Home > Trip Reports > March 6-10, 2016, Tam McArther Rim

March 6-10, 2016, Tam McArther Rim

3/6/16
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Posted by jtack on 3/10/16 1:21pm
If you pay money to go ski somewhere, it's awfully easy to get caught in the quest for perfect snow, but mother nature being what it is, your likely to get your nose tweaked. Last year we booked a trip with Three sisters Backcountry, and we had to squeeze dam hard to make lemonade, it was rock hard interrupted by the occasional patch of breakable crust.  What brought us back for a second go was all the things that really make a ski trip fun, fantastic views, nice people, good food and good friends. This year we really made up for the demanding skiing we had last year, with near perfect conditions.

Saddle up.

 


There were five in our bunch, and six in a group using the other yurt, we arrived early enough in the day to have plenty of time get out for a ski.  After a quick brief on housekeeping and safety, it was out the back for a lap or two.  You can tell a lot about the crew at Three Sisters, by how they spend their "spare" time.  As soon as they had us checked out, they grabbed their skis and made two quick laps, just for fun.  Day one, was six to eight inches of fluff on a supportable base, with blue skies for good measure.







The only variable for the next four days, was more snow.  Our group is a solid collection of back country skiers, and we would have been OK to explore the area on our own, but it was so much fun to have one of the owners take us out for a day.  Conditions were such that careful terrain selection was important and having someone there who had plenty of history with the area really helped, not to mention knowing where the best snow was. 




















This was a fantastic trip, and it sure was fun to have great snow, but for me the real treasure was making new friends, skiing with old friends, seeing great country, eating great food, and of course TURRRRRning!



Great report!  I looks like such interesting terrain.  You can even see the Rim from the highway.  8)

Thanks for the great trip report. I've skied McCully Basin with Wallowa Alpine Huts but am always looking for other places to explore.

Nice!  You guys make terrible conditions into fun adventures... And awesome conditions into awesomeness!

Thanks for the write-up. It was a fabulous trip. Great snow and great company. Video here:

worth 3 minutes

thanks to our yurt neighbor Jason C for the across the valley clips of the Proboscis.

Great edit Mike!

Mike your video is almost as fun as the skiing, fantastic, thanks!

Nice!  We were there exactly one week prior to you for 4 days.  What an awesome place!  We had weather and conditions all over the map, from hot and sunny, to rain, to wind, to... snow.  Managed to find decent snow each day, but looks like you guys really scored with honest to god POW.

But don't tell me nobody hit the "shitkicker"??  Best line of our trip... and easiest access from the yurts, being only about 50 ft up the hill. :)  (you can see the untracked run-in at 3:33 in the video above)

Silliness:



Love the fact that you can load up the snowmo trailer with everything to make it a real party, disco ball included!



There really is some great terrain out there, but agreed that it's the whole package of being out there that makes the overall experience so awesome:
all the things that really make a ski trip fun, fantastic views, nice people, good food and good friends


Shot of Tam rim from afar a couple days before we went out there:


Great TR and looks like a very cool place off the beaten path.  Thanks for sharing and will add this to the list of places in the west to ski/check out!

JimW - Love the 'shitkicker'!  It wasn't till the second glance that I noticed the person poking their head out of the door!  Awesome picture!

Great write-up Jamie and excellent video Mike!  I had such a great time up there and it was well worth the trip over!  Everything about the trip was better than I had anticipated....good snow, good company, and good food.  Here are a few of my favorite (of many) pictures from the trip.

Mike


Jamie


The Crew


Mike



Jimw, thanks for the great pic, really like the Tam pano, had to go back and check Mikes vid to see the kicker.  And Ben, your pic are really great, thanks.

Wow, always wondered what that area was like.  Thanks for the report.

Looks like a lot of fun.

Awesome pics and video. Looks like a great spot.

I am so excited to see this!  We need (4) partners to join us at this Tam McArthur Rim hut April 22-25 (3 nights, 4 days).  We hope the conditions are this good and it's looking good with the predicted late-season storms. Check out partners wanted page for more info. 

Thank you for all the glorious photos-we can't wait!

~Lara (and Derek)

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jtack
2016-03-10 21:21:23