Home > Trip Reports > December 7, 2013, - Painted Mt

December 7, 2013, - Painted Mt

12/7/13
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Posted by trees4me on 12/9/13 4:00pm
I'm a gambler with my trips.


The Mountain Loop has very little data/telemetry, but I thought I had it nailed on what to expect from the snowpack.  I was wrong by about 4000'....



video



Mike, the next tour is definitely you're pick!  :)

Snowpack Notes: 1" sun(?) crust on s aspect above 6k.  Surface hoar growth was substantial at all elevations.
thanks for opening my eyes to a new line! (i had to check out your old TR to get the details).

what's that steep gully-strewn face shown in the still at 1:11?  is that the ridge between red and black mt?

the down-shwacking video made me laugh.  i was wishing i had a helmet cam to capture the magic when i was doing the same thing on sunday.

author=bs. link=topic=29940.msg125497#msg125497 date=1386707453]
thanks for opening my eyes to a new line! (i had to check out your old TR to get the details).

what's that steep gully-strewn face shown in the still at 1:11?  is that the ridge between red and black mt?

the down-shwacking video made me laugh.  i was wishing i had a helmet cam to capture the magic when i was doing the same thing on sunday.


I've been calling that Skahalabats Ridge.  It's very high on my to-do list, as is the whole Painted Traverse.  Really fantastic area for touring, I have no idea why no one goes there (other than the cliffs and almost 4000' boot through the frozen forest right now).

It's rare that booting downhill is faster in snow for me than skiing, but that was very much the conditions we had below 5000' level.  It sounds like your Hidden lake peak trip suffered the same snowpack.  At least you guys got some nice turns in up high!

author=trees4me link=topic=29940.msg125512#msg125512 date=1386726631]
I have no idea why no one goes there (other than the cliffs and almost 4000' boot through the frozen forest right now).


That area is truly remote and beautiful. Not to mention it has a reputation for your car getting shot or stolen while you are gone. I was surprised that mine stuck around for a week when I went off to Glacier Peak.

Can't get video to play--sounds like a good adventure...

No worries about the car this time, we were the only tracks in/out of the parking lot.  On our way in we did have to clear a 60' alder that had come down blocking the road.  Someone had already cut it (??), so it was an easy lift and drag op to get the blood flowing in the predawn.


IMO, the real problem with touring the mountain loop is the lack of data.  It's about 75 miles between Stevens pass and the elbow lake (s.side of mt baker) snotel site.  This leaves all of the area around the mountain loop and south of sr20 in a virtual black hole.  There is one west side gage above 2000': gold hill at 3300'.  This isn't a sno-tel site, and my deductive reasoning had no new snow there.  Instead we had 3" of snow at 800' near the white chuck and increasing to 6" by 5000'.  It's really hard to plan a tour when you have no idea what the snow level is or road access.  I'm hoping that we can build a critical mass of people going out and reporting that will give us all a more accurate idea of what to expect.  There's so much touring to be had in the winter from Granite Falls to Cascade River!

Love this trip report - definitely a hardy group here trying to sniff it out!  Thanks for the stoke.

Nice one trees.

Got a good view of this yersterday. Looks awesome.

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2013-12-10 00:00:22