laugh! strong work Scott!

Pics or it didn't happen right?  Thanks for putting together a big, killer day Scott!


















author=alecapone link=topic=26704.msg112606#msg112606 date=1356804912]
...
also, thank you Kenji for your initial inspiration, and route for the first part of this perfect day.
...


You are welcome, though not quite sure how.  could be another "Kenji"??

Anyway, looks great.  It's time for me to go back in there!

We were up there today, in the bowl north of the north bowl of Thunder. Beautiful cold sunny day, but the wind has had its way with the snow out of the trees, at least where we were. Variable crust. Still enjoyable skiing, but required being on your toes :-).

Best snow was down in the trees, and also for the first few hundred feet below the ridgetop at 6500ft. Everything in between was crusted.

awesome Photos Brian! the lighting is great in pnw?  great fun..anytime my friend.

Kenji. it was a few years ago, and I am not sure if we took the exact same route.. close enough though thank you. I've done it several times now.

you did highly recommend it ;)

http://www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboarding/trip_reports/index.php?topic=9464.0


Too bad about the snow Phil. Kind of silly, but I just do it so my friends know where I am talking about, but we usually call that south cloud, since it's kind of part of nimbus. North cloud is my favorite...  and 'around the cloud' is my favorite 'tour' in the area. up north thunder bowl, around nimbus, and down north cloud.

If your ears(or ryan l's) where ringing yesterday, it was because of us. the black hole was holding nice pow from col to creek. thank you gents for that gem!


Scott, your with Plotz getting the big lines, thanks for the pictures........it did happen! thanks

Funny, I was just thinking about Black Hole while touring yesterday... thought it would be a great day for it, and that someone should be out doing it. And you were! Hope to see some pics...

Nice work guys!  Looks like a great time.  I won't lie, I'm always a bit jealous of the terrain you have up there, especially in the winter!

author=jtack link=topic=26704.msg112770#msg112770 date=1356978196]
Scott, your with Plotz getting the big lines, thanks for the pictures........it did happen! thanks


Thanks Jamie! Honored, but I'm not nearly on John's level. He taught me most of what I know, but only half of what he knows. He is  well rounded mountain mechanic. Im just a steep snow walker.

For better or worse, I definatly credit john for plucking me from heather ridge and showing me the ropes. And mostly, how to do marathon days.

Detroits finest steep snow walker

congrats on tagging that one... i know you've been eying it for awhile.

cool to see the photos, too.

i almost wish i hadn't taken that day off from the mountains, but i wanted to rest up for the black hole mission.... some of us have to sleep occasionally!

Awesome trip Scott and crew -- love the write-up.

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12-28-12-thunder-and-mac
alecapone
2012-12-29 10:15:12