Dec 26- Dec 31- Wallowa Alpine Huts
12/15/06
6307
10
Four TAY'ers, myself, my son Stewie, Telemack and Overthehills and our families went to the Wallowas for a backcounty skiing trip with the commercial outfit, Wallowa Alpine Huts. :)
First day was a 3.5 mile, 1800 ft skin to the yurts located at 7,400 ft in the MCully basin. We arrived in time for a short skin and ski before dinner. Snow was light powder with good coverage lower down.
Next three days followed a regular routine of coffee and breakfast at 7.00 am, make your own lunch from a buffet in the yurt ,then skins on and beacon check by 9.00 am and off we went. The basin runs north/ south with the head of the basin to the north and surrounding peaks up to 9,500 ft.
The Alpine had been wind blasted and scoured so most of the skiing was in tree glades that contained deep powder. The guides, headed by Connely Brown ( CB) knew every inch and proceeded to take us to a new area for nearly every run.
We ventured into the alpine a couple of times, once to climb Hidden peak which was my son's first real summit and Telemack and Nathan, one of the guides, went up to the Pinnacle saddle. The snow in the alpine was hardpack with some crust.
CB said Feb was best for the Alpine but there was sufficient glade skiing that I was very satisfied with the trip. It didn't hurt that the snow was fine powder and we had blue skies for most of the time. :D
Temps where cold, 1deg at night, 16-20 deg during the day.
Each yurt had a wood stove, with sleeping bags on a cot. Each yurt had 5 or 6 skiers. It was the responsibility of the skiers to keep the stove going with wood stockpiled outside by the guides.
When some skiers got tired, a guide would accompany them back to the hut and some skiers left a day early because of severe blistering.
( Blistering was a real problem on the trip with 50% of the skiers getting blisters that compromised their ability to one degree or another) :(
The trip was strenuous and you needed to be fit but the guides did an excellent job of trying to keep everybody happy, both the hard chargers and the intermediates.
Food was excellent, cooked by the guides in the cook yurt and they where all characters and great fun. The guides all had dogs, so my Husky, Chugach had the time of his life and was just about feral by the time I had to recapture him to put him back in the the car at the trailhead.
I will post some photos tonight.
I recommend this trip and will certainly go again. Cost was $625 each for 4 nights, 5 days.
My partners will hopefully add their thoughts on their experience.
First day was a 3.5 mile, 1800 ft skin to the yurts located at 7,400 ft in the MCully basin. We arrived in time for a short skin and ski before dinner. Snow was light powder with good coverage lower down.
Next three days followed a regular routine of coffee and breakfast at 7.00 am, make your own lunch from a buffet in the yurt ,then skins on and beacon check by 9.00 am and off we went. The basin runs north/ south with the head of the basin to the north and surrounding peaks up to 9,500 ft.
The Alpine had been wind blasted and scoured so most of the skiing was in tree glades that contained deep powder. The guides, headed by Connely Brown ( CB) knew every inch and proceeded to take us to a new area for nearly every run.
We ventured into the alpine a couple of times, once to climb Hidden peak which was my son's first real summit and Telemack and Nathan, one of the guides, went up to the Pinnacle saddle. The snow in the alpine was hardpack with some crust.
CB said Feb was best for the Alpine but there was sufficient glade skiing that I was very satisfied with the trip. It didn't hurt that the snow was fine powder and we had blue skies for most of the time. :D
Temps where cold, 1deg at night, 16-20 deg during the day.
Each yurt had a wood stove, with sleeping bags on a cot. Each yurt had 5 or 6 skiers. It was the responsibility of the skiers to keep the stove going with wood stockpiled outside by the guides.
When some skiers got tired, a guide would accompany them back to the hut and some skiers left a day early because of severe blistering.
( Blistering was a real problem on the trip with 50% of the skiers getting blisters that compromised their ability to one degree or another) :(
The trip was strenuous and you needed to be fit but the guides did an excellent job of trying to keep everybody happy, both the hard chargers and the intermediates.
Food was excellent, cooked by the guides in the cook yurt and they where all characters and great fun. The guides all had dogs, so my Husky, Chugach had the time of his life and was just about feral by the time I had to recapture him to put him back in the the car at the trailhead.
I will post some photos tonight.
I recommend this trip and will certainly go again. Cost was $625 each for 4 nights, 5 days.
My partners will hopefully add their thoughts on their experience.
Yeah it was excellent! Fine snow, lots of variety and great company. I'm getting photo CDs made and will try to post some, too.
The Wallowas are a super area of big, remote mountains. Biggest drawback was the long drive.
check out this site for info and fun pix:
www.wallowahuts.com/
The Wallowas are a super area of big, remote mountains. Biggest drawback was the long drive.
check out this site for info and fun pix:
www.wallowahuts.com/
Hey fellas,
My friend & I met you 2 at the saddle between Cement and Bullion Basins last year (we were splitboarding). Great to hear about the trip you just had. Sounds like something I would be very interested in with my girlfriend who also splitboards. I would love to see your photos. Thanks again for bringing this place to my attention. Good to see your getting some. Take care.
Rob
My friend & I met you 2 at the saddle between Cement and Bullion Basins last year (we were splitboarding). Great to hear about the trip you just had. Sounds like something I would be very interested in with my girlfriend who also splitboards. I would love to see your photos. Thanks again for bringing this place to my attention. Good to see your getting some. Take care.
Rob
Correction, five TAY'ers. You forgot me, overthehills jr. Great trip. We found by far some of the best snow I've experienced. McCully Basin is definitely worth revisiting.
Scotsman---- how old is your son??
CW
CW
jamesellis, sorry James , I didn't know you where an official TAY'er. It was great to watch you ski so confidently and gracefully. Maybe one day, I'll be able to ski like that.
I should also mention some things I omitted from my first post.
There was another Portland couple with us, Portlandmatt( his TT tips name) and his lovely wife Jeanette. The Ellis family also brought their standard poodle, Lucy who managed the powder snow as well as any of the other dogs and is now known as "Powder Poodle". ;D
We had several people on telemark gear and one snowboarder who used approach skis provided by the outfitter.
The guides will respect any group that requests a dog free trip and leave their dogs at home.
In answer to CW's question. My son is 14 years of age. We had a 17 yr old and a 20 yr old and all the rest of the TAY group where old farts over 45 apart from the wives who are all 29 yrs old and holding.
;)
I should also mention some things I omitted from my first post.
There was another Portland couple with us, Portlandmatt( his TT tips name) and his lovely wife Jeanette. The Ellis family also brought their standard poodle, Lucy who managed the powder snow as well as any of the other dogs and is now known as "Powder Poodle". ;D
We had several people on telemark gear and one snowboarder who used approach skis provided by the outfitter.
The guides will respect any group that requests a dog free trip and leave their dogs at home.
In answer to CW's question. My son is 14 years of age. We had a 17 yr old and a 20 yr old and all the rest of the TAY group where old farts over 45 apart from the wives who are all 29 yrs old and holding.
;)
Hey guys, thanks for writing up the trip report. My shoulder is back in the socket but my typing is slow. For my and Sidnie's part we couldn't have imagined a better trip; three blue bird powder days in a row and the snow quality as perfect on the last day as on the first. Great company and even a pack of dogs. What could better? Could have done without the injury. But at least it was at the end of the trip. "Tis but a scratch" ;)
hey Scotsman we have a trip with this outfit in a couple weeks and I'm wondering about the booze situation? The website mentions Terminal Gravity IPA during happy hour, but I'm not sure they can supply enough for our group. If they have a couple kegs then maybe we don't need to carry any of our own, if not then...
md2020,
They had a min-keg in the cook yurt but it didn't work realy well and they had to decant the beer into a pot which we ladeled into our cups. It was nice, and much aprreciated but if you are serious about your beer, bring your own. ;)
Some other info you may find useful. We stayed in Chandler's Inn the night before meeting the guides. It was very good value and very nice and their breakfast is killer. They will also allow you to use their shower and have a cup of cofee when you get off the hill for $5 per person before you start the long drive home. Well worth it and most of us took advantage of this. ;D
Hope you have as much fun as we did and get some good conditions.
Regards,
Scotsman
They had a min-keg in the cook yurt but it didn't work realy well and they had to decant the beer into a pot which we ladeled into our cups. It was nice, and much aprreciated but if you are serious about your beer, bring your own. ;)
Some other info you may find useful. We stayed in Chandler's Inn the night before meeting the guides. It was very good value and very nice and their breakfast is killer. They will also allow you to use their shower and have a cup of cofee when you get off the hill for $5 per person before you start the long drive home. Well worth it and most of us took advantage of this. ;D
Hope you have as much fun as we did and get some good conditions.
Regards,
Scotsman
If Terminal Gravity has their Barleywine available, that's a yummy beer for those who like heavy/strong brews, and it is certainly the most efficient sort of beer to tote up the hill. Try emailing CB (Connoly) and see how much beer he's willing to haul in for you...
The Terminal Gravity was fine by me and made a great chaser for the Yukon Jack and schnapps :D
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