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May 30-31 Overcoat- Third time should be a charm.

5/30/15
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Posted by mikerolfs on 5/31/15 2:58pm
...but this Trip Report is for the second effort.  The third time I hope will be sweet.  I really want to ski this snow finger on overcoat:

I gave it a shot in October of 2013, only to be foiled by too little early season snow.  That approach was from the west and reported here
Encouraged by recent Mt Daniel trip reports showing good snowpack, I thought maybe there was still adequate snow just south of there, but that was not to be.

Andy Dappen, Jamie Tackman and I made the disappointing decision to abandon the goal after watching amazing amounts of water pour over rocks, disappear under the snow, and reappear further down the hill.  We approached this time from the East via Pete Lake, and the final slope from below the North Peak of Chimney Rock up to the Overcoat Glacier looked like a minefield waiting for us to punch through to the melt water raging below.  We did have a nice (great really) corn run from the North Peak col of Chimney Rock back to our camp below the East face of the North Peak.  It was disappointing to rearrange our goals, but it was still a good ski trip. 

Chimney Rock is the right-most peak. 


Beautiful meadows on the approach.


After making the "pull rip-chord" decision, at least we got in a nice run.  The slope above Jamie is the one we didn't like.  Way too much water running under the snow, with no good route that didn't cross a watercourse.


View from camp was pretty nice. 




Since we weren't going to be skiing the snowfinger on Overcoat, we had some extra time in the morning and we decided to ski up to the col that separates the east snowfields from the overcoat glacier.  It turned out to be a great ski run surrounded by thousand foot vertical rock walls.  Very nice consolation prize.

Jamie approaches the plateau below the col:


Pete Lake beyond.  It was a pretty good approach.  Pete Lake is 4 miles from the car.


Skiing from the col was perfect:










The walk out wasn't as bad as the photos that follow, but pretty close...
There was some of this:


some of this:


and of course a bit of this:


It was a good trip, and a better recon mission.  Overcoat is, so far, the one that got away from me.  Now I've been both too early, and too late.  Next try will be earlier spring I think. 
...that's the business, right there. Local skiing & rock hoppin'. Excellent report, many thanks you've inspired me to get the glue back on the skins!

Dawn, almost exactly a year ago. I reckon one of those is your finger?

That's a beautiful photo, Jake.  Both salt in the wound and mouth watering.  What a ski that would be... all the way to the bottom of the photo.  The right arrow is the snow finger in the Becky guide.  The col that we skied from on our consolation ski is behind the left arrow.

Hit me up, if I can get a hall pass, I'm there. I love that area.
I suspect there will be a few more folks one the Middle fork road is paved. Assuming it doesn't slide into the river.....

Disappointing? People complain that time flies and days are short. Good skiing accelerates the loss of time.

But carrying heavy packs saddled with skis through brush and over deadfall makes time crawl. A day feels like a week. The more heinous the slide alder, the more time you have. Sometimes a day can feel like a month.

What's disappointing about finding the solution to the question "Where does the time go?"
It goes to those of us crawling around in the brush. And yesterday I was collecting time from lots of people.

Here's a closer up of that finger when we ski'd it a couple years ago.  I have a couple even closer photos but not on this computer.

author=Enzolola link=topic=34327.msg141693#msg141693 date=1433197410]
Here's a closer up of that finger when we ski'd it a couple years ago.  I have a couple even closer photos but not on this computer.


Beautiful.  Looks like you had great conditions.

Oh my!  This has been Mikes obsession, but those pictures sure up my itch to get there! Thanks for a great trip, my sore feet should be feeling better tomorrow!

Love the pictures and the story. I share a somewhat similar obsession with Chimney's East face rock route. Hope we both tick it off our third times! The pictures from others of Overcoat in good condition up high looks amazing - can't wait until it snows some more :)

Put me on your call list next time mike!  Cuz I think you're gonna make it then  ;D

I too had my sights set on the overcoat glacier and a hidden line in those parts. First attempt last year was via burntboot/middlefork which was cut short by survival mode ice. Second was early this May cut short by animal noise in the middle of the night near the basin of lemah while by myself. Third was the following week via spectacle and across the bench to iceberg and up the col. There was still just enough snow to make the spectacle lake to glacier lake part tolerable but after that it was legit the whole way. Spent the night on the overcoat with only the stars and moon as company. That's a special place. Real son of a bitch to access though which is what is so great about that place.

anyone know if the middle fork is open again? would like to run the dutch soon

edit: nevermind open noon Friday through noon Monday til october

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2015-05-31 21:58:56