 Turns-All-Year backcountry skiing in the Pacific NorthwestBackcountry Skiing and Snowboarding Trip Reports |
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| This old version of Trip Reports is no longer being updated. It is being kept as an archive of ~340 backcountry skiing trip reports posted from April 2001 through August 2002. The new version Trip Reports is where new trip reports are currently being posted; it also has copies of the ~340 older trip reports and is searchable. |
| May 2001 Trip Reports |
May 31, 2001 Nisqually Chutes: "We arrived at Paradise under sunny skies with a freezing level expected to reach 12,000 feet. Started skinning from the parking lot and set a track up Pan Face. Had to remove the skis to walk around the construction at the top of the Face. Continued to climb to 8200' and removed the skins at the top of the chute. We skirted the first entry point which had already begun to slough and entered the chutes for some high speed turns. The first 1500 feet were perfect corn. As we descended the surface became heavier and eventually slop. Plenty of coverage in the Chutes." Zap May 31, 2001 Sahale: "Road open to within 1/2 mile of parking lot (Boston Basin trailhead). Summer trail, broken snow to Cascade Pass. Route to Sahale straight up from start of last long contour to Cascade Pass is snow covered and skiable. Just a few bare patches on Sahale arm near summer trail to summit. Able to ski from Cascade Pass to road. Basically, good coverage and great ski conditions. No pollen. Bryan & Carol" Bryan Scott May 31, 2001 Silver Peak, Snoqualmie Pass: "Today was a comp day for Memorial Day, but I had to be back in town in early evening. So, on the basis of Charles' May 25 Silver Peak report I decided to see what was skiable up there. I drove FS 9070 to Windy Pass and skinned from the car up the S edge of Ollalie Meadows. This involved skinning through patches of brush, over logs, etc. Coverage was OK once I got into the basin. I yo-yo'ed four runs (nice wet corn to start, but thickening in the strong sunshine) and hiked to the summit for the views. Neal Hunt, Carol Iverson and Cem Terzi appeared. I haven't seen Neal for a few years. At 82 he continues to ski stylishly on his tele boards. I was able to ski my uptrack to within about .3 miles of the car, but it was thin and will be gone very soon. On the drive home I stopped by Alpental for a look. International looked skiable, but there is no snow below the top of the rightmost (baby) chair." BrentH May 31, 2001 Camp Muir, MRNP: "Yet another warm, cloudless day (I'll have to start complaining soon!). There is still excellent coverage starting from the parking lot, and the snow was firm as I started up. The summer trail is in use at Pan Point. I saw several skiers coming down as I was going up, and they looked like they were having fun on the good snow. There appeared to be a few inches of newer snow on the Muir snowfield, and the snowpack was very well frozen under the softening surface - from last Monday's cold storm? Shorts conditions all the way up in the warm sun and cool breeze. I was feeling lazy, so at Muir, I made a nice snow bench in the lee of some rocks, got into bare feet, had a long lunch and enjoyed the views, all the way to Mt. Jefferson. On the way down, the first 2000 ft were excellent on that frozen base, fast and consistent with an inch or two of softened snow on top, just a little humpy at the top. A bit above Pebble Creek, the day's warmth had begun to do its damage, with areas of 6-8 inches of large-grained mush; earlier descenders had better snow here. Two de-skis just above Pan Point, but Pan face was still skiable, then consolidated but somewhat grabby wet snow to the parking lot. I was surprised at the extent of coverage around Paradise; Edith Creek basin, Mazama Ridge, Cowlitz Rocks, and the Tatoosh all still looked very well covered." Charles Eldridge (tay@turns-all-year.com) May 30, 2001 Vesper Peak: "Trail is snowfree to about 3100 feet, and a bit rough as usual. The major creek crossing has been bridged with a flattened log, but its sportingly narrow at one end. A bit too sporting for us, we rock hopped that part. Anyway, its possible to cross without fording. Upper 2/3 of valley below Headlee pass has pretty good snow cover, we were able to start skinning almost as soon as we hit snow. 2-4" of recent unconsolidated snow on the surface. Booted up to Headlee pass without difficulty. The predicted partly sunny afternoon did not materialize, and we had thick whiteout above about 5000 feet. We couldn't see Vesper and didn't attempt the last 1000 feet to the top. The ski out was pretty good though." PaulC May 27, 2001 Chinook Pass: "Road skiing seemed like a good idea since we had two vehicles to work with. The original plan was to set up for a ski down to 410 on the north or 123 on the south sides of Cayuse. True to form, the snow is melting out at the lower elevations faster than we expected thus the snow cover at the lower highway was a bit sparse for our tastes. So we set up the lower rig for the road ski at the first 410 switchback, and parked the upper rig at the curve just above Tipsoo across the road from the Naches west bowl. It was obvious the snow surface had not refrozen overnight, but the base was solid, even though there was some evidence of afternoon sun sloughing on steeper, south facing aspects from days earlier. We climbed to the ridge above the bowl then started around to the south side of Naches with designs on the Naches south summit. The snow gods tricked us again, however, the south side of Naches was melted off enough to where we abandoned our summit bid due to lack of snow (being the types that climb to ski; not vice-versa :-) ) . Deskinned and rigged for silent running, we skied silky smooth cruiser corn all the way down to the lower car, marveling at the solitude and great snow all the way down. While getting our skis off to cross the road Eric stuck his thumb out to a passing truck and the guy stopped, thus saving us a car shuttle for the next run (and of course, made us much more environment friendly, even though we were riding in a 5 mpg truck). Knowing a good thing when we saw one, this time we skipped the summit attempt completely and just climbed up to the top of the ridge above the west bowl. Back to down hill mode and voila; another glorious run on ego building corn. Now being spoiled and wanting to avoid the car shuttle again, we stuck our thumbs out again. This time we weren’t so lucky. We watched the minutes tick by and the really nice trucks, that would look really cool with 4 skiers in the back, go by and by. Mention was even made that we might have more luck if the females in the group perhaps removed a layer or two of clothing, which did not turn out to be a welcome idea. About the time we were just about to load into the lower rig and do a car shuttle, a very nice redneck in a nice big white Ford diesel (environmentally friendly) pickup stopped and we all piled in the back for another climb up the mountain. On the third run the snow was almost as good as the first two, but you could tell we were wearing it out; it was getting softer. Some wanted to do one more run, others wanted to quit on a good one, suspecting that the snow gods were getting tired of us and may soon serve up some slush for our greed. So we compromised and decide to hold a sacrificial mass at the Naches Tavern to sacrifice some frogpelts to the snow gods in thanks for the great snow they treated us with." ron jarvis May 26-29, 2001 N. Cascades National Park: "Dave Thiele I just completed the Forbidden Tour. Pretty awesome. I've skied the Backbone Ridge traverse and the Ptarmigan, as well as a few "classics" in B.C. This was by far the most technical and committing, and ranks with some of the most amazing scenery anywhere. Had two good weather days on Sat. and Sunday. Given the thin snowpack this year the Boston glacier made for interesting navigating. Throw in the cliff band at the snout of the Forbidden galcier, we had a 14 hour day on Sunday. Moraine lake was beginning to thaw. However, we managed to skirt the south shore and ski from ice flow to ice flow, making it across without getting dunked. The weather hit us mid-day Monday just before we hit the Inspiration glacier (we slept in a bit or would have been on top earlier - "bad boys"). Found a place to camp at about 6600 feet and stayed tent bound all day. Woke up to about 2 feet of new snow and white out on Tuesday and figured we were there for anoth! er day. However, we got a little break by 8 AM and hauled butt out and up onto the upper plateau. Had an interesting time finding a route onto the upper Inspiration. Met a NOLS group camped at 7400 feet and out for 10 days. Navigated by map/compass and altimeter for most of the day until we reached the Eldorado and skied down to the crossover to Eldorado ck. Out by 7:30 PM yesterday. All-in-all a grand adventure." gordon thomson May 26, 2001 Moon Mtn.- Three Sisters Wilderness: "Jill and I were in the Bend,OR area for the long weekend and thought a short tour to Moon Mtn. would be ideal. Drove through a few snow drifts to the Todd Lake trailhead and found 10 other vehicles crammend into the small lot. We started up the snowmobile trail towards Big Meadow and met a couple with nordic gear who were hiking out with their ski gear on their pack. The snow was too soft for them and they found it easier to hike. Our wide randonee gear surfed on top of the slush. The snowbile track followed the road and we had compact snow but we were not gaining much elevation. Bushwacking wasn't possible because of the numerous bare patches. We finally broke out onto the plateau and started climbing the northeast ridge of Moon Mtn. The views of Ball Butte, Broken Top, Bachelor Butte and The Sisters were incredible. Only two snowmobilers were in the area and no other skiers were seen. We ran out of time but Ball Butte has a 900' east ridge that looked great. We descended the steep north face of Moon and returned via our climbing route. Met a few locals who confirmed the low snowpack this year is limiting the spring tours." Zap May 26, 2001 Seven Fingered Jack: "Maybe we were on dope. It sounded good. It's a 9000-footer in the North Cascades. Not that we're historians, but we are not aware that anyone had skied it before. A Ranger told us that the road had just opened to the Phelps Creek TH. We drove there. It was true. The road was indeed open. No problems. Unfortunately, we were maybe two or three weeks too late. This one has to be done by a fairly long snowmobile approach in late April/early May." BrentH May 26, 2001 Interglacier, Mt. Rainier: "We encountered fewer people than I expected for Memorial Day weekend and the first weekend after the White River Camp Ground was opened. It was skis on pack all the way from the White River Camp (4,400') all the way to Glacier Basin (6,000'). Crevasses are exposed on the Interglacier but easily avoided. I I began my descent at about 3PM. It was a little late in the day as the snow was heavy and wet. Not ideal conditions, but not bad either. With the clear skies and gentle breezes, it was all in all a great day. " Rob K (rob2ski@hotmail.com) May 26, 2001 Squauk/Easton Glaciers, Mt. Baker: "Two friends and I got a late-ish start, leaving the car somewhat after 9 AM (stops along the way to transfer gear from one vehicle to the next, to use restrooms and to buy gas and various outstandingly unhealthy foodstuffs). The Schreiber's Meadow road (FR 13) is blocked by snow just a quarter mile from the trailhead, building rapidly to 2-4 feet of snow at the end of the road. This suggests that the snowmobilers will be around for another week or two, but their numbers are substantially thinned this late in the season. They played in mufflerless packs on the lower reaches of the Easton Glacier all day, but none came within a half-mile of us. We skinned up through the old-growth in the general vicinity of the Scott Paul Trail, emerging into meadows around 4500 feet, following the ridge up to Crag View and thence onto the Squauk Glacier. One of our party decided he'd rather nap (warm sun, little breeze, no bugs) than ski, so we left him around 6500 feet. I and one other continued around the corner onto the upper Easton Glacier, where we poked around a bit among the crevasses, hoping to find a direct route (unroped) up to the crater rim before we ran out of energy. Lots of crevasses open - more than normal - some small ones looking quite fresh and lots of big ones with somewhat suspect snowbridges (already). We turned around at about 9200 feet, admired views over the San Juans to Vancouver Island, down to Hurricane Ridge, over the Sisters Range to parts of Bellingham, and down the Cascades as far as Mt. Rainier (130 miles), and skied down for what seemed like a very long time. We found mainly various forms of slush: ! deep and shallow, clean and dirty, steep and mellow. Sluffs were releasing about as expected - nothing serious - and crevasses which appeared randomly in our path were easily avoided. Above 8500 feet on SW aspects there is some wet slab and whumphing; probably gets more pronounced up high. Typical late-day sloppy snow (which might, however, have been corn for a brief interlude early, perhaps around 10 or 11 AM). Tree pollen season is upon us, building on the snow surface down low, eager to adhere to ski bases in a thick, black, tarry mess. We skied out by following a line east of the Easton Glacier, dropping eventually down one of the several streambeds and following the snowmobile route back to the road. The streambed will be melted out in another couple of weeks; the most hazardous snowbridge crossings of the day involved blasting quickly across the stream in various places. All-in-all, the ski out was great, and long, and....challenging at times, with lots of unpredictable changes in the snowpack from moment to moment. As a day ski the Easton is beginning to runnel a bit, and the opening crevasses will make for a short ski season up high this year. The Squauk will hold pleasant, moderate-pitch skiing for at least another month. Enjoy." Mark May 26, 2001 Third Burroughs, MRNP: "I started the climb up to Sunrise before dawn under intense stars, and could see climbers lights on the Disappointment Cleaver and Emmons Glacier routes. The Sunrise Meadows are melting out fast, 1-2 feet remaining, and Igor and Puffy were working hard all day wrecking the snow in the vicinity of the buildings (the Sunrise road gate is closed at the White River Bridge because of this). I skied up to Frozen Lake saddle on mostly well-consolidated snow with good coverage, but had to scramble/boot up to the top of 1st Burroughs because that slope is already quite melted out. From the top of 1st, over 2nd, and to the top of 3rd Burroughs had just one short de-ski, along with a couple of places where I had to switch to "all-terrain" ski mode to get between snow patches. There was a tendency for the snow to be a bit mushier above about 7200 ft, especially on north-facing slopes, but everywhere I could find well-consolidated snow if I picked the right route. It was warm and windless on top of 3rd, so I basked in bare feet, had a second lunch, and took a nap. I saw groups all over the Mountain: Fryingpan Glacier, Mt. Ruth, Interglacier, and the traverse over to Liberty Ridge. I returned by skiing down into Granite Creek Park, over the saddle into Berkeley Park, and then up over the Frozen Lake Saddle (2 de-skis). This is a long, exhausting ski tour, but the terrain is what I dream of, and, being a bit removed from the Mountain, the views are incredible. Other observations: Interglacier had only a few ski tracks, and I saw 4 skiers descending. A ranger had told me that the crevasses are "still in pretty good shape", and it looked like that was the case, although there was one spot about 1/3 of the way up where all of the climbing paths converged to pass through an unpleasant looking section. The Mt. Ruth route already has one break in the snow, and the upper ridge is melting out fast; Glacier Basin looked well covered. The 2nd Burroughs chutes were not looking good, with melted out bands or big islands of rocks, but some still looked skiable (of course, anything is skiable to someone). Many south to west aspects in the area are already severely melted out, up to 7000 ft. The seemingly good snow coverage above 6000 ft in lesser angled areas is deceptive, as I found large areas of mush-to-the-ground when the depth was below about 1.5 feet - this stuff won't last long with more warm weather. Get it while the gettin's good." Charles Eldridge (tay@turns-all-year.com) May 25, 2001 Illumination Rock, Mt. Hood: "Jill and I arrived early and cycled on the quad for awhile then put on the skins and headed to Illumination Rock. It was a sunny day with a bit of a breeze which made the climbing pleasant. Climbed the knife ridge below Illumination and looked down the Reid Glacier which is already heavily crevassed above the icefall. The top pitch is very steep but the corn had 1" of cream on a firm base and we let the force of gravity create sweeping turns-it was heavenly. We were the only skiers on the perfect corn snowfield. A great day on Mt. Hood." Zap May 25, 2001 Silver Peak Basin: "Skied Silver Peak basin on Friday morning. Was able to drive within sight of windy pass and start skinning from the car. Thin in a few spots but skiable through the clearcut. The basin had good coverage but only a foot or so deep before you could hit a rock or two. Made it up to the top of the ridge by 1000 or so. Kicked off a few minor surface sloughs off the upper ridge, but overall just about perfect. T-shirt sking and not a cloud in the sky or another person to be seen. A great morning to be out." Charles Wiley May 24-26, 2001 Hidden Lake Peak: "Road clear to the trailhead. First solid snow at base of large avalanche slope below Sibley Pass. Plenty of good skiing on west and east aspects. South aspect from Lookout very rocky. Snow pack seems about 1/2 of normal, but still lots left. Some tree pollen encountered. Bryan & Carol" Bryan Scott May 23, 2001 West Cady Ridge, MBSNF: "Andy and I parked at the trailhead and headed up the snow-free trail under blue skies and warm temperatures. Patches of snow appeared at about 3500 ft, and the snow became continuous, 2-3 feet deep, as we gained the ridge at about 4400 ft. We put on the waxless skis and began the climb over the bumps as we travelled the ridge - perfect snow for ascending without skins, a firm base with 1-4 inches of soft snow on top. Did a couple of runs off the ridge after lunch. On the north side there was still some clean, relatively recent snow which was fairly mushy, and on the steepest parts we triggered some snowballs which grew in size at an alarming rate, but no actual slides. On the south side the snow was more corned, ranging from perfect spring conditions to very airy, large-grained snow up to 6 inches deep. Then we finished skiing up the ridge to the top of Benchmark Mountain, and were rewarded with tremendous views in a 360 degree panorama. The south sides of ridges in the area are melting out fast, especially below 5000 ft, but north sides still have a good snowpack. We couldn't resist one more run off the south side, then began the long transit back along the ridge, with a number of fun, short runs through the trees as we descended each bump. We were able to ski back down the snow-covered trail to about 4000 ft, and then had a short distance to reach the melted out trail. To save my feet the agony of 1200 ft of trail descent in plastic boots, I tried sandals, which turned out to be a very comfortable way to come down this beautiful trail. " Charles Eldridge (tay@turns-all-year.com) May 22-23, 2001 Heliotrope Ridge, Mt. Baker: "The road still has snow on it starting about 0.5 mile from the trailhead. We were stopped at a shady corner the first day, but got several hundred yards further the second day. Four wheel drive or a sense of adventure should get you within 0.25 mile of the TH. Have to hike the trail until it breaks out of the forest at the edge of the moraine. We rated the snow "very good", best of the year so far. Execellent weather and fantastic views. While we were making a run, ravens visited our packs, which we had left at the top. They unzipped both packs and stole all our food. The second day we were prepared and they didn't get any food, but still managed to open some pockets and pull everything out. Amazing critters." PaulC May 21, 2001 Ingles Basin: "Road open to end. Solid snow about 500 feet below Ingles Pass. Basin still had plenty of snow for skiing but only about 1/2 of normal depth. The usual runs off ridges and summits still in good shape. Bryan & Carol" Bryan Scott May 20, 2001 Chinook Pass: "The snow gods looked kindly on us this day. Must have been because we took one of our flock coming off of the injured reserve list (major surgery) in with us on snowshoes to picnic at the base of one of the finer chutes of the Chinook area and marvel at our good fortune. The rest of us (2) skied silky smooth snow at Chinook until we wore it out and made it slushy. By mid afternoon we headed for the car. As in most areas, there's less snow at Chinook than in years past. The area should still have enough snow for decent skiing, however for a few more weeks. Some smaller slides were noted on the slope above the summit bathrooms east of Yakima Pk and there was a fairly large debris field or two from slides Friday or Saturday on north to northeast aspects on Naches involving the depositions of the previous week. The summit parking at the bathrooms is partially cleared but the bathroom doors are still covered. Tipsoo bathrooms are also still snow covered but there are a couple of sani-cans in front of the Tipsoo parking area (us geriatrics don't consider a trip report complete without a "Head Report")." ron jarvis May 20, 2001 Camp Muir, MRNP: "We had a great day up at Muir snow was hard and excellent boot track all the way up. Clouds were quite a show, all wispy with tenacles blowin every which way. Hollywood special effects couldn't have done it any better. Dorothea got caught by wind and blown over 200 feet from Muir. Well when you weigh less than your pack, skis, boots and gear what do you expect. She radioed me and I came back down. Wind died off at Moon rocks and we had a very good ski in close to corn mush conditions. Ran into Bob Black and he skied skied down and out with us.Sun had beat on Pan point all day but we couldn't get any wet slides going, just a few snowballs. Below Pan point things got sticky, best way to handle that is to go into cross country mode. I don't think I've ever cross countried that fast ! Oh yes its dangerous up there !-When we got there in morning I was running back to car after going to restroom, slipped and fell and landed right on my hip! Bone bruise. Be careful! I wonder what my Insurance company will say about that?" Robie May 20, 2001 Silver Basin, Crystal Mtn. backcountry: "It was another good day in the mountains with excellent visibility. We booted from the ski area base to about half way up the Quicksilver run. We skinned into Silver Basin and to the Silver King-Threeway Peak ridge. A lot of the basin had been tracked by high marking snowmobilers. Skiing was similar to that of Van Trump Park yesterday, although we did find a few pockets of decent skiing. The slope from Bullion Basin to East Peak is almost unskiable now. Same for the S side of Pickhandle Point. No avalanche activity observed, but lots of recent discharges from rock faces entraining fair amounts of surface snow. Found a little corn descending Quicksilver, which with some hiking was skiable most of the way to the flats." BrentH May 19, 2001 Tatoosh - the Castle: "Eight of us from the wild Mountaineer's BCS&SC Leaders' potluck at Reflection Lake couldn't resist, and headed up to the Castle Col. Though the sun, clouds and gusts teased, the snow was never close to corn - instead ranging from stiff trap glop to almost slush at the road. Conditions definately favored wide tools. After one or two runs, all enjoyed great food and comraderie back at the lake. Thank you Chuck!" Gerry Haugen (ghaugen@leisurecare.com) May 19, 2001 Cowlitz Rocks, MRNP: "Roger, Don, Tom and I decided to head for Cowlitz Rocks. Even though avy hazard was fairly high due to the recent storm and then sunshine we found stable snow. Admittedly, the strong winds and intermittent clouds kept the pack from warming up too much so I think we picked a good day. No evidence of slides other than small sluffs off of rock bands. Very few skiers out today. We saw 2 guys heading out as we went in and then 3 others who dropped down from the Muir snowfield below Anvil and over to the Cowlitz area. At the end of the day only a few turns were present coming off Mazama and in upper Edith Creek. Snow was pretty good although a little mushy in spots. There's a pretty good crust down about 12-15 inches so if things really warm up the hazard could escalate." Tim May 19, 2001 Camp Muir, MRNP: "The warning signs are as follows: I'm skinning up a long approach on a popular backcountry route, in what seem like perfectly reasonable snow conditions. Those who got going earlier than I are already starting back down, skiing, snowboarding, butt-glissading and walking. Some of the walkers are, very mysteriously, carrying their skis. What are all these beginners doing way up here, anyway? They're so clumsy, so hesitant, so lacking in technique and confidence! I'll be the best skier out here! Eventually I top out and the moment of truth arrives: four quick turns and then SPLAT! my tips burrow under an unseen lump of ice and I crater hugely. There are bumps and waves in the snowpack that I never noticed on the way up, and icy sections mixed unpredictably with dense wet glop of varying depth. I get more cautious, and start looking for skiable pitches that are out of sight of the long line of climbers still headed uphill. Then the fog closes in, and I get even more cautious in my skiing—even more uncertain and clumsy—and I'm forced to move back on top of the uptrack, where postholers and butt-sliders have created an even wider variety of hazards. After several thousand feet I start looking surreptitiously at my altimeter, wondering if it'll be over soon. Eventually I get the rhythm appropriate to this particular form of snow, the clouds lift and the air gets thicker as I lose elevation. By the time I get to the car I'm skiing "normally" again. That's when I ! discover I left the headlights on when I arrived in the morning. Muir was intermittently socked in and gloriously sunny all day. If there's corn up there I couldn't find it: merely a lot of recent wet snow in the slop stage of metamorphosis, heavily wind-affected, a couple of hundred postholers and perhaps a dozen skiers and boarders. The real challenge was the wind, gusting to 60 or 70 or so up on the snowfield, and from unpredictable directions. This made it a bit awkward climbing up, and genuinely perplexing skiing down, since just as I got a turning rhythm going this giant hand would clobber me from one direction or another. Holding warp speed seemed to help (as it helped also for the wet snow), but this becomes difficult to justify on aging knees. I didn't venture too far left or right, being worried about the visibility and my own unfamiliarity with the route, but I did take some steep rolls to about 45 degrees steepness with only minor sluffing. The best skiing was on Muir Snowfield itself down to about 8500 feet, well off to skiers right, where there should be good corn in a couple of days. Enjoy." Mark May 19, 2001 Van Trump Park, MRNP: "A good day to be in Van Trump Park except for the winds (very strong gusts) and heavy snow (no corn yet). We booted from the TH (3700'vf) to the where we left the trees above Comet Falls (5300'vf). The log crossing of Van Trump Creek was sporting (an ice axe may be useful here). Party members high points ranged from 8500 to 10,500'. The opinion on the skiing was varied, being mostly a function of one's age and skill. The author found it heavy and demanding precision, which old, tired legs could not fully accomodate. We triggered nothing, but observed small natural releases and a cornice collapse. We saw no one else above Comet Falls. A big trip that would be much improved with consolidated snow." BrentH May 19, 2001 Muir Snowfield, MRNP: "Left paradise at 10:30 and climbed Pan pt, vigorous wind; at the top of Pan, probably 30 mph; by 8,100 feet 40+ mph with occasional breaks with fog blowing in and out and wind picking up chunks of snow and throwing them at us. Snow kind of funky. Above paradise there was a 6-inch crust over unconsolidated. Up on the Muir, again a thick wind pack, but nonbreakable--about 12+ inches of new. Skiing was o.k down to MclCure then got trickier but still not bad. Edith Basin a little mushy. Ridge down to road, very mushy, set off a 10 X50 foot slide (I was intentionally skiing the steepest lines to keep momentum in the mush and was expecting a small slide to happen). Back to car at 1:30. Will skip tomorrow :-). abc" Andy Carey May 13, 2001 Alpental: "I took a look-and-see attitude on the weather. By 11 am the pass DOT camera was promising. On my arrival there were large numbers of helmeted post-holers exiting the slopes, probably a Mountaineers climbing class. I saw only one other skier (more on him below). I climbed to the top by starting under the left chair (Debbie's) and took a run down the same way. Then I repeated the climb and skied International. The snow was better than yesterday on Hawkins as it was more consolidated and stable, but it was still heavy skiing. It may be worth doing for another week or two, but take solvent/rag to clean your bases after/during each run. (Just what is that black gloop anyways?) I watched my single companion on the slopes jump the cornice/cliff at the top, twice no less (I would estimate a 60' free fall). Wow!" BrentH May 13, 2001 Edith Creek basin, Mazama ridge, BackBowls and roundabout: "Not too optimistic as Dorothea and myself arrived in misting clouds at Paradise lot. Worse yet ,Igor the bad news bulldozer and his snow blowin friend "Puffy" were hard at work clearin out the Paradise valley road. Decided we would do end run up Edith basin ski some of that and then go over to Mazama. Some clearing occured and temps went up kinda hot house like at times.Summit and Muir snowfield showed themselves fully by 1pm Snow was wet but very skiable. reminded me of driving a Cadillac. A little heavy and sloppy steering.We kicked off a couple wet slides and I got run down by one of my own snowball creations.Evidence of Cornices dropping .Creek crossings are getting thin but still lots of snow .Best runs were west facing . We skied the backbowl once then headed down to horseshoe bend and found the challenge of the day dropping down 10' into the road cut left by Igor and friend.Road is plowed out half way down the valley as we left. Amusing note of the day : We were getting our packs ready and I noticed 3 young men two cars away. They were putting skins on thier rental AT rigs.I heard one of them say " I think that's how they go." I looked and the skins were on backward with the tail fix in the tip hole ! I went over and straighted them out. They were appreciative and wouldn't stop calling me sir .Somebody rented these army guys gear without explanation ? I told them to be careful and don't do anything stupid. "Thank you Sir"" Robie May 12-13, 2001 Sahale Peak/Mt. St. Helens: "Saw a cougar sitting in the middle of the Cascade River Road Friday night! Sahale: I spent the night camped out in a grove of giant old cedars down in the valley, then drove the last few miles up the road, still gated at 2600 feet (just below the hairpin). My tripmates, scheduled to leave at 7 AM, were gone without a trace when I arrived at 7:02, so I sat around and cursed them robustly for a while, then started the long trudge up the bone-dry road, which is blocked by drifts at the usual place just below the trailhead. The first avalanches started pouring off Johannesburg Mtn. and The Triplets at 7:30, and these kept me entertained throughout the climb. I finally caught up to my friends at the foot of the glacier, where they were basking in the sun as I chugged uphill towards them. They tried to take credit for the tracks coming down from the summit ("Join us, Mark: we’re going up for another run!") but I noted that these were at least a week old. We topped out at the base of the little summit pyramid, about 8600 feet, and while we were sitting around congratulating ourselves somewhat breathlessly, a solo German on rented snowshoes came bounding up the soft, 40+ degree slope, having left the parking lot several hours after we did. Suitably deflated, we started down, with the entire central Cascade crest spread out beneath our feet, all needle-sharp peaks and glaciers fading into the distance. The avalanches coming steadily off Johannesburg and echoing around the valley sounded, as one of us pointed out, like trains in an underground train station. The snow was pretty wet the entire way—I doubt that most of it had frozen at all overnight, but was firm underneath the wet slop on top, the surface sluffing as expected. (At times I could see that Cascades-in-the-springtime bow-wave breaking from each ski tip.) More of a problem, at least for me, were the patches of windblown grit on the surface, which acted somewhat like tacky contact cement. Some of our group looked distinctly more graceful than others, and by the time we’d descended a couple of thousand feet down Sahale Arm were looking for the steeper places to play around on. On the other hand (and how shall I put this?), certain others seemed unduly interested in searching out the gentlest slopes available. The snow coverage is thin this year, here as elsewhere, but there's still plenty of snow to ski the 5000 feet to the road. There'll be a few bare spots up on the Arm within a week or two, and the steep shots down into the valley from Cascade Pass might get a bit problematic shortly after that. Mt. St. Helens: I had overcommitted for the weekend, so after burgers in Marblemount I took off at a high rate of speed for Mt. St. Helens, where the traditional Mother's Day dragfest was about to begin. Somewhat to my astonishment I did succeed in meeting up with the other 7 people from Bellingham, five women and two men, although I pulled in to the trailhead, 2600 feet, at 2 AM and was not fully conscious at departure time. We hiked for an hour or so through gray drizzle, the snow spotty on the trail, before hitting steady coverage around 4200 feet, a short ways uphill from the creek crossing. In another hour the sun came out and the views cleared and out came skirts and dresses, some of which would have passed muster at any formal occasion and others of which would definitely have not. I was not the slowest on the mountain—though I certainly came close—but I found it helpful to let slip periodically that I'd actually done a much more serious, committing and tiring ski just the previous day. No one asked, so I never needed to tell them, that this was actually my normal slow, plodding pace. At the crater rim, 8200 feet, there was quite a crowd oooooing and aaaaahing each other’s outfits, discussing strategies and borrowing safety pins.....plus the occasional perplexed climber wondering what all the frivolity was about. I added a babushka as a concession to the chilly breeze, posed for a few photos, and we traversed well out to skiers right where the snow had looked the least thrashed and dropped down and down and down. As the previous day on Sahale, the snow was thick and wet, somewhat less stable but still quite skiable with a bit of basic sluff management. I seemed to be sinking lower and lower into my turns as my legs turned increasingly rubbery, eventually reaching the limit of travel imposed by the hem of my dress....then, RIIIIPPP! and I resumed sagging more and more, of sheer exhaustion. Others in my group looked significantly more energetic, and their stitching stayed more or less intact. We succeeded in taking fresh tracks most of the way down before traversing back to the uphill boot pack. From 4100 feet we carried skis, and at the gavel pit we stowed our various dresses and accessories and returned to that widely-consensed reality in which one hikes and skis in gore-tex, lycra, polypropylene and pile. Oh yes: skiers will want to know that the skiing is going fast, but still quite fun. Should be fresh snow above 6000 feet this week and another sunny weekend coming up. Enjoy. " Mark May 12-13, 2001 Colchuck Lake: "Road is open to trailhead, a few patches of snow on first section of trail to junction with Colchuck Lake trail, more snow than not from there to lake. Not possible to ski below lake. 0-3 feet of snow at lake. Snow was mostly deeply mushy and unconsolidated. Booting through the deeper parts near the lake was a bit of a pain. Although its starting to look dicey, you can still ski across the lake. We skied to Colchuck col, upper 2/3 was firmer but not great. Alot of rock showing on slope to Asgard pass, it looked so grim we did not bother to attempt it. Maybe barely possible to ski it continuously from top to bottom, and not for long" PaulC May 12, 2001 Washington Pass: "Jill and I parked at the Blue Lake trailhead and saw Paul's group heading for the Birthday tour. We climbed the same direction but swung west of the cliffs in hope of finding firmer snow. Unfortunately, all aspects had unconsolidated snow. After soaking in the views at the top of the cornice, we skied the bowl.We then downclimbed the top 10 yards of the slot next to South Early Winter Spire until we reached continuous snow. The slot/couloir provides a continuous 2100' shot down to the hairpin turn. The snow was soft and our wide skis were perfect for the conditions.The slot opens quickly and provides a beautiful background for high speed turns. Met a local snowboarder who shuttled me back to the trailhead for the van." Zap May 12, 2001 Hawkins, Salmon La Sac backcountry: "We had planned on trying Snowking today, but the forecast sent us to the East side, seeking corn. The FS road was clear all the way to the Hawkins spur. We booted to 4700' which is typical for this time of year. The ridge had less snow than usual, but coverage was continuous. At about 6000' we left the ridge and traversed the W face to the summit. Filtered sunshine and only high clouds made for good views (Snowking likely would have worked.) When we started the 1200' W facing run the first skier's third turn triggered a large (40'x800'x1') slide releasing to the ground. We then looked at the E bowl, but decided it was riskier (steeper at the entry with large cornices), and so we cautiously skied the W face to exit. Several hundred vf below the summit the angle lessened and the snow hardened so we completed the W face run without any more slide action. We climbed to our entry point on the W face and did an extra run down the approach ridge. This was the best snow! of the day, but it was not corn. At least it wasn't unstable mush. Skied to 4500' on the exit. Lots of exercise (5400' vf), but overall poor skiing. Where's the corn?" The Usual Suspects May 12, 2001 Muir Snowfields: "Overcast, windy, warm. Wind sucking moisture out of the snow making good skiing on the snowfield--but capping our climb at around 8,800 feet. Lots of rock now exposed on the snowfield. Skied down past McClure Rock, snow a little mushy. Into Edith Basin, definitely mushy. Down to Paradise Valley Road--deeply mushy. Road now cleared to the bridge. So walked out. Nice day, not bad skiing; but snow is going fast. abc" Andy Carey May 11, 2001 Silver Creek Meadows, Wenatchee NF: "Drove over Snoqualmie Pass, and found the road was snow-free to the trailhead (2400ft), as was the trail climbing up south slopes into the hanging valley. But, true to form, a snowpack appeared at the lip of the valley, about 1-3 feet deep (3600ft). The ski up the valley through the woods was beautiful - not too dirty or crunchy due to some newer snow, pretty much continuous coverage, and all the side creeks still bridged. The meadows (4800ft) had 3-6 feet of snowpack, with the top 6" of newer snow softening during the warm day. I did a number of short runs on east and south facing slopes surrounding the meadows, and found lots of mushy snow. I some places in the afternoon I could easily push my pole in over a foot, into very crumbly, large-grained snow. North-facing slopes appeared to be the worst, but all aspects had this snow. Triggered large snowballs on some slopes, about 25 degrees, and it appeared that on steeper slopes the mush would readily slide, 6-12 inches deep. Great view of the whole Stuart Range for the northern valley rim. A mountain goat trashed my tracks between two runs, and then plunged down the mush on slopes way steeper than I wanted to try. The glide back down the valley was enjoyable, until the last mile where the refrozen, crunchy snow was a bit tedious. I used my lightest equipment, Karhu XCD waxless and Trak leather 3-pin boots, and it was a good choice overall, although wider skis would have made skiing the mushy slopes easier. Observations from the drive: The southwest ridge of Granite Mountain still looked skiable, but not nearly to treeline. Silver Peak bowl has lots of snow, and Olallie clearcut above Windy Pass looked like it has good coverage; the Cold Creek road to Windy Pass still has snow blocking it right at Summit East. Summit West still has good coverage (80% skiable), but East is history. Mount Snoqualmie looked like it is still skiable down to Cave Ridge." Charles Eldridge (tay@turns-all-year.com) May 10, 2001 Silver Basin: "Paul and I headed for Crystal Mtn. to ski some west facing slopes in the South Backcountry. Followed the standard route along Chair 4 and headed towards "Dogleg Chute" and the ridge line to Three-Way Peak. Most of the slope was still shaded and we climbed "Gunbarrel" to "Chickens Head". The skiing was perfect corn with 1" of cream on a firm base. Continued down the ridge towards "Speed Control" and cycled in the bowl. Paul stayed in the bowl and I climbed the bowl next to Three-Way Peak. Looked over to Sourdough Gap and down to Placer Lake. Found a slot that had not released and enjoyed the corn. Chinook Pass opened today. Great conditions on west facing slopes." Zap (zapjillski@aol.com) May 10, 2001 Mt. St. Helens: "Climbers Bivouac still not open, but forecast was good, so we went to Marblemount SnoPark [What a nifty party set up for snowmobilers!]; along the way we bought our annual climbing permit to go with our annual snopark permit and annual trailpark pass and annual national park pass ... . Left the car at 6:50 a.m. carrying skis on pack, 3/4 miles of dirt trail, then snow. 5 hours later we had gained 5,000 vf in 4+ miles, Regine mostly on skins (Ascension) and my G-3 skins and Rainey crampons indadequate for the icey-transforming-to-corn snow. Our 1st trip up the Worm Flows route and we were pleasantly surprised at the steepness (and unprepared--I should have brought my shaped Ascension). It was clear, windless, and hot on the way up; almost enough to make you nausesous. Lots of exposed dirt/rock on ridges. A couple of hundred vertical below the crater rim, at noon, the corn was near perfect and we decided to forego yet another crater view to make the best advantage of the corn. Traversed to the west a bit and rapidly descended on fantatstic corn all the way to about 4,500 ft. Then the snow started getting sloppy and patchy in places. Had to remove/replace skis. Still it was possible to ski out a good ways below Chocolate Falls after crossing the creek down below. Snow was sloppy, but of course the grade there is mild. By 3 p.m. we were on the way home--could have hurried down the trail and been out of there by 2 p.m. or so. abc" Andy Carey May 7, 2001 Hidden Lake Peak: "Paul, Susan and I started skinning at 3000'. We were about 1 mile short of the trailhead. Only had to carry the skis for about 200 vertical along the trail just before Sibley Creek. It was a sunny and warm day and the snowpack was unconsolidated the entire day. We reached the summit rocks, had lunch and surfed in unconsolidated mush to the exit. Great views - heavy snow." Zap (zapjillski@aol.com) May 6, 2001 Cowlitz Rocks, MRNP: "With old ski partner Nitzy "Noodles" coming off the injured reserve we went looking for something easy. Noodles and I left the sunny parking lot at paradise at 9am and headed up for Cowlitz rocks on frozen crust. Saw what I now know as Andy and Regines tracks in back bowl. Should have known from the preciseness. We made good time, enjoyed lunch and leisurely discussion up on the rocks while waiting for the slope to soften a bit. Kinda like a pr of old dogs. Right next to us was a small cornice hole that gave a interesting perspective on the big drop down to the Cowlitz. Also watched the show on the Muir route and surprised that no one came down the Paradise glacier (Looked very doable from our vantage point). With bright sunshine and negliglbe wind we skied down on some very fine corn. Of course south slopes were a little sloppy but all west facing was perfect including the bigger slope on Mazama. Some wet snow sloughing on east and south slopes. We returned to the parking lot early and the hot pavement on bare feet felt good. I guess you can't hear any thing while in a crevasse, cause I yelled at big crevasse party. Last note : on the way driving out 2 partys were seen at nisqually bridge after skiing the glacier. There exit tracks were seen high and final exit was on the east side of the river. One individual was an old whitebeard?" Robie May 6, 2001 Birthday Traverse, Washington Pass: "Reports of too damn much snow (5 to 6 feet of fresh) in the Mt. Baker backcountry made trips in that area seem unwise, so I again drove the North Cascades Highway. Set off from the Blue Lake parking lot with a variety of folks I'd met there, one of whom continued with me around the short version of the Birthday Traverse (skipping Copper Pass). From 2-6 inches of fresh Methow powder covers a variety of surfaces up there: wind, rain, sun and melt crusts mainly, not well bonded in general. The fresh was thickening in the heat wherever the sun could get to it, and in some areas was starting to feel a bit sluff-ish: another couple of days there'll be good corn throughout. North facing bowls were filled in with enough dry powder for face shots in places, with shallower spots or bare ice mixed in unpredictably. (We yo-yoed in one 800 foot bowl where the powder was particularly scrumptious. This is May, right? Face shots in a tank top on a nice, sunny day.) The cornice at the col ("The Cornice of Death") was substantially bigger than last time I was there a couple of weeks ago, but still has a human-sized hole in it which the intrepid can squeeze through. I'd be cautious about hanging around under that thing on a warm afternoon. All-in-all a wise choice of location and a great tour. On the drive home I drove up the Sauk Mtn. Road, which is blocked by snow about 5 miles in, at 3000 feet. Another week or two and the southwest face (where the trail is) and back side will make a nice half-day tour. Enjoy." Mark May 5-6, 2001 Washington Pass: "We got to the Blue Lake TH about midnight on Friday where we roughed it that night and the next in KevinG's camper. The weather Saturday was not especially good with on-off visibility, winds, occasional snow, low clouds, etc. We did manage the Birthday Tour, but we had the sense to make two N facing runs before crossing the aptly-named "Cornice of Death" (CoD). These two runs were the best of the day with 3-6 inches of new on a firm crust and decent visibility. Kevin had never done the Birthday Tour, so he did not know it was impossible to skin over the CoD which is what we did following his lead. Surface conditions on Madison Avenue were good, but we got only good brief visibility shots so we cautiously picked our way down (disappointing). The last 100 vf on both sides of Copper Col were icy with most of the party booting it. The descent to the Hairpin offered poor skiing on a breakable crust interspered with avalanche debris in places. Our driver hitched back t! o our vehicles at Blue Lake TH. The very first uphill vehicle contained BrentS who was returning from a 43 mile trail run on the East side! Sunday was a very different day with lovely weather (almost too lovely for avalanche hazard). We played on both sides of the SE arm of Cutthroat where we found good skiing (but no corn). There was evidence of recent cornice failures, but the only avalanche activity we observed was what we triggered (fairly large, shallow surface slides of the new on the old crust on steep slopes). The snow coverage made the descent of the front-side of lower Cutthroat challenging through the rockbands. In another week this part may not be skiable." The Usual Suspects May 5-6, 2001 Paradise: "It doesn't take much of a trip to qualify as a backcountry ski trip for me, Charles. Even driving to the trailhead and sitting in the car drinking beer and watching the rain qualifies as far as I'm concerned. Eric, Jeanette, Maureen and I were all right there at Paradise with you this weekend, however. We were all part of the 13 person instructional staff that put 21 hopeful ski/snowboard glacier travelers through their crevasse rescue paces Saturday and Sunday on the Nisqually Glacier. It was the field trip for the Ski/Snowboard Glacier Travel/Crevasse Rescue course conducted annually by the Seattle Mountaineers. There’s nothing quite like going into a crevasse with all your ski gear and pack on except maybe watching the look on someone's face as they go over the edge of the abyss with hopes that their instructors and training partners are doing everything right. Fortunately, true to form for this annual event, we returned to the Paradise parking lot with the same number of souls as what we left with, and with 21 more glacier travelers with a new appreciation for the challenges of extracting themselves and each other from the icy grips of crevasses. Great fun and adrenalin rushes were had by all." ron jarvis May 5-6, 2001 Paradise, MRNP: "My 7 year-old daughter and I headed down the gulley to the flats just south of the upper parking lot, in breakable crust over the 1-2 feet of new snow from the last week. Snow squalls and drifting snow gave way to a more northerly flow and sunshine. The snow warmed and provided good XC skiing on firm mush. Snow was re-freezing by 5 pm, and a walkable, 2-3 inch crust had formed by Sunday morning. Great XC skiing in the morning under sunny skies, again giving way to firm mush in the afternoon. Nursing a broken rib, I didn't try too many turns, but the Muir snowfield, Golden Gates, and the Tatoosh were all well tracked by the end of the weekend. Ron, does that count as a backcountry ski trip?" Charles Eldridge (tay@turns-all-year.com) May 5, 2001 Mazama Ridge, MRNP: "Once again, low clouds, snow, and wind made both Muir Snowfields and Castle-Pinnacle seem unworthy of the effort, so we headed to Mazama. The ski down Paradise Vallley Road was foreboding--breakable, styrofoam crust, cracking into 2 sq ft plates with every stride. As we started up towards the ridge, we encountered blue ice, breakable crust, powder, and swirling snow devils. Crossed the ridge to the back bowl and skied down the east slope encountering waves of powder between troughs of ice. Skied the north-facing slope: Nice. Skied it four times each. Each time different depending on whether the sun was breaking thru, or it was snowing, or just flat light under overcast skies. Skinned out and skied down Mazama--not bad. Skiing down to the road was nice for Regine (110 lbs) but mildly irritating for me with unpredictably breakable curts. Good Day tos. abc" AndyĘCarey Back to top |