Home > Trip Reports > March 31, 2013, Spider Mountain, North Face Chute

March 31, 2013, Spider Mountain, North Face Chute

3/31/13
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Posted by scott_rinck on 4/4/13 6:07am
Last weekend held grand adventure and a gorgeous alpine experience in the form of Spider Mountain€™s north face, a dream line for the a great many of us. Ranking right at the top of my season, I feel truly blessed to have had the opportunity to climb and ski such a grand classic.

Two days with my frequent cohort, Brian Fletcher got the job done. The first day involved a 3am departure from Seattle, a tandem approach of about 4 miles up the Cascade River road on Brian€™s snowmobile, and a long day of ski touring from the Cascade Pass trailhead to Arts Knoll, the saddle directly across valley from Spider. At camp we were treated to a top-10, mind blowing sunset on one side, and a haunting and imposing view of the following day€™s objective on the other. Sunday morning broke with still clear weather and allowed a safe and expedient climb of Spider once we found the key to crossing the mammoth bergschrund at the bottom of the upper face.

The skiing was nothing short of amazing with stable soft snow from the summit to the glacier far below, with but a single enjoyable mandatory air over the gaping bergschrund to keep us on our toes. Rare are the days where such an outing can be achieved with so little objective hazard. It€™s always a pleasure to be in the mountains, but in this instance, it was a rare treat indeed. Yummy.

More photos and words on my blog here: http://blog.scottrinck.com/freshies/freshies-spider-mountain-in-the-deep-north-cascades/

blue line is ascent, green line is descent:
Such a rad area in the Cascades.

Awesome work getting that line in primo conditions.

There was POW out there.

Good line, great style!  Thanks for sharing.

Nice work.  There is a lot more snow all over that face than in November of 2011 (as there should be) - the line you ascended was our ski objective then, but it was a sheet of ice with a lot of hang-fire slab bits perched high on it.  Isn't that an awesome place...thanks for bringing the memories rushing back!

Another nice one Scott and Brian!


Sick line! Looked at that on the S-Loop past July. Looks like you nailed it!

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scott_rinck
2013-04-04 13:07:12