Cutthroat Peak, WA Pass - May 6, 2006
5/15/06
WA Cascades East Slopes North
3405
4
Bill, Jeromy and I headed for WA Pass Saturday morning with no particular destination in mind. After leaving my car in Sedro Wooley, Jeromy made short work getting us to the pass by 8AM or so. Given the partial cloud cover and cooling temps, we knew that we would find our best skiing on south facing slopes. Bill suggested Mt. Hardy, but neither Jeromy nor I really felt like boot packing for the first hour that it would take to get to continuously skinnable snow...we drove on. We saw a high concentration of cars at the Blue Lake TH and decided the Birthday Tour/Madison Ave. was going to be too busy. We also considered Silver Star, but decided that it was going to be too firm due to the more northerly aspect. I had noticed a nice south facing slope between Whistler and Cutthroat and suggested we drive back and give it a second look. This was our choice. Just right! Hey, this is starting to sound like Goldielocks and the 3 Bears isn't it ???
We got out of the truck and I quickly noticed that I had left my ski poles in my Rocket Box...back in Sedro! >:(
I was truly pissed off at myself. Skinning is no fun without poles. Skiing without them in the BC is only slightly better. I started looking for a solution. I yanked a bamboo roadside marker from the snow bank and began hacking at it with my ice axe, eventually getting two even length sections. A little bit of duct tape on the ends to prevent splintering and I figured that was about the best I could hope for.
Just as we were getting ready to leave, another car pulls up and the lone driver gets out. His name was Derek and he was a Mazama local. He asked where we were headed and if we minded him tagging along since he was by himself. "No problem. Say, you wouldn't happen to have a spare pair of poles I could use, would you?" To my amazement, he did. In fact, I had my pick of 2 pairs! What luck! :D
Now for the skiing part of the TR:
We were heading up by 9ish and the snow was still firm, but we could tell it was going to soften nicely by the time we were making our runs. We climbed about 1,600vf to the upper basin below Cutthroat proper and took a rest break. We initially wanted to climb further up to the divide, but reconsidered since the ridgeline was mostly obscured by clouds. Time to ski. We decided to leave our packs and take a lap down. Things were pretty firm for the first couple hundred feet, but quickly turned to butter. We skied all the way down to the waterfall and headed back up for another round. Derek, having kept his pack decided to sit this one out and make short laps on the apron below the waterfall. The rest of us scooted back up to retrieve our packs and things started to get a bit snowy, so we decided to take our packs with us this time. The surface was ever better the second time. We all took a few laps more on the lower apron, because the snow was so fun. Time to head home...
Sorry, no pictures.
Derek: If you read this, thanks again! You saved the day! If we had chosen to ski anywhere else, I would have been using bamboo for sure! :-[
We got out of the truck and I quickly noticed that I had left my ski poles in my Rocket Box...back in Sedro! >:(
I was truly pissed off at myself. Skinning is no fun without poles. Skiing without them in the BC is only slightly better. I started looking for a solution. I yanked a bamboo roadside marker from the snow bank and began hacking at it with my ice axe, eventually getting two even length sections. A little bit of duct tape on the ends to prevent splintering and I figured that was about the best I could hope for.
Just as we were getting ready to leave, another car pulls up and the lone driver gets out. His name was Derek and he was a Mazama local. He asked where we were headed and if we minded him tagging along since he was by himself. "No problem. Say, you wouldn't happen to have a spare pair of poles I could use, would you?" To my amazement, he did. In fact, I had my pick of 2 pairs! What luck! :D
Now for the skiing part of the TR:
We were heading up by 9ish and the snow was still firm, but we could tell it was going to soften nicely by the time we were making our runs. We climbed about 1,600vf to the upper basin below Cutthroat proper and took a rest break. We initially wanted to climb further up to the divide, but reconsidered since the ridgeline was mostly obscured by clouds. Time to ski. We decided to leave our packs and take a lap down. Things were pretty firm for the first couple hundred feet, but quickly turned to butter. We skied all the way down to the waterfall and headed back up for another round. Derek, having kept his pack decided to sit this one out and make short laps on the apron below the waterfall. The rest of us scooted back up to retrieve our packs and things started to get a bit snowy, so we decided to take our packs with us this time. The surface was ever better the second time. We all took a few laps more on the lower apron, because the snow was so fun. Time to head home...
Sorry, no pictures.
Derek: If you read this, thanks again! You saved the day! If we had chosen to ski anywhere else, I would have been using bamboo for sure! :-[
Sounds great, Sam! I enjoyed your description of the bamboo "poles." It would be fun to start a thread about the best trailhead MacGyvers people have done. A friend of mine once forgot his boot liners during a car exchange. He had the shells, but no liners. We carved down the soles of some running shoes to fit inside the shells and duct-taped blue foam all around his ankles and shins. He completed the tour but I remember him a coming up to the col and sort of wincing with low-grade pain at each step. It was one of those trips that's funny for everybody but the victim.
A friend who travelled from CO to ski Silver Star with us left his telemark boots back on a kitchen table in Seattle. I lent him my lightweight hiking boots, which he duct taped in to his bindings. They skied up quite well. He did not make a single turn on the way down, however, but he was happy to have made the trip nonetheless. The rest of us got turns, but it was mostly ultra-deep mush so he wasn't missing a lot.
Then there's always this problem which should be avoided... ;)
This isn't exactly a trailhead improvisation, but I wanted to pass it along:
Four of us set out to ski around Crater Lake in a late March snowstorm, during which eight inches or so of new snow fell. The next day dawned bright and sunny, which was great -- for about an hour. After that, two of us were having terrible problems with snow sticking to our skins. The glopping was really slowing us down, and we still had 24 miles to go. Nobody had skin wax, so we tried to think of an alternative. How about Chapstick? Everybody had a mostly empty tube, but pooling our resources allowed the two of us to smear small dabs along the mid part of our skis. It worked like a charm -- no sticking! -- and saved our trip.
Four of us set out to ski around Crater Lake in a late March snowstorm, during which eight inches or so of new snow fell. The next day dawned bright and sunny, which was great -- for about an hour. After that, two of us were having terrible problems with snow sticking to our skins. The glopping was really slowing us down, and we still had 24 miles to go. Nobody had skin wax, so we tried to think of an alternative. How about Chapstick? Everybody had a mostly empty tube, but pooling our resources allowed the two of us to smear small dabs along the mid part of our skis. It worked like a charm -- no sticking! -- and saved our trip.
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