TR: 16-21 FEB Western USA
2/16/19
985
0
After soliciting the TAY minds for ideas I ended up sticking around early Feb for two amazing days at Heather Meadows, the Spearhead Traverse, and not-so-great day in White Salmon Cirque.
I had a family ski week in Summit County from 10-15 FEB, which blessed us with amazing groomers until they got snow on the Valentines Day.
I met up with a buddy on Saturday the 16th, and after seeing some mountain bikes on cars on the drive out of CO we decided to go to Moab and do some biking. We ended up riding three different areas on Saturday and Sunday which was a great change of pace with hardly any company.
On Sunday the 17th we rode the Gold Bar Rim in the morning and heading to the La Sals for an afternoon tour and to set ourselves up for Monday the 18th. Limited visibility and a highly reactive snowpack kept is skiing the trees for safety and contrast. Sunday was about 2k and Monday was about 6k - incredible terrain and snow quality in the desert. Worth brining your skis every time you go to Moab.
Two days of MTB and two ski tours was enough for my buddy, so he went back to SLC and I reloacted into the Ruby Mountains of Northern Nevada looking to ski the Terminal Cancern Couloir on Tuesday 19 FEB. The road was blocked about 2.5 miles from the normal closure, making a 3 mile approach into about 5.5 miles. Being solo I had ZERO tolerance for risk, and at about 1/3 of the way up the couloir (just before entering the tight, vertical wall section) I found enough wind slab to turn me around. I toured around some other areas gaining familiarity and got some first hand expereicne in the range. It is a truely under-the-radar zone that could use some more traffic - March or April would be ideal with longer days and hopefully a more stable profile. Only 5k vert with 18 miles due to the long approach.
I set my sights for PNW and worked to try and find another objective en route. I ended up with the McCully Basin in Eastern Oregon. On Wednesday 20 FEB, what I thought would be a four mile skin ended up being about six miles into the goods, and with almost no visibility I relied on a previous skin track to bring to into the best terrain. The terrain was great with a plethora of options available and a wonderful hidden gem. Wallowa Alpine Huts appears to have a great system of yurts with really awsome guides working out there - look them up. Similar stats as Ruby, about 5k and 18 miles.
On Thursday 21 FEB I met up with Lane, who endured the not-so-great White Salmon Cirque tour back on 07 FEB with me. Telemetry showed that Snoqualmie Pass might have gotten a great combination of temps and precip. Lane wrote a great TR for the Chair Peak Circumnav already, but he left out the stats: 7.5k and 13 miles with 9 total downhill runs. We broke trail the entire way, and hopefully it lasts through the current weather for folks this weekend. BIG THANKS to the guys we met at the top of Bryant Peak Couloir who, after grabbing first tracks let us slip in before they skied it again.
Big thanks to the TAY folks who gave some great ideas for where/what to do in FEB. I really wanted to get into the Red Mountain zone, but they were getting BLASTED with snow and mega cold temps and I doubted our ability to really get some bang for the buck and the prospect of MTB in Moab was hard to shake.
I'll add some pics to Lane's TR and get some for this soon.
I had a family ski week in Summit County from 10-15 FEB, which blessed us with amazing groomers until they got snow on the Valentines Day.
I met up with a buddy on Saturday the 16th, and after seeing some mountain bikes on cars on the drive out of CO we decided to go to Moab and do some biking. We ended up riding three different areas on Saturday and Sunday which was a great change of pace with hardly any company.
On Sunday the 17th we rode the Gold Bar Rim in the morning and heading to the La Sals for an afternoon tour and to set ourselves up for Monday the 18th. Limited visibility and a highly reactive snowpack kept is skiing the trees for safety and contrast. Sunday was about 2k and Monday was about 6k - incredible terrain and snow quality in the desert. Worth brining your skis every time you go to Moab.
Two days of MTB and two ski tours was enough for my buddy, so he went back to SLC and I reloacted into the Ruby Mountains of Northern Nevada looking to ski the Terminal Cancern Couloir on Tuesday 19 FEB. The road was blocked about 2.5 miles from the normal closure, making a 3 mile approach into about 5.5 miles. Being solo I had ZERO tolerance for risk, and at about 1/3 of the way up the couloir (just before entering the tight, vertical wall section) I found enough wind slab to turn me around. I toured around some other areas gaining familiarity and got some first hand expereicne in the range. It is a truely under-the-radar zone that could use some more traffic - March or April would be ideal with longer days and hopefully a more stable profile. Only 5k vert with 18 miles due to the long approach.
I set my sights for PNW and worked to try and find another objective en route. I ended up with the McCully Basin in Eastern Oregon. On Wednesday 20 FEB, what I thought would be a four mile skin ended up being about six miles into the goods, and with almost no visibility I relied on a previous skin track to bring to into the best terrain. The terrain was great with a plethora of options available and a wonderful hidden gem. Wallowa Alpine Huts appears to have a great system of yurts with really awsome guides working out there - look them up. Similar stats as Ruby, about 5k and 18 miles.
On Thursday 21 FEB I met up with Lane, who endured the not-so-great White Salmon Cirque tour back on 07 FEB with me. Telemetry showed that Snoqualmie Pass might have gotten a great combination of temps and precip. Lane wrote a great TR for the Chair Peak Circumnav already, but he left out the stats: 7.5k and 13 miles with 9 total downhill runs. We broke trail the entire way, and hopefully it lasts through the current weather for folks this weekend. BIG THANKS to the guys we met at the top of Bryant Peak Couloir who, after grabbing first tracks let us slip in before they skied it again.
Big thanks to the TAY folks who gave some great ideas for where/what to do in FEB. I really wanted to get into the Red Mountain zone, but they were getting BLASTED with snow and mega cold temps and I doubted our ability to really get some bang for the buck and the prospect of MTB in Moab was hard to shake.
I'll add some pics to Lane's TR and get some for this soon.
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