January 20, 2013, Rainier, Chutes to the bridge
1/20/13
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
3343
4
Becky, Andrea, Anastasia and I dropped into the chutes at 1:30 yesterday. They'd been skied pretty heavily the day before, so the entrance was a bit chopped up and mushy, but it improved as we got lower. Pretty good proto-corn down to the moraine. We didn't feel like banking on a ride back up to Paradise, so the ladies continued the run to the bridge and I popped back up to Paradise to get the car.
Saw one lone guy booting down the center of the Nisqually with skis on his back -- binding problem? He made it to the moraine safely. Quite a few tracks down from the Van Trump/Kautz side onto the glacier -- folks have been taking advantage of the gorgeous weather.
Saw one lone guy booting down the center of the Nisqually with skis on his back -- binding problem? He made it to the moraine safely. Quite a few tracks down from the Van Trump/Kautz side onto the glacier -- folks have been taking advantage of the gorgeous weather.
Got the camera. ;)
Watched you guys traverse and enter the chutes while snowshoeing with the parents above paradise. Answered plenty of BC ski questions and was able to educate while pointing out a textbook and efficient example of leapfrogging and terrain management; kudos for that! Looked like a great ski!
catastrophic binding failure. actually, more of an interface/ski failure.
Making our way down the Wilson, comforts in lock, at the transition point of my turn I basically stepped out of my right ski, fell and slide for a good 100 feet before i could get any solid purchase with my whippet. After arresting the fall I looked down at my boots to see that the toe piece of the binding was still attached to my right boot. All 5 screws were still firmly attached to the binding. The errant ski had caught on a small wind lip about 100 feet below me which i was able to crampon down to. The ski had a parallel crack along the top sheet between the two screws that would have been on the outside edge.
My partner was a couple mins behind transitioning to tour when you must have seen me crossing the glacier.
bindings are comforts, 4 years old, with 120+ days on them
skis less than a year old, voile chargers in 191 with about 30 days on them. maybe 2 or 3 days in bounds with this set up and none recently. no big falls.
In my opinion the wide stiff ski had too much torque for the screw pattern of the dynafits. it's probably best to run plates or radicals on the wider skis.
Thankfully, due to the firm (bullet proof) conditions we had called off our attempt to ski the finger...
Making our way down the Wilson, comforts in lock, at the transition point of my turn I basically stepped out of my right ski, fell and slide for a good 100 feet before i could get any solid purchase with my whippet. After arresting the fall I looked down at my boots to see that the toe piece of the binding was still attached to my right boot. All 5 screws were still firmly attached to the binding. The errant ski had caught on a small wind lip about 100 feet below me which i was able to crampon down to. The ski had a parallel crack along the top sheet between the two screws that would have been on the outside edge.
My partner was a couple mins behind transitioning to tour when you must have seen me crossing the glacier.
bindings are comforts, 4 years old, with 120+ days on them
skis less than a year old, voile chargers in 191 with about 30 days on them. maybe 2 or 3 days in bounds with this set up and none recently. no big falls.
In my opinion the wide stiff ski had too much torque for the screw pattern of the dynafits. it's probably best to run plates or radicals on the wider skis.
Thankfully, due to the firm (bullet proof) conditions we had called off our attempt to ski the finger...
Wow -- glad you came out of it okay! I noticed when I looked back from Glacier Vista that your partner had caught up with you. Scary failure, glad it didn't happen in higher consequence terrain.
I'm not sure if the Charger construction is similar to Voile's Insanes, but I've ripped screws out of the Insanes a couple of times. With a tele binding, granted, but the lighter weight construction definitely didn't give a ton of bite to the screws.
I'm not sure if the Charger construction is similar to Voile's Insanes, but I've ripped screws out of the Insanes a couple of times. With a tele binding, granted, but the lighter weight construction definitely didn't give a ton of bite to the screws.
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