Feb 17-20, 2006, Chelan Mountains/Holden vicinity

Rising abruptly above the valley floor in which the tiny isolated village of Holden is located, the mountains in this area are some of the highest and steepest in the Cascades.  Our ski tours focused on valleys and alpine basins in the Chelan Mountains just south of Holden, where views of impressive peaks abound (including several near and over 9,000-ft in elevation including Copper Peak, Mt. Fernow, and (across the valley) mighty Bonanza Peak.  

In our group of 5, this was a first trip to the Holden valley for 3 (Becca, Jason, and Ruth) and a return trip for Kevin and myself (though I had not previously stayed in the comfortable accommodation of Holden village or been to the valley during the winter months).  

February 18th (Saturday):  Kevin, Ruth, and myself decided to explore up Copper Basin (huge north-facing upper bowl between Mt. Fernow and Buckskin Mountain) on our first full day in the Holden valley.  After an overnight low temperature of -9 degrees F, we departed from the village at 8:30 under clear skies and a balmy -2 degrees F (fortunately winds were nill).  Snow surface conditions were highly variable, but mostly semi-breakable surface crust (primarily surface hoar/ice crusts/near surface facets), with notably softer snow in the trees above lower Copper Basin.  

Of interesting note, we came across old (though likely within the past few weeks) remnant debris from a gigantic (class 5) climax avalanche, which had filled nearly the entirety of lower Copper Basin.  The impressive crown (~10-to-15 feet high at least) became visible later in the tour, high on the steep eastern flanks of Copper Peak near its summit.  The slide had exposed bedrock over much of the upper flanks of the peak, entraining an enormous volume of snow on its descent, and had snapped off trees like toothpicks lower down in the basin.  

Continuing on through forest and glades to upper Copper Basin, Ruth opted to bask in the sun's warmth while Kevin and I explored further up the basin near the steep west flank of Buckskin Mountain.  We skinned up a gentle wind-scoured slope to ~6,500 feet to a flat area below the sheer west face of Buckskin Mtn.  A high col ~700 vf above us was a tempting destination (col elevation ~7,200-ft; slopes ~30-40 deg. steepness, open with no visible anchors), but after some discussion we decided on our location on the flats as a stopping point.  

Aside from being at our turn-around time (1:30 pm), potentially sketchy stability conditions were observed in the snowpack (i.e. characteristics more typical of intermountain snowpacks).  In spite of a seemingly well settled snowpack, snow pit and stability tests conducted at varying elevations revealed a prominent weak layer in the form of a heavily faceted crust overlain by very cohesive snow and near surface crusts/facets (the prominent weak layer was found ~13 inches deep on a north aspect at ~3,500-ft, and at ~18-inches deep on NW aspects at both 5,500 feet and 6,000 feet, though noticeably thinner at the higher elevations).  We got a rutchblock score of 5 with an average shear quality lower in the valley on the buried faceted crust (pit at ~3,500-ft), and failure in a compression test with 4 taps from the elbow on the 18 inch deep layer in the pit at 6,000 feet (and a much cleaner shear on the faceted crust).  Also, quite strong temperature gradients (~10 degrees Celsius/10 cm) were measured in the upper snowpack (to ~70 cm deep) in the pit at ~3,500-ft,  during a short tour near the village the previous evening, which seemed to still be driving rapid faceting in the snowpack.  

The interpretation was that skier-triggered hard/dry slabs running on the ~18-inch deep faceted crust seemed possible, especially on steeper terrain at/near convexities (such as near the 7,200-ft col above the basin we were in; I preferred not to ascend to the col to test this hypothesis).  So we took in the stunning views from the basin at 6,500-feet, peeled climbing skins and headed down to meet-up with Ruth in the main basin. We found out later back at the village that a group of 2 climbers/boarders out on this same day (much more ambitious than myself) had ascended up the opposite side of upper Copper Basin on a quite steep NE aspect to an eastern sub-summit of Mt. Fernow, and boarded down without incident.    

Ski conditions on our route in the upper basin were much better than expected on the variable supportable-to-breakable surface crust (though Kevin may incline to disagree);  the wind-scoured areas were mostly skier supportable making for some fast and fun turns.  The pockets of trap crust became more common while skiing down to the floor of the upper basin.  I hadn't planned on practicing summersaults, but the trap crust provided such an involuntary opportunity, twice! >:(

After meeting up with Ruth in the basin, we had the best turns of the day 8) on softer (and much more carveable) snow in the trees/glades between the upper and lower basin.  However I managed to snap my right ski pole in half  ???(near the middle of the pole) while pushing through a tight, fast, turn in the trees .  This made for some awkward turning with half a pole for the remainder of the descent, which was mostly crusty snow through forest leading to the 'diversion dam' access road back to the friendly hospitality of Holden village.   The air temperature has risen to a tropical  ;)+11 degrees F by the time we returned to the village at ~ 4:30 pm.

Winter camping here sure is rough  ;) (lodge-style accommodation with hot showers and heated rooms, all just outside of the Glacier Peak Wilderness.  Nice to sleep comfortably after a long day out followed by a 3-course brunch in the morning) 8) .

Our full group of 5 toured up the Big Creek valley on Feb. 19th.  Kevin said he'll post a TR for the Big Creek tour, though I'll add this
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