December 21, 2002, Hidden Lake Peak (Sibley Pass)
12/21/02
WA Cascades East Slopes Central
2876
1
As we headed out to find another adventure, our friend Jerry (jersan) mentioned how much fun Hidden lake Peak can be for a ski tour. So myself, beave, jerry, and sergio left my house in ever-wet around 7am on Saturday morning. We got up to Darrington and then made our way to hwy 20, then up to the TH. We hit snow about halfway up the 4 mile road, and since we were in beave's new toyota TRD, we plowed through fresh snow all the way up until about 1/4 mile before the TH. We got our skis on, and the other guys got their splitboards/snowshoes ready to go. This is when Jerry and Sergio got into a fight over who used the skins (jk)
http://www.nwog.org/images/hiddenlakepeak122102/0352.jpg
The snow seemed really nice, and then the trip through the trees really sucked. I had my new crossbows, and wanted to treat them nicely, and since I was last in our group they exposed most of the crap for me to scrape and trash them on. After finally making out of the damn trees (i was pissed at this point because one of my clipfix skins was broken and kept falling off)
We then got our first view of the area
http://www.nwog.org/images/hiddenlakepeak122102/sergio/0024.jpg
We followed the trail up the gulley, and then followed it as it cut left then right onto a slope and through some slide alder. It was really wind blown crust and icy through here, and only an edge could catch for traction.
There was plenty of evidence to previous avy activity, but only on the southeast slopes, so we continued up the slope and hugged the right side of the basin as we headed up
http://www.nwog.org/images/hiddenlakepeak122102/0358.jpg
We then decided to hit the left side of the main slope below Sibley Pass and stay under the cliffs for the best pro from slabs. At this point I had already dug one pit and discovered a 2 inch thick crust with 1.5 feet of soft snow, and then 1.5 feet of hard snow/ice. I did not feel too good about it at this point, and after being involved in a ski mountaineering course (halfway through) I knew enough to scare myself. We traveled a little bit further
http://www.nwog.org/images/hiddenlakepeak122102/0360.jpg
and then I pulled the plug on myself, had lunch, dug another pit. Jerry was about 50-100 feet above us, and let a slab go on one part of the slope, but not much
http://www.nwog.org/images/hiddenlakepeak122102/sergio/0026.jpg
We then all skied down, and I quickly realized how bad the snow was with the crust, one ski would break through and the other would not
http://www.nwog.org/images/hiddenlakepeak122102/sergio/0027.jpg
The boarders had no problems with it at all and rode out the slopes
http://www.nwog.org/images/hiddenlakepeak122102/sergio/0028.jpg
What really sucked was by the time we got down to the trees, I realized that I had lost my digital camera somewhere up on the slopes. I had fallen several times, so it popped right out of its case. I did not go to find it, and realized it might be time for an upgrade in the coming month or so.
From here Jerry and I had to carry the skis and boot it down in posthole hell. Once back at the road we were able to get the skis back on and ski the last 1/4 mile to the car in just a few minutes.
We did not see anyone else except a couple that turned around right after busting through the trees down below.
A topo of our route:
http://www.nwog.org/images/hiddenlakepeak122102/sergio/0024-3.jpg
If you find an HP Photosmart C200 Camera, lemme know!
Oh yeah, a movie from this adventure will be out soon on www.nwog.org
L8R
http://www.nwog.org/images/hiddenlakepeak122102/0352.jpg
The snow seemed really nice, and then the trip through the trees really sucked. I had my new crossbows, and wanted to treat them nicely, and since I was last in our group they exposed most of the crap for me to scrape and trash them on. After finally making out of the damn trees (i was pissed at this point because one of my clipfix skins was broken and kept falling off)
We then got our first view of the area
http://www.nwog.org/images/hiddenlakepeak122102/sergio/0024.jpg
We followed the trail up the gulley, and then followed it as it cut left then right onto a slope and through some slide alder. It was really wind blown crust and icy through here, and only an edge could catch for traction.
There was plenty of evidence to previous avy activity, but only on the southeast slopes, so we continued up the slope and hugged the right side of the basin as we headed up
http://www.nwog.org/images/hiddenlakepeak122102/0358.jpg
We then decided to hit the left side of the main slope below Sibley Pass and stay under the cliffs for the best pro from slabs. At this point I had already dug one pit and discovered a 2 inch thick crust with 1.5 feet of soft snow, and then 1.5 feet of hard snow/ice. I did not feel too good about it at this point, and after being involved in a ski mountaineering course (halfway through) I knew enough to scare myself. We traveled a little bit further
http://www.nwog.org/images/hiddenlakepeak122102/0360.jpg
and then I pulled the plug on myself, had lunch, dug another pit. Jerry was about 50-100 feet above us, and let a slab go on one part of the slope, but not much
http://www.nwog.org/images/hiddenlakepeak122102/sergio/0026.jpg
We then all skied down, and I quickly realized how bad the snow was with the crust, one ski would break through and the other would not
http://www.nwog.org/images/hiddenlakepeak122102/sergio/0027.jpg
The boarders had no problems with it at all and rode out the slopes
http://www.nwog.org/images/hiddenlakepeak122102/sergio/0028.jpg
What really sucked was by the time we got down to the trees, I realized that I had lost my digital camera somewhere up on the slopes. I had fallen several times, so it popped right out of its case. I did not go to find it, and realized it might be time for an upgrade in the coming month or so.
From here Jerry and I had to carry the skis and boot it down in posthole hell. Once back at the road we were able to get the skis back on and ski the last 1/4 mile to the car in just a few minutes.
We did not see anyone else except a couple that turned around right after busting through the trees down below.
A topo of our route:
http://www.nwog.org/images/hiddenlakepeak122102/sergio/0024-3.jpg
If you find an HP Photosmart C200 Camera, lemme know!
Oh yeah, a movie from this adventure will be out soon on www.nwog.org
L8R