Home > Trip Reports > january 7, 2006--bear gap and crystal vicinity

january 7, 2006--bear gap and crystal vicinity

1/7/06
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
2950
5
Posted by allyson on 1/7/06 8:12am
cinnamon, cass, and i left the renton p&r by 7 am, and headed up to crystal area.  after checking in with ski patrol and buying our one-ride tickets up quicksilver, (see ron j and j-net--even the "young folks" like to save skin time!) we headed over towards bear gap.  visibility varied as we experienced a mix of sun and flurries on the way up.  

we found about 1-2 inches of soft fluff on top of a breakable rain crust.  temps were warm (mid 30s) and winds were light (stronger up on the ridge).  we dug a couple pits around 5850', and discovered a pretty well-consolidated snow pack that broke on a shovel shear (after wrist, elbow, and arm tap tests) about 18" down, though not on a very clean plane.  the three of us agreed that the break was on a rain crust probably formed during that mid december warm/rain spell.

after de-skinning at about 6000', we skied down the other side and found a mix of heavy, hard-to-turn-in glop.  AWESOME!!! (just kidding). we stayed close in the trees, avoiding open slopes that had been wind affected.  we descended about 400' before the trees got too tight for turns, and headed back up to the pass.  once we reached bear gap again, the falling snow had become more steady, and we descended into the crystal side.  

maneuvered our way through gullies and jungles, all the while avoiding cliffs and enjoying whatever turns we could make gracefully.  came out of the woods and boondogged it back down to the base of crystal.  total vert for the day: ~2000'.  and we only had to skin about 1000' for that, thanks to the one-ride wonder ticket--so how's the JOM work that??

weren't the most epic conditions ever, but do they always have to be?  of course not!  ;D  good times and good company--i kinda like this skiing thing!  ;)
... found a mix of heavy, hard-to-turn-in glop.

I rather enjoyed all that glop ;D
Cinnamon made that glop skiing look easy!  :)

The glades were sure nice on the Crystal Mtn side of Bear Gap though (ok, gloppy snow notwithstanding); and much nicer than the jungle land on the Morse Creek drainage side...

Recent natural wet slides (presumably set off during the rain/high winds in the past couple days) on several exposed slopes were evident, most apparently triggered by large chunks of over-hanging cornices which had broken-off ridgelines above those slopes.  No current wet slide activity was noted during our outing today (likely attributable to lowering temps. and snowpack settlement), including test ski cuts done prior to skiing a short, but steepish (~40-deg. slope) section...

The rest of the trip photos


allySON, cinnaMON, and Cass... nice work.
glad you had a nice, safe adventure. sure nice to see you on two planks allyson. way to go!

ski ya,
jessica

Way to work it in the infamous Cascade concrete - I'm sure your quads were thanking you  ;).

Nice report, gang.  Thanks.
Looks like the usual, better skiing on this side rather than the other, eh?

Very nice!   sounds like a fun time folks.

I went lift-skiing up at Crystal today... killer weather, visibility, views... and snow wasn't too bad either.  Kinda icy in the afternoon i suppose.  

Also kinda "gloppy" in places too.... which believe it or not I was going out my way to seek out now and then!!  Definitely need more practice with that glop stuff.   :)

Ethan

Reply to this TR

2733
january-7-2006-bear-gap-and-crystal-vicinity
allyson
2006-01-07 16:12:41