Home > Trip Reports > April 18, 2005, Peak 5,440 Chute, Denny Mountain

April 18, 2005, Peak 5,440 Chute, Denny Mountain

4/18/05
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Posted by MW88888888 on 4/20/05 6:49am
Day 50
Peak 5,440' Chute, Denny Mountain Ridge
4-18-05
Via Debbie's Gold and Edelweiss Bowl
Highpoint: 5,400'
Alpental parking lot: 3,200
=> 2,200 VF skiing
Snow: 73'' at 5,400', a couple inches new on top of bottomless corn.  Sunny slopes are a loose danger.  North facing chutes too steep to load? Hmmm?



5 pm Monday.  After an hour of climbing I'm about to enter the business.  

So far the snow on Debbie's Gold and the Cascade Traverse resemble bottomless Farina and Grits off packed trails, but had been manageable and even sporting in snowshoes.  I had worked up a sweat and was now in a t-shirt and gloves facing a north facing 40 degree slope.  With my Whippet in hand I felt quite relaxed and enjoyed sinking in the cleats on the snowshoes in the decent snow beneath the outer covering.  I scanned the project above as I cruised into lower Edelweiss.  It looked amazingly good.

Ron and I had looked at these lines last year and were excited to try them this year up until the Disaster of 2005 squelched backcountry skiing in the Snoqualmie area.  

My confidence in the snow was low as I began the climb from the parking lot where I found sections of undermined corn snow, but by the time I hit Mid Mountain I had focused on many sound reasons for success:

1.  The ski area was open Sunday and a fast ascent will be assured
2.  Avy work needs to control Edelweiss before top can open
3.  Edelweiss means my line probably had bombs on it
4.  The Avy cycle ran Saturday with the rain
5.  Sunday recon into Silver Peak Basin saw interesting snow
6.  Avy conditions below 5,000' were generally low rising with wet snow slide potential and elevation

It seemed a lock.

I continued on up the steep bowl leading to the chute and upper snowfield.  The slope had become quite steep and the snow a good dense wet powder.  I sank each foot into the slope and savored the staircase I created in the 45 degree section near the crux.  

Focus city, baby, that's steep!

I round the horn and enter the calm upper snowfield.  It is pleasantly powdery in a dense corn way, and I scramble the last couple hundred vertical in a daze.  The sun low on the sky and the evening light angles cast melodramatic scenes around me - how could this be so close to an 8-lane highway?  Even Alpental spread out below and across from me seemed wilder than I knew it to be.  I savored the feeling electrified by the moment and the impending descent.  

I donned my snowboard and pack and checked my line.  

The first couple turns were surprisingly good, and a couple more followed with a little more ease.  The top foot of snow held no crust and carved with ease on the board.  I settled down and slowed to a stop at the top of the crux chute through the trees and picked my line.  I jumped into the fall line.

The skiing was pretty steep, say like the Lip at Tucks, so 55 degrees at the steepest.  The snow was perfect as it had no icy base (like a typical day at like, let's say, the Lip at Tucks) to magnify the exposure, and what dangerous snow would have fallen, had fallen days ago so I was left with a smooth, dense powder chute.  I carefully laid out jump turns through the middle.

A couple more turns and I scoot out the bottom onto the bowl.

1,500 vertical of uninterrupted corn feet followed back down to the car.  Arriving at 6:00 I was now alone in the lot.

To be able to get on this line this year ah, Treats.  For this reason alone, the descent is deeply satisfying.  A very strange year - I'll take whatever I can get!
Tucks? as in Tuckerman's Ravine? Although it was my first "backcountry" ski trip, that I remember fondly hiking with my long (185s) Olin's strapped onto an old external frame pack in the rain when I was 16 years old, I never thought I'd see that "backcountry" site turn up on TAY.

Nice photo of your recent adventure.

Funny sheispiste.  That photo takes me back to when I was about eleven years old.  From the base area I looked up to see this huge peak emerge from the clouds.
Would I ever be able to ski Thunderbird?!

Is that the common name for this line?  "Thunderbird"?  

Is that the common name for this line?  "Thunderbird"?  

I'm not sure of the name of the line you skied, but "Thunderbird" is the common name for that "huge peak" (or is that a mole hill   ;D) in the background of your posted photo; otherwise referring to the "steepest"
ski run at Summit West   ;D  Funny reference wickstad! (presuming you were in fact jokingly referring to Summit West as that "huge peak").
Nice line on Denny Mtn!  Been looking at it for years, but I've never skied it.

The "common" name for the line is either Hoakly's or Hoaglys, something like that.  It's a great line and fun to watch people rip it from the chair.  I've only done it once but it's pretty cool little shot.  Nice trip, thanks for sharing!

Is that the common name for this line?  "Thunderbird"?  


Cascadesfreak is correct.  I was pointing out the differing nostalgic memories evoked by your trip report.

It is part of a run called Hoadley's.  Note the correct spelling is "Hoadley's"

It is part of a run called Hoadley's.  Note the correct spelling is "Hoadley's"


The top part leads down to Hoadley's Hallow, but you have to keep on the skiers right of the rock outcrop that goes down a steep avy prone gully and opens on an apron which finishes below Airplane Turn. Also, on the other side of the ski area boundary. It was a good poach on last turrns on a powder day. At least it was that way when I was young. 8)
Nice picture though-brings back some good memories of Alpy.
Joe

Fantastic!

Funny, the "other" line is next on the hit parade.  A recon from below looked like a great rock-lined chute w/ weird kinks and exposure.  Thanks much for the info.

Glad you liked the photos (and trips down memory lane).  

Hoadley's ehh?   Would that by any chance be named for Skip Hoadley?  I know he used to work ski patrol at the pass years ago. I met him when he was the winter rec. coordinator for the Cle Elum USFS district. He's now retired. He introduced me to the term "Guanch". (see my post in "Random Tracks"). Sounds like you found now guanch up there on "Hoadley's".

pc

Skip and Jerry Hoadley were both Alpental patrollers back in the day.

That is a great line, I have done it a few times myself. Great picture and report!

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