6/8/06; Teanaway- toward Lake Ann
6/15/06
WA Cascades East Slopes Central
2296
2
The June 3rd TR for Fortune Mountain caught my interest. Since I have not been in that area of the Teanaway, I decided to go check it out and try out my new gear.
There was about 1100' vertical of skiing with skis off to walk twice on the run down. After that, I just walked down. There is a lot of bare ground compared to the June 3rd report. The snow was soft wet corn, good on the top 400' and rough below, but easy and soft for turning. Unfortunately as I approached the top, the west wind blew in the clouds so there was poor visibility and no view. I had hoped to see a view and scope for skiing lines, but had to just ski back down my ascent path for safety and orientation. As I descended to the east, it cleared in that direction.
I enjoyed my new K2 Chogori skis, Dynafit bindings, and Dynafit TLT 4 boots. A nice light balanced rig, great for walking and carrying, and feels good also for turns.
It was an enjoyable day, since I walked and carried and then skinned, and had a run. On the way up I walked easily to 5800' in my Gore Tex trail running shoes before starting skinning. This morning I left my home in Leavenworth in clear weather, so I drove over Blewett and up the Teanaway (and returned) in the Jeep with the top down The cool morning required wearing a Carhartt coat, wool hat and gloves, but it was enjoyable with all of the great views. A good day in nice country.
If anyone wants to ski in the area, perhaps a better plan would be to check out the area around Lake Ingalls for skiing, it may be better now for skiing in comparison.
There was about 1100' vertical of skiing with skis off to walk twice on the run down. After that, I just walked down. There is a lot of bare ground compared to the June 3rd report. The snow was soft wet corn, good on the top 400' and rough below, but easy and soft for turning. Unfortunately as I approached the top, the west wind blew in the clouds so there was poor visibility and no view. I had hoped to see a view and scope for skiing lines, but had to just ski back down my ascent path for safety and orientation. As I descended to the east, it cleared in that direction.
I enjoyed my new K2 Chogori skis, Dynafit bindings, and Dynafit TLT 4 boots. A nice light balanced rig, great for walking and carrying, and feels good also for turns.
It was an enjoyable day, since I walked and carried and then skinned, and had a run. On the way up I walked easily to 5800' in my Gore Tex trail running shoes before starting skinning. This morning I left my home in Leavenworth in clear weather, so I drove over Blewett and up the Teanaway (and returned) in the Jeep with the top down The cool morning required wearing a Carhartt coat, wool hat and gloves, but it was enjoyable with all of the great views. A good day in nice country.
If anyone wants to ski in the area, perhaps a better plan would be to check out the area around Lake Ingalls for skiing, it may be better now for skiing in comparison.
Hi Randonnee, sorry we missed you by just a day. We skied the "back" side (NE side, Ingalls Lake side) as well as the "front" side (SE bowl) and the snow was about the same quality - best on the steepest parts, getting a little rough on the low angle parts, but all still pretty good skiing because it was nicely softened. Compared to the 2.5 mile road walk I had to do the previous time I went to Fortune, I though the access was ridiculously easy - it felt like cheating - and well worth the effort. Everything's relative...
Yes, ditto. It would have been nice to run into someone who knew the terrain since I could not see it!
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