Home > Trip Reports > Nov 29, Green Mountain (Suiattle)

Nov 29, Green Mountain (Suiattle)

11/29/14
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
34503
12
Posted by Kevin Steffa on 11/30/14 10:15am
Its was last in 2003 when I visited the Suiattle. Now the road is fixed and Green Mountain has once again regained its status as a popular hiking destination. This has been on the list for me to re-visit, and this time why not try the skis...

Log road had 6-10" fresh snow, got a 2wd jetta with chains to a pullout about a mile from the trailhead (~elev 3500'), after this point is the domain of 4x4s and high clearance. Bring a saw as snow laden alders can sometimes block the road after winds. Met some friendly hunters and spotted a few cougar tracks on the road. The trail is in good (hiking) shape to the open slopes, just barely enough coverage to skin.

At this point, some discrepancy with the USGS map, which shows the trail sticking to a timbered ridge. In actuality the trail swings out across several south facing avi paths (summer green meadows). Some small fresh debris spotted likely from the storm cycle, triggered from a small rock outcrop. With crusty snow in the open and conditions cold and and getting colder, and low coverage still we stuck with the trail.

Once back on the corner of the ridge and off south facing terrrain, 5000', snow coverage and quality is good! Trailbreaking slow but worth it for a nice ridgeline powder run, great vistas to the crest and glacier peak!

Note for next round(s) of snow: It would be ideal to find a route that stays in timber to 5k, thereby avoiding the south facing chutes. Perhaps either by finding a trace of an old route marked on the map, or just having enough coverage to track through the woods off trail.
Awesome! I did not expect to be reading a TR from Green Mtn so early after the road re-opened, much less considering the low tide currently affecting the Cascades. Way to get it!

Odd...there were no ski tracks off Green mountain yesterday (or from the tiny lake onward for that matter), until my friends put them there on Nov 30.

I was hopeful the fact that this destination was now accessible again would remain hush-hush at least for a while, but alas...the TAY way is to drag a crowd to a previously quiet spot.

Great Trip report!

thanks for the contribution and thanks for sharing.
...after all, that's the idea of a community right?

author=JoshK link=topic=32865.msg137011#msg137011 date=1417498491]
Odd...there were no ski tracks off Green mountain yesterday (or from the tiny lake onward for that matter), until my friends put them there on Nov 30.

I was hopeful the fact that this destination was now accessible again would remain hush-hush at least for a while, but alas...the TAY way is to drag a crowd to a previously quiet spot.

relax, nobody drug a crowd, i would but everyone i know going to green mt. has their own..

author=JoshK link=topic=32865.msg137011#msg137011 date=1417498491]
Odd...there were no ski tracks off Green mountain yesterday (or from the tiny lake onward for that matter), until my friends put them there on Nov 30.

I was hopeful the fact that this destination was now accessible again would remain hush-hush at least for a while, but alas...the TAY way is to drag a crowd to a previously quiet spot.


So you heard second hand from your friends that there were no tracks prior to theirs? I think I'd question them about how much they were really looking for other peoples tracks, rather than call a report into question, after someone posted about being there.  At this time of the year, and in these conditions, I'd certainly be posting about finding some nice snow! I appreciate the report.

author=JoshK link=topic=32865.msg137011#msg137011 date=1417498491]
Odd...there were no ski tracks off Green mountain yesterday (or from the tiny lake onward for that matter), until my friends put them there on Nov 30.

I was hopeful the fact that this destination was now accessible again would remain hush-hush at least for a while, but alas...the TAY way is to drag a crowd to a previously quiet spot.


Whoa.  The secret is out and someone's being questioned about their trip report!  Lol.  I read people's trip reports all the time and post my own (I should post more, but I'm lazy) to get ideas for things to do and to let others know what's going on from snow stability, routes, and just what other options are out there.  I think the community is great and people have the freedom to share where they go.  When I go back country skiing to very well known areas or places that have been posted in TAY over the years I feel like I cross tracks with someone maybe one or twice during my trips.  I think it's great to say hello, meet someone new, or just know that others are enjoying the snow.  If people don't want to share their 'spots' I totally get it and don't blast them for not posting, but if someone does post a trip report it shouldn't be seen as a bad thing.  It only discourages people from posting trip reports and being a community, which isn't a good thing.  If you're against someone posting a trip report on TAY why are you on this website, but to only gather information about other peoples trip reports that you can drag yourself to?

Also, are we really going to sit here and question someone's trip report to be true or false?

My apologies on the rant, but this hit a nerve this evening as it takes away from the intent of the original poster.

Thanks for the trip report.  Appreciate knowing what's going on outside even knowing I probably won't hit up Green Mountain this year.

Nice thinking, Kevin. IIRC Burgdorfer describes this as an good early season/low cover tour. Way to hop on that road opening!

WRT the critique, I like the "no spray in TRs" policy on nwhikers. There generally, if someone sees an issue of concern raised w/in a report, they start a new post about the issue in their equivalent of "random tracks" and thus avoid demotivating posters of TRs. Sekrit Lakes appears to be the nwhikers equivalent of "quiet stashes" here. The discussions tend to loop predictably, IMO, and never resolve.

Thanks for the trip report Kevin.  Had "forgotten" about Green Mountain. 
Oyvind

author=avajane link=topic=32865.msg137057#msg137057 date=1417581172]
So you heard second hand from your friends that there were no tracks prior to theirs? I think I'd question them about how much they were really looking for other peoples tracks, rather than call a report into question, after someone posted about being there.


Nice assumption, but actually I was there too. 3 friends, 3 descent tracks descending from the top of Green Mountain. :) Perhaps the OP went somewhere other than the top, who knows.

Anyway, I see I really hit a nerve! My observation is this from over the years: I'll see a post on TAY from a spot that I had previously experienced multiple times in complete solitude. After that post they'll be a noticeable increase in people who visit that spot. The internet has brought a new level of communication to information that used to be transferred largely word-of-mouth. Some of the result is good, some of it is bad, in my opinion.

It's hard to find solitude in an increasingly overcrowded world (and in an increasingly popular sport) and I can't be the only one who goes to the backcountry with the hopes of NOT seeing other people. In no way does this mean I'm unfriendly or unwelcoming to anybody I meet there; in fact I find it's almost guaranteed the people you'll meet in the BC will be cool people. But given the choice, I prefer to enjoy the experience alone or with those friends I go there with.

Regarding Green Mountain, I realize it is in no way a secret, but I did find it novel that given the 10+ year closure of the road, the area had largely faded from memory for many people. The 3 friends I referred to who were there I had tipped off to it. I was pleased, and quite surprised, to hear they had it to themselves.

Normally the "TAY effect" doesn't much matter since people generally visit (and post about) the same few places, but other times it does have an impact. In no way do I believe I can tell others not to post TRs, as it's absolutely their right. Though I also have a right to my own opinion, which is that over-saturation of information can also have it's downsides. There is something to be said for reading over maps, thinking over conditions and then setting off an adventure and seeing what you find yourself.

"There is something to be said for reading over maps, thinking over conditions and then setting off an adventure and seeing what you find yourself. "

I pretty much agree with that last statement. 

I get really annoyed however at the TAY drama about the "TAY effect" or "secret stashes" or any other time someone is pissed that other people found "their spot".  The cascades are vast and our population actually isn't.  If you are wiling to work for it then you can indeed find a pristine absolutely solitary experience in our mountains.  Actually it isn't that much work, just get out a topo and get obsessed, then go break a sweat.

And think about it: even driving to Paradise.  There are literally dozens of bowls and drainages that see almost zero skiers.  Or BC Crystal.  If you've got a brain and some topo-know-how then a great descent with bottomless powder and zero friends is almost always possible. 

Where did I get my fact-finding stash-finding skills?  Red Lodge Montana.  I was knocking down first descents IN BOUNDS almost daily at a 300 acre, lodge-pole infested nearly snow-less ski slope.  :)  Boom!

Isn't a topo map pretty much someone else's trip report of terrain?
Nice report Kevin.

I've been planning for years to get up on green whenever the road opens up.  Thanks for the post Kevin, I'm frequently led astray in when I interpolate conditions from Gold Hill and Lyman Lake gages...

JoshK, I guess you'll have to go somewhere not in a book already and not take any friends and not talk about it.  That way you can keep it to yourself!  ;)

I posted Painted Couloir years ago, and still have yet to hear another report.  The Mt loop is a lonely place and deserving of more trips and trip reports!  Keep it up Kevin, you're the man!

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nov-29-green-mountain-suiattle
Kevin Steffa
2014-11-30 18:15:11