Home > Trip Reports > August 13-14, 2005, Leftovers - Flett Glacier

August 13-14, 2005, Leftovers - Flett Glacier

8/13/05
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Posted by snoslut on 8/14/05 7:32pm
After last weekends attempt I was determined to find some continuous snow to slide on.  I say slide cause last Saturday Marco and Rick skiied the Flett from high a point climbers left of O-rock in less than ideal surface conditions.  Btw your lines are still there frozen in time, however they provided little motivation since I saw your pics. ;D

The plan was to go as high as we could.  Maybe even the Russell if coverage was suffice.  So I joined up with Jimjar and together we set out with our heavy packs by 10am Saturday morning.  Along with a cool breeze the trees provided ample shade until Spray Park.  At SP I soon realized I had sweated off all the bug juice.  Damn skeeters.  Well couldn't be a bad as last weekend when I supported 3 bee stings.  You'd figure after bee #2 and #3 witnessed bee #1 sting me and die that I'm not worth it.  Meanwhile this whole time Jim remained undisturbed.  Must be something in the blood.  Jim's blood = diet / Eric's blood = hallucinogenic. ;D

By noon we found ourselves off trail and to the mercy of the beating sun.  Couldn't have been better timing for a meadow/rock stomp with some game trail.  We kept hiking until my secret camp spot.  Actually when our backs told our packs to get off!  From here we were only a stones throw or catapolt, from what appeared to be the first patch of descent snow.  After a long break some weight was shed and our packs restuffed.  To the patch we go and higher if we can.  Well by the time the patch was reached Jim had lost all motivation.  Even the motivation to find motivation at the bottom of a flask. ;)  Didn't take long before it spread to me.

So here we stood in front of a perfect 100ft patch of snow that would make any patcher smile from ear to ear.  This one had everything from dirt and ice at the top to nice carvable corn below.  Even a few obstacles for good measure.  Once the top of the run was scrapped for consistency it transitioned nicely to softening suncups and corn on top of glacial remnant/neve.  The patchfest was on!

You ask yourself was it worth it.  Off course.  Along with some turns the surrounding views were stunning.  For starters Cateye lake looks like a red/brown eye lake.  Below the lake there is a patch of the Flett that has been hollowed with a crack seperating it.  The cave entrance beneath appeared to be at least 20ft tall from a distance.  Also the amazing red/pink sunset thru stripes of clouds and how it changes the color of the landscape minute by minute.  Try capturing that in a painting.  Bob Ross would have gone insane!  "We don't make mistakes in painting.  Just happy accidents."
Great report Eric and a perfect way to spend the weekend. Long approach with heavy packs for 100 feet of patch skiing. Kam would be proud.

did you get a view at all of what the central blob of the flett between Echo and Observation Rocks looked like?  

I'm assuming the Ob.Rock headwall has already melted down to neve?


Pete nope.  From our spot we could see that a line of snow or ice still existed between Echo and O-rock.  The headwall looked like a trap.  Meaning bottom was all rock but the snow looked carvable climbers left.  Couple inches on neve.  Good enough for the first turn then whipee!

My friends described the snow of the central blob as sketchy.  Few turns on corn then runnells, ice, dirt and repeat in any random order.  Best turns were had in a trough of melted snow that resembled a moving slushy as it trickled down hill.  Then I saw the pics they took that day.  What we do for turns.

thanks eric,  think that its okay to expand ones definition of a turns-all-year streak to include sliding on H20 in any form, whether frozen or melted?  

ie- can I count longboarding out at westport as my turns-earned day for August and Sept?  

pray for a snowy labor day weekend like we had last year....

After looking at more of their pics there is a huge moat about 30 or 40ft below what I described as the line of snow running under Echo to O.

For me a turn is a turn even if the surface varies. (ie: snow, sand, asphalt, etc.) But for the sake of this site and my streak I try to keep it on the snow.

FYI...while thumbing thru some pics from the past I came across some pics a few years back but dated this past weekend.  Yup we were taking turns down the west face of Pan Pt. ???

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august-13-14-2005-leftovers-flett-glacier
snoslut
2005-08-15 02:32:32