Dec23, 2017, - Jim Hill attempt
12/23/17
1851
2
Against my better judgement and overly motivated by a misguided sense of adventure I rallied a few troops in an attempt to ski Jim Hill (Henry Creek approach)
Quick Summary: Miles of (tedious) skinning for minimal vertical riding, punchy low coverage down low. Much Alderfucking.
Started at 9 am, 1.5hrs of mellow trail breaking through the clear cuts and up the east side of the creek to the head of the valley. Treated occasionally by sunkissed views of the upper slopes coated in powder. All the while fighting the nagging feeling that the coverage was not sufficient at lower elevations to allow us access to the glory above.
Suspicions confirmed once the slide Alder gangbang ensued. We spent a few hours going around, over and through the dense grabby tentacles until we retreated down the opposite side of the creek. Sparse coverage and downed trees made for spicy exit back to the tedious (dry) creek crossing to join our original up track. After a short (occasionally tomahawking) ride through Stumptown we arrived back to our vehicles just after dusk.
Was still a great day to be outside and get some conditioning in. It could've been done with an earlier start and headlamps on the way out. The top 2k looks glorious, we just decided the heinous 1.5k+ at the bottom was not worth it (in or out) to continue on.
All things considered just grateful nobody got an eyeball poked out, fell into any of the plentiful holes, or was penetrated by a sharp log.
Merry Christmas in the Northwest!
Quick Summary: Miles of (tedious) skinning for minimal vertical riding, punchy low coverage down low. Much Alderfucking.
Started at 9 am, 1.5hrs of mellow trail breaking through the clear cuts and up the east side of the creek to the head of the valley. Treated occasionally by sunkissed views of the upper slopes coated in powder. All the while fighting the nagging feeling that the coverage was not sufficient at lower elevations to allow us access to the glory above.
Suspicions confirmed once the slide Alder gangbang ensued. We spent a few hours going around, over and through the dense grabby tentacles until we retreated down the opposite side of the creek. Sparse coverage and downed trees made for spicy exit back to the tedious (dry) creek crossing to join our original up track. After a short (occasionally tomahawking) ride through Stumptown we arrived back to our vehicles just after dusk.
Was still a great day to be outside and get some conditioning in. It could've been done with an earlier start and headlamps on the way out. The top 2k looks glorious, we just decided the heinous 1.5k+ at the bottom was not worth it (in or out) to continue on.
All things considered just grateful nobody got an eyeball poked out, fell into any of the plentiful holes, or was penetrated by a sharp log.
Merry Christmas in the Northwest!
Ah, yes. We love this. Repeat the mantra. The amalgamation of the name of said flora and appropriately attached 4 letter word belongs in the backcountry dictionary.
It did give us plenty of time to debate which is more disruptive to to a PNW bc adventure... Gullyf'd or Alderf'd? Walls of wallow vs. barbed Byzantine conduits of Alderville. Might as well have been discussing presidential candidates or varieties of turd sandwiches.
Reply to this TR
Please login first: