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Oct 25, West Crater, Hood

10/15/07
OR Mt Hood
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Posted by danhelmstadter on 10/25/07 10:07am
Although it was really cold today, I couldn't waste a sunny day when I had free time. Hood has suffered warm temps recently, I don€™t know if it€™s that way up north, but last night a front came through, and really cooled things off, it was probably in the teens last night at timberline all the liquids in my truck froze except the whiskey and antifreeze. They are opening the lifts tomorrow? and had Palmer and the track down groomed out. Above Palmer was frozen corn, The short south facing steepish bit up high was sheltered by the crater from the north winds, the snow there was marginally soft, hardish neve at the bottom to soft firnspiegal up top. I did not traverse over to the summit from hogsback ridge, not really much point traversing rime buffs, to get 20ft higher and not be able to ski down. The snow was decent enough for some good turns down, Instead of following the standard ascent route on the way down, I traversed several times to ski steep fall lines skiers right, on the east facing west walls of the crater all the way down to the bottom of crater rock. Damn heel popped up on my fritchi on the low angle snow below crater rock. (anyone else have this problem with fritchis?) Between crater rock and palmer was still frozen neve, then the smoker corduroy of palmer was a blast. Up and down in 4 hours. I bet the route will be all good corn in a day or two when things warm up.   Skierguitarist- you should check it out, how are the Sisters looking?

*I should have drawn my yellow ascent line a little further lookers left below the crater
Hi Dan - good to hear you're carrying the torch out Oregon way. 

So about your Fritchis - a friend of mine had a hell of a time with a pair one season a couple years ago.  Kept popping out.  One run up on Loveland Pass he popped out unexpectedly and took a header into the snow.  He was wearing a helmut but it still gave him a severe concussion and we had to walk him down the hill and drive him to Loveland ski area emergency shack.  Sent that boy to the hospital.  Bottom line, go get a new pair before you get hurt.

PS - I've had a pair for about four years and never had a problem.

It's clear to me what it means when your heel is popping out of your Fritchi AT bindings - your feet want tele bindings.  Free the heel, free the mind!

Dan, this can be a mounting issue. If you have a Freeride or older Fritschi, make sure that the heel riser unit is properly placed. It's hard to explain in text so I wont. The jist of it is that it needs to be placed correctly (4 mm's can make the difference) so when the ski flexes the main part of the binding doesn't travel too far (slide) in the heel catch and release. Did you mount them on your own? PM me if you aren't aware of this issue.

Neptune Mountaineering in Boulder mounted them, I contacted them about it just before I drove up here, as it has happened in the past, they said heel lock was worn, and tried to order me new one, haven’t heard from them since.
I find that it happens mostly in crusty snow, or pow, which can act as a lift on the heel piece, and it doesn’t take much for it to rise. Summer corn was no problem, it will occasionally pop up on landings too, I think this is due to the mounting issue you are talking about, they are 05/06 freerides. I have eliminated the problem in the past (even in 06) by cutting an inch piece or so of 3/4 inch dowel, and fitting it in the slot of the heel release, this prevents it from popping, but the dowel pieces often fall out when skiing. Thanks for the insight, I am switching to dynafits anyhow, I just need an AT boot now, I’ve been using early 90s thrift store technicas in my frichis, and they work great, nice and stiff.

Yo Dan,  Last Sunday I had  sublime pow at Bach..  Skinned up from main lodge to top of Pine Martin lift  to see why there wasn't  a track (Cinder Cone was tracked out as it is 'envogue' and next to parking lot...good for me I must say.......) to be had on any run that I could see.  On the skin up it seemed like (and looked like!)  the run would be amazing.  Only one way to find out.  After about 250 untracked turns of 7'' to12" of pow I headed back up for a go at the run called Tippy Toe.  Nary a turn nor track insight.  Down I went for perhaps the best untracked run I've ever had of 250+ turns.  Freshies galore.  Should have/could have done another run but had to make sure I had the energy to do physical labor at work on Monday (work does get in the way sometimes.......).  The upper mountain seems like it has less snow probably because of wind though some gullies did look inviting but the lower mountain 'ruled' for sure.  E. Face of Tumalo (across the highway) actually looked fairly inviting.  Now that things have warmed up, skiing is probably on hold untill the next dump. 

Luetholds is on my hit list.  I've done both Sandy Headwall and Cooper Spur which were religious experiences for sure. 

Thanks for the reports on all those cool places you have been skiing!!!!!  Trapped in Central Oregon...but not complaining I guess.....

Dan- I had the same problem with my old Fritschi's, it finally was the end of them. The heel popped out, and I fell forward and twisted, which sheared the metal mountain plate on the toe and broke the binding. Fortuanetly I was coming back in bounds at Steven's Pass so I only had to one-leg it to the bottom of the lift. The new fritschis have fixed that problem by creating a spring loaded piece that flexes against the heel riser/clip thingy. Hard to explain, but I have a pair and it works. Although it sounds like you're going dynafit anyway, me too.

Looks like Leuthhold is in the wrong place on your map. That area looks more like the Reid Headwall.

Skierguitarist- you descended Sandy Headwall? Pics/elaboration? That ones been on the list for years.

wavramen- fix the heel, fix the problem.  ;)


Hi, About the binding check Lou Dawson's site wild snow. He has the best mod Ive seen so far, outside of buying Dyna fits anyway.

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oct-25-west-crater-hood
danhelmstadter
2007-10-25 17:07:19