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Topic: Jan 20, 2007 - Kendall Peak Lakes (Read 1834 times)
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motsies
5Member
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Posts: 17
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Started out from the Cold Creek Sno-Park around 8:30 am and had easy going along the forest service road. A few other groups and snowshoers were already out, so we didn't have to break any trail until our turn up towards Kendall ridge as we could see some others heading up to Kendall Stump. Continued up the road and eventually to the top of the clear cut.
Route finding in the winter continues to be a challenge even w/ books and maps, so we headed into the trees and along the ridge (going high above the "normal" approach). Debated about skiing down through the well spaced trees to the southeast, but eventually made an awkward traverse to the hikers left and could see Lower Lake well below us. Crossed an open area below cliffs (in first photo below) and back into the trees to skin above the southern shores of Upper Lake and getting to our high point around 1:30 pm.
Did 3 runs here; one in the trees, one a mix of trees and into the clearing and a final one in the clearing after traversing below the cliffs. Some minor challenges with the weakened crust layer below the new snow, but overall the conditions were great on the slopes w/ skied. After cutting through the tress, we had a short skin before heading back with some turns between the road switchbacks.
Lots of people in the area as the road was very tracked all the way back to the car. But we were the only ones skiing above the lakes, which always adds something special to the day. Minor people dodging the last 0.5 mile of so w/ lots of sledders and other winter explorers!!! Back around 3:30 pm, so 7 hour trip time. With a more direct path to the lakes, there would be plenty to explore above the Upper Lake as there was some nice look slopes arching to the hikers left towards the main ridge.
Not nearly as cold as last weekend and even some sun breaks...........it was a great day!!!!!!!!!! 
Short video:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=FLlLmkGS9aI
More photos:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=mthtq0f.549xkmsr&x=0&y=hc9bpq
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« Last Edit: 01/22/07, 04:01 PM by motsies »
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joamna
5Member
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Posts: 5
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Thanks for the excellent trip report and inspiration. We had planned to ski out of Stevens Pass today, but reading the trip reports at 6 am caused us to quickly reconsider. Thanks to philfort, zap, silas and others for taking the time after a long day of skiing to warn us of the potential danger. Without much time to plan, we thought we would try out the Kendall area. Found some really nice slopes, were a little worried about avy hazard so we dug some pits. Took a pretty firm pull to dislodge the upper 8" of snow over the rain layer in a RB test. A ski test revealed a slight tendency to slough above the shallow rain crust, but it took a solid jump to get a break in the underlying weaker layers. Excellent turns were had.
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dangerT
1Member
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Posts: 3
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We were also up in the Kendall Peaks region on Sunday (joamna I think it was you we saw below us as we went up the NE ridge toward Kendall Peak). Also concerned about the avy conditions, we dug a pit at about 5400', and it showed similar results as others have reported. Shovel shear test broke with ease about 2" above the old rain crust, but on compression testing, we couldn't get snow to slide on that layer even with numerous whacks from the shoulder. The new snow stills seems fairly unconsolidated. We had great turns all the way down to the upper lake and were surprised to see most of the slopes still untracked.
On the way out as we skinned down the Kendall Peak lake drainage back up toward the stump, we did notice in the distance what looked like a crown a third of the way down and running across a south facing treeless slope. It looked to extend across much of the slope, but we were in no position to see debris below as it was in the distance, but it looked suspicious for a slide. Anyone get a better look than this?
All in all a great tour.
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motsies
5Member
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Posts: 17
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from the forest road (standing due east from Kendall Stump), we could see a sizable slide on the most obvious SE clearing...it had already given way before we were able to see it (~9 am on saturday)...i think that might be the same one you saw dangerT
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