April 3, 2007, Lichtenberg Mountain, Stevens Pass
4/3/07
WA Stevens Pass
1551
4
I have wanted to ski Lichtenberg Mountain for a while, but got extra motivated seeing the
There were several inches of light new snow and grauple over a crust that was firm but not boilerplate. As experienced by others, going up steeply was difficult as the new snow was not well bonded and ascending traverses slid out easily. We ended up booting part of the tight trees to get on the ridge, then skinning, then changing back to booting as it got too steep to skin efficiently. The booting was good most of the time; in a few places all of the new snow had been scoured away, and in others the new snow had drifted in 12 inches deep. In the sun it was already beginning to get a little moist. The wind had picked up as we gained elevation and was blowing small plumes of the new snow when we reached the SE summit of Lichtenberg. We debated where to go from there. Ben had a big trip coming up the next day and didn't want to do a lot of vertical. Neither of us was really excited about skiing the ridge we'd just come up - there would be a lot of quick snow condition changes. On the other hand the south slope of the NW, true, summit of Lichtenberg (5844) looked attractive from our vantage point (upper part shown):
We booted NW down the steeper part of Pt. 5737's ridge, then skinned up to the true summit. (There was one very convenient looking break in the cornice which hung over the whole length of the ridge between the two summits. This break looked like it would provide reasonable access to and from the north (Lichtenwasser Lake area)). The wind was not nearly so strong and we enjoyed a long lunch at the top, then started skiing the fall line to the south. This provided a straight shot 2000 feet down to Nason Creek, staying skier's right of the major avalanche gully. The top few turns had a bit of scraping on crust lacking a coating of new snow, but then the skiing got uniformly good. Plinko skiing the upper part:
Near the top there were 3-4 inches of new snow, sun-moistened on its surface. As we descended the new snow layer got thinner and moister, so that in the bottom 500 feet there was just an inch of new and it was very wet. The snow was never grabby, and the underlying crust was very smooth, so the turns were enjoyable all the way down. There was one section, probably around 5200, where the new snow layer, ~3 inches, predictably slid on the steepest parts, but that was it for avalanche activity. At the bottom we started traversing left a couple hundred feet above Nason Creek, hoping to hit the cabins road (north side of Nason Creek) without any uphill, and we nailed it, even avoiding the "cabin" at the end of the road. Conditions would probably have stayed good for another run, but it was nice to have an easy day of fun skiing and get home at a respectable time (so respectable, in fact, that my wife was sure that something had gone wrong).
There were several inches of light new snow and grauple over a crust that was firm but not boilerplate. As experienced by others, going up steeply was difficult as the new snow was not well bonded and ascending traverses slid out easily. We ended up booting part of the tight trees to get on the ridge, then skinning, then changing back to booting as it got too steep to skin efficiently. The booting was good most of the time; in a few places all of the new snow had been scoured away, and in others the new snow had drifted in 12 inches deep. In the sun it was already beginning to get a little moist. The wind had picked up as we gained elevation and was blowing small plumes of the new snow when we reached the SE summit of Lichtenberg. We debated where to go from there. Ben had a big trip coming up the next day and didn't want to do a lot of vertical. Neither of us was really excited about skiing the ridge we'd just come up - there would be a lot of quick snow condition changes. On the other hand the south slope of the NW, true, summit of Lichtenberg (5844) looked attractive from our vantage point (upper part shown):
We booted NW down the steeper part of Pt. 5737's ridge, then skinned up to the true summit. (There was one very convenient looking break in the cornice which hung over the whole length of the ridge between the two summits. This break looked like it would provide reasonable access to and from the north (Lichtenwasser Lake area)). The wind was not nearly so strong and we enjoyed a long lunch at the top, then started skiing the fall line to the south. This provided a straight shot 2000 feet down to Nason Creek, staying skier's right of the major avalanche gully. The top few turns had a bit of scraping on crust lacking a coating of new snow, but then the skiing got uniformly good. Plinko skiing the upper part:
Near the top there were 3-4 inches of new snow, sun-moistened on its surface. As we descended the new snow layer got thinner and moister, so that in the bottom 500 feet there was just an inch of new and it was very wet. The snow was never grabby, and the underlying crust was very smooth, so the turns were enjoyable all the way down. There was one section, probably around 5200, where the new snow layer, ~3 inches, predictably slid on the steepest parts, but that was it for avalanche activity. At the bottom we started traversing left a couple hundred feet above Nason Creek, hoping to hit the cabins road (north side of Nason Creek) without any uphill, and we nailed it, even avoiding the "cabin" at the end of the road. Conditions would probably have stayed good for another run, but it was nice to have an easy day of fun skiing and get home at a respectable time (so respectable, in fact, that my wife was sure that something had gone wrong).
Great trip and photos. I wish I could have joined you. I took one of my "sherpa grandsons" to Central.
Zap, let's keep trying to get together for a ski. I'll bet you had a good time with your grandson!
Thanks for a fantastic mellow day trip! Both snow conditions and weather exceeded all expectation!
[Edit - removed displayed photos, over 3 photo limit for thread - Charles]
[Edit - removed displayed photos, over 3 photo limit for thread - Charles]
Yes, that was a very nice day! I will be interested to hear how your trip yesterday went - are you going to post a TR?
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