Home > Trip Reports > April 12-13, 2014, Sloan Peak redux

April 12-13, 2014, Sloan Peak redux

4/12/14
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Posted by Kenji on 4/15/14 8:28am
The last trip to Sloan in January was a day to explore the approach and the potential.  The day was short and the snow was shallow.  This time, David/Sally/Radka/me headed back there as an overnight trip.  MLP is now open and FS4096 was snow-free to the last switch back.  The Bedal trail is already bare for the first one mile then skin all the way.  We magically avoided swhacking all together by staying well left of the creek going up to the basin below the Bedal-Sloan saddle.  It was such a relief to stay among old growth trees compared to the rather technical ski-swacking last time.

After setting up a camp at the saddle and some rest, we skied the north shoulder for a late afternoon run.  The snow was very firm everywhere except the West aspect, the view however was fantastic in all direction.  Radka and I stayed for the gorgeous sunset, but lousy ski down to the camp.  The sky was clear and the Moon was nearly full for great night scenes.  However, the temperature dropped far more than we had expected, and were pretty cold all night.

The Sunday was sunny but the snow stayed firm on NE slopes all day, skiing yielded just 1/8~1/4" edge penetration.  After a slow AM start and a extra nap on the N ridge, we managed to get to the East slope which was warm enough by the morning sun for great corn snow for a 2000' run.  There were many more lines to explore if we had more time, maybe next year or so...

It is just a wonderful place to be on a sunny weekend w/ good friends; spectacular views and endless ski lines to explore.  More pix

Skiing on East slope:


i was thinking of this for the 12th but was afraid of traffic needing to use the mountain loop to get to darrington.  is this still the case?  how was the drive?

That was also our main concern and I called the FS in Verlot and was told they are no longer discouraging non-rescue traffic.  It is now used mostly by some locals taking the shorter route.  But they did warn us of the bad road condition.  Driving was actually fine, and didn't see any traffic except cars parked at the Barlow Pass lot.

I have a totally unreasonable amount of pictures from this trip.


Bedal:



Evening clouds over Del Campo (?):



Almost full moon above Sloan glacier:



Moonburst above Sloan:











Lines:













More pics here: http://radkaandchris.smugmug.com/Skiing/2014/Sloan-Peak-April-12-13

stunning pictures! The moonrise / sunset images are awesome!

Thank you, Erik!

very cool.  been wanting to get out there for years

that moon is nearly bright enough to make night corn possible  :)

Thanks for the psych, I've been thinking of hitting that area too. Great pics!!


Wow, great photos.
Almost Full Moon Above Sloan speaks to me.

I guess another pic won't hurt, just to show how exhausted we were after a late morning start and a short uphill, or maybe just being laid-back literally  ;D


Motivaspirational!

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11812
april-12-13-2014-sloan-peak-redux
Kenji
2014-04-15 15:28:21