 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| This old version of Trip Reports is no longer being updated.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. |
| January 2002 Trip Reports |
January 27, 2002 Bear Gap, Crystal Mt.: "It was a great day in the PNW with 2 - 3 feet of fresh powder!!! Arrived at Crystal Mt. with 19 degrees, broken skies, and occasional snow showers. Charles, Ron and I headed off the top of Chair 4 onto the groomed return track from Silver Basin, and then turned off towards Bear Gap. The going was easy and fast until we got off piste into the deep fresh snow, where each of us took short turns at "trail breaking" in the 2 foot deep snow. The avi conditions were high, with the recent snow fall, and some significant winds in the past 24 hours. Some natural releases were noted on slopes of 45 degrees or more. We were able to find some very skiable slopes and enjoyed the occasional burst of "over the head" powder. Temperatures remained cold throughout the day, skied out the "Jim Town" drainage to the Elizabeth Creek Drainage and back to the car. Being the only three in the Bear Gap area for the whole day, it was quite a shock to see all the skiers and the skied off conditions on the local Crystal Mt ski area as we made our way back to the car. Looks like we are in for more of the same snow/ski conditions until Wed of this next week." Photos from this trip can be viewed here Jeanette January 27, 2002 Hogsback Mtn. White Pass: "Southern Utah, AKA Hogsback mtn. Sunday 1/27/02 . Due to challenging road conditions 6 of us met at the Chair lift at 10am. We took a nice ride up to Pigtail peak and headed out after being warned about moving our backpacks to our laps. Evidently there had been a incident with injury from an early chair lift departure. This being a Tacoma Mountaineer's trip and me being the leader I felt it necessary to set the proper decourum. I accomplised this in my usual fashion by missing a jump into the soft snow at the bottom of Pigtail. While I was collecting myself the others skinned up for the ski back to Hogsback. We set the trail with the help of 2 skiers from Yakima. At least 2' of low density made trail breaking a chore. Weather was showers /sun breaks back and forth. Decided to go for the top and were glad we did because for a change it was not wind scoured. 8 to 12" of powder on top provided excellent skiing on the North thru NW sides for 3 runs. We stayed out the east facing bowls due to avalanche concerns. What we did ski was very stable but then again not that steep. The run back was very slow due to the low angle. It would have been better to skied our uptrack back thru the woods. Due to later start and long day We ended with a full moon ski down thru the ski area to the parking lot. (Horrible roads took a bite out of a beautiful day in the backcountry.)" Robie January 27, 2002 Utah! (Mt. Baker backcountry): "Three of us went wheeling up the Mt. Baker Highway, discussing the usual things: the reckless driving of others on icy roads, the dire avalanche reports of the past week (danger and death seemed to feature very prominently in these reports, possibly in connection with the 8-10 feet of snow which has fallen since last weekend); a tour which had been turned back by bottomless snow at just 2400 feet the previous day; the likelihood of appreciable stability, visibility and/or crowds in the backcountry today. There were neither more nor less than the usual number of cars in ditches and snowbanks, with snow on the roads from sea level all the way to the ski area. We skinned up a sumptuous uptrack, offering profuse thanks to the dozen or more snowshoers responsible, all of whom seemed to have spent the night in various snowcaves and tents at Artist Point. Stomping, cutting, poking and prodding suggested sufficient stability to justify looking into another largely unexplored (and wholly secret) area of glades and gullies, mostly in the 30-40 degree range. Dropping off the ridge, in one of those mysterious but undeniable wrinkles in the space-time continuum, we suddenly found ourselves skiing knee-to-thigh-deep, unconsolidated, low-density powder. From the start it was clear that this could only mean we had left the rainforests of our PNW home behind and landed, blissed out and full of glee, in some corner of the great state of Utah. I became suddenly prone to fits of giggles and yips (uncharacteristic of me, I can assure you); Miz L behaved similarly, while the elder statesman of our little group maintained a suitably statesmanlike demeanor throughout. Of course, there was hell to pay when, having giggled and yipped our way downhill to a reasonable stopping- place, we turned around to climb back out. Oh my, yes. We had all taken downhill lines too steep to follow back uphill, and were left therefore to wallow and struggle, knee-to-thigh-deep once again, endlessly uphill. At first I entertained hopes of another run, but it soon became clear that this was not to be. A couple of hours later we crested the ridge, staggering slightly, and bid our little corner of Utah (and the best skiing of this season) farewell. The avalanche forecast, which had not been posted by the time I left home, was for high danger, and this seemed perhaps only very slightly overstated. We skied more or less southerly slopes, and found some slabbing within the top several feet of the pack, but ski cuts at 40-45 degree steepness yielded only sluffs in last night's snow. On a northerly aspect along the ridge, however, slightly wind-affected snow propagated short distances and released easily on a relatively mild slope (~30*), and there is clear potential for large avalanches, with several obvious slab layers and bedding surfaces within the recent snow. Your mileage, as is often the case, may vary. Enjoy." Mark January 19, 2002 Snoqualmie Pass: "Original plans were for Paradise Sunday, but a call to MRNP Saturday, mid morning, found the Longmire gate opening possibly at noon on Saturday with heavy snows predicted Saturday night, and a later or possible no gate opening for Sunday. Our next destination for Sunday, Mt. Cathrine, Snoqualmie Pass, when we got to Hyak it was raining. Sat in the car and waffled between scrapping the trip or taking the two lift rides and then deciding from there. Forecast was for warming so we didn't see much chance of it turning back to snow. Finally decided to take the rides and take a look. After our two lift runs, and the snow starting to fall, the four of us were stoked so we went off the backside down to the road, took the road to Mill Creek and climbed the north shoulder of Cathrine. There was about 2 feet of new snow overnight, with more new snow falling, poor visibility, and some intermittent strong winds. Eric and Ron took turns breaking trail up into the trees. Off piste snow was deep, and a little heavier than we anticipated, we were expecting to make a lot of craters on the way back down. Turned out the snow skied reasonably well. Skinned back up to Hyak inbounds and took the groomers back down." Jeanette January 19, 2002 Shangri-La Found (Mt. Baker backcountry): "Today I continued my search for the perfect, untracked and unknown ski locales within easy reach of the end of the plowed highway. I resumed where I left off several weeks ago, dropping off a ridgeline crowded with skiers and boarders, snowshoers, snow-cavers and other sorts of riff-raff, squeezing through the slot in the treeline down into the big, fluffy bowl below. Last time I tried this route I got hung up on narrow little ribs covered with giant trees separating avalanche-scoured gullies, so I tried another possibility this time around, and found....heaven, featuring good visibility and deep, unconsolidated powder, stable on slopes to greater than 40 degrees, in glades, bowls and little ravines winding downhill like luge runs. I don't even know where I found the strength of character to stop and head back uphill, but it's a good thing that I did, because breaking trail all the way back up to the ridge was onerous indeed. By the time I emerged into The Place Where Everyone Goes, fog and light snow had rolled back in and everything was totally whited out, so I picked my way carefully back to the ski area. Others, testing stability on other aspects along the ridgelines, drew different conclusions, but I got releases at 4 in two pits on the steep south and west aspects I skied, both times releasing without showing any hint of slab, 8 inches deep (at the base of last night's snow). Ski cuts were similar, with point releases around 50 degrees steepness, which is way steeper than I would have skied. I admit that it was still a bit nerve-wracking dropping into those ravines, a.k.a. terrain traps, but all was uneventful. Until, that is, I found a couple of pockets of strangely slabby snow in the trees on my long, arduous skin back uphill. These propagated cracks and released on unsupported rolls (e.g. tree wells and rock outcrops) located unpredictably here and there, suggesting humility in all pursuits. Once the current snow is loaded with another couple of feet tonight and tomorrow it'll probably become pretty weird. Looks to be worth staying home (or in-bounds) tomorrow. I'm claiming this new secret stash as my own, for as long as it lasts. Enjoy." Mark January 19, 2002 Crystal Mountain. backcountry: "Was supposed to lead a trip for the Tacoma Mountaineers to the Paradise area. No signups! Maybe my reputation has something to do with it? So hooked up with the usual buddies and we all decided for Crystal/East Peak/Bullion Basin/Cement Basin. Met Nick D. in the parking lot whose partner had bailed so he joined Roger, Kevin, Tom and me. Climbed up to the top of Wooden Cross Peak and dropped into Cement. Pretty windblown up high but not too bad. That is until we dropped into what we call "The Hourglass", the little necked down chute that seems to collect lots of debris. We had maybe 8-12 inches of new which covered (to the eye at least) all the frozen crap. But our skis found it! Pretty bumpy ride down, taking lots of concentration (and ski luck!). Decided the westerly aspects were better so did 3 more runs here. Patches of crust/ice up high but pretty sweet fluff lower down. Roger on his brand-spankin'-new Hydrogens w/T9s was smilin'! Come to think of it, we all were smilin'! Everything seemed" [Note: incomplete report received] Tim January 16, 2002 Nordic Pass/Silver Peak Bowl, Snoqualmie Pass : "Pete and I went through the standard runaround of trying to determine if there was lift access to the upper XC trails. There was, via the Silver Fir chair, and we stashed our packs at the top and had a nice groomer run down before heading toward Nordic Pass. The snowpack in the forest at this elevation is finally good enough to be able to ski almost anywhere, and the surface conditions were great: 6-8" of loose snow, light on top and dense on the bottom, over a very strong rain crust. For maximum runs we should have skied the forested slopes around Nordic Pass all day, but we really wanted to get over to Silver Peak bowl, so we skied down to Olallie Meadow from Nordic Pass. We found a warming hut with benches, matches and wood all laid out by a wood stove, so we had a warm and leisurely lunch. Afterwards, we headed up Olallie clearcut, past Windy Pass, got into the glades on the west side of the bowl at about 4200', and climbed to the top of the knob in the upper bowl at about 5200'. The only place the snow wasn't great was the top few hundred feet, where a moderate crust (sun?) a couple of inches down made turning less than ideal. Otherwise the whole run back to Windy Pass and the route from Nordic Pass back to Grand Junction was on consistent, silky loose snow. There did not seem to have been any recent avalanche activity on the steep slopes within the bowl, and we triggered nothing despite creating several large impact craters on moderately steep slopes. We didn't leave the top of the knob until 4:15, and stopped for photos on the way down, so by the time we got back to Grand Junction it was almost completely dark. The light snow and overcast had disappeared, though, and the stars, new crescent moon, and Saturn were beautiful. Just when we got back to the downhill run, a fleet of 3 groomers came roaring up the slope, so we got to night ski freshly groomed with groomer illumination until we rounded a bend and began braille skiing to the bottom (too lazy to get out the headlamps). Some info on lift access to the upper XC trails and the backcountry beyond: The nordic center at Hyak/East seems to be "closed" on Mon+Tues, meaning you can't buy a XC ticket and thus cannot ride a lift up; a skier can still gain access by quad power. The nordic center is "open" on Wed+Thurs, but the "nordic lift" (at Hyak/East) is closed; a XC ticket may be purchased, however, and used to ride the Silver Fir lift (Ski Acres/Central) up to the XC trails. On Fri+Sat+Sun everything is "open", and a XC ticket can be used at either Hyak or the Silver Fir. The Snoqualmie Pass web site's nordic section seems to have continuing 2-for-1 XC ticket deals - you have to print out the proper page and present it at the ticket booth, as well as answer a question like "Who is the mistress of the Pub?". Fortunately, the answer doesn't have to be correct! Photos from this trip can be viewed here" Charles (tay@turns-all-year.com) January 13, 2002 Hauser Peak - Crystal Mountain Backcountry: "With clear and sunny skies, and a few inches of new, Ron and I climbed up the NW side of the ridge between Cement Basin and Hauser Peak in search of the elusive powder. Snow was wind scoured and crusty so we traversed the ridgetop towards Hauser, found 4 to 6 inches of wind deposited freshies snow over a bullet proof layer. Skied down the west facing slopes with great snow and only an occasional crusty patch into Bullion Basin and back to the Crystal Upper C lot. The proof of pudding is in the pics here." Jeanette January 13, 2002 Mt. Baker Backcountry: "Mister S, Miz L and myself (aka Tinkerbell, Pigeon and Gorilla for reasons which are best not elaborated here) went exploring a secret ridge run in the very heart of the overpopulated Mt. Baker backcountry. Mister S, acclaimed expert on freeheel techniques, skied tiny, tight parallel turns most of the day, finally condescending to throw in a few telemark turns towards dusk after being threatened with public ridicule (it was noted that he first made sure that the trip scribe was watching). Miz L, recently returned from an epic river journey, kept pace on this, her first ski tour since last May, by politely and judiciously declining to break trail for longer than 35 seconds at a time. Nevertheless, she was seen launching graceful, linked semi-jump turns through steep powder at various times during the day without any of the grimacing and grunting that characterizes my own skiing style. Myself, I tried to ski gently, in deference to a recent injury. Results were mixed, of course, since an excess of caution is clearly dysfunctional in variable snow. We found mostly good skiing in heavy, unsullied powder, 10 to 16 inches deep on a firm base that in some places had refrozen after the rains, in some places remained soft. We skied south, east and northeast aspects to steeper than 40 degrees, finding reasonable stability for the most part, with areas of shallow windslab. At odd intervals one of these pockets would fracture and release when cut, usually just 2-4 inches deep. Once I had another fracture in a firm layer deeper within the storm snow, suggesting that caution is indicated around places that might be windloaded for at least the next couple of days. Returning uphill to the place where the masses congregate we were passed by a group of four headed down the secret ridge, obviously following our tracks; apparently, we neglected to brush out our tracks when we accessed the run. I suppose that by next week I'll have to find another secret run, this one being by then likely packed with crapulous bootpackers, widely dispersed (and rude) snowshoers, large men in street shoes smoking cigars, and adorable, encopretic family pets. Until then and as always, enjoy." Mark January 13, 2002 Hurricane Ridge: "Nice powder on N-facing slopes. Windblown on exposed s-facing slopes. Rain crust made a very solid base, and new powder was maybe 6" deep in protected areas in the trees. The park service seems to be trying harder to open the road this year -- they bought a new rotary plow." Rick Randall (rrandall@tscnet.com) January 12, 2002 Heather (Skyline) Ridge, Stevens Pass: "It stormed all day. The forecast was on target: relatively warm (ca 3000' freezing level), 6-10 inches of new, windy at the pass. We (Eric and I) broke trail to the ridge top and most of the rest of the day. We saw two other parties of two. OK skiing (except for patches of buried, rough crust), but poor visibility (blowing snow, fog). The bond between the old crust and the new was not especially good (small sloughs, propagating cracks). After six hours (5100vf, 7 miles) we had gone through several sets of gloves and a couple of extra layers, so we called it a day." Brent H January 6, 2002 Crystal BC: "Went to Crystal last weekend to ski, never thought it would possibly turn into water skiing. We changed our destination quickly when we found out the weather was turning so quickly. Our intended destination was East Peak/Lake Basin or somewhere North facing in pursuit of some good snow. As we left the car, it started to rain so we only climbed as high as the top of the old Bullion Basin chair and practiced doing some beacon searches. There were four of us in the group, we each took turns burying a beacon and then had one person search for it while the rest of us tagged along and watched how the "searcher" was doing. So all in all we did turn our bushel of lemons into a little lemonade. Oh and then the fun part, we skinned up the road to the top of the real "Gold Hills" chair, skied down and back to the parking lot from there " Jeanette January 5, 2002 Mazama Ridge, Rainier: "Took a quick trip to Mazama Ridge. 1" of powder on top of a very firm base. Much better conditions that expected, as snow level was 5000-6000. Tracked up Mazama Ridge and Edith Creek for a bit. Foggy at the top of the ridge but nice skiing below. Backside bowl too foggy to ski (or see). I was on super fat skis, skinnier ones would've been the tool for the day." Dave January 5, 2002 Hyak/Silver peak basin: "Just got in from skiing, Dorothea, Bob, Gary and I went to Hyak. Bought the nordic lift ticket (2 rides) Dorothea gets her ticket free! Skied up to Nordic Pass on left side of creek, then down to Windy Pass crossed road and continued on up to what the trail map calls high lookout. From there we headed over a soft shoulder and up into Silver Peak basin. Trees thinned out as we climbed and then up to a high spot in the basin with the ridge to right and knob to our left. Max El was 4860'. All skiing out in the open was on 3" of new snow over a very hard crust. We skied back down to below Windy Pass and then out the road along Cold Creek with the boring end. All skinning up to Nordic pass from Frog Lake either side and all in the trees was on a softer crust with new snow that was kinda trappy. Got back too late to take our second lift ride! It stayed cold all day and has not been under 32¼ for 7 days up there at 3800' or better. The east flow through the pass is a phenomemen worth looking for. When The Pass East /Pacific West/Hyak was called Milwaukee Ski bowl, there was a ski train (Milwaukee and St. Paul line) 1937 that delivered skiers to this resort area. One option was for skiers to descend from the back area near Silver peak and be picked up by the train down to Bandara where I-90 is now." Robie January 1, 2002 Wing Ridge, Wallowa Mountains, OR: "Arrived at Wing Ridge trailhead (6000 ft.) by 10 to be pleasantly greeted by clear skies after driving up through heavy fog. Followed good set of tracks up through burn area for about two hours. Snow varied from wind scoured crust along ridge line (7800 ft.) to powder in trees and north facing slopes. Area has been pretty skied out but were able to find some nice powder pockets. Great tree skiing back through burn area to trailhead. Great start to New Year." Monk Back to top |