 Turns-All-Year backcountry skiing in the Pacific NorthwestBackcountry Skiing and Snowboarding Trip Reports |
| Please read the Disclaimer |
| This old version of Trip Reports is no longer being updated.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 2002 Trip Reports |
May 26+27, 2002 Washington Pass: "On Monday, went on Birthday tour variation from Blue Lake TH. Firm snow and mostly sunny on way up mid-morning. col was steep and corniced at top but with good steps. conditions on S facing, Madison ave, were soft but good skiing, until down lower which became "grabby". Day was quite warm, so by late afternoon saw/triggered significant sluffing in route to kangaroo pass. Upon reaching hairpin at 4:30, Wa Pass was being closed due to avalanches on road. On Sunday, made trip to Heather Pass with destination of Black Peak. After crossing to Lewis lake, decided to head back due to concern with major cornices above slopes crossed in route with recent debris and poor runout. Day was warming with light rain. Nice skiing back down to Lake Ann." Paul R Monday, May 27, 2002 Folklife Tour (Chair Peak Circumnavigation): "I heard this route referred to as the "Folklife Tour" several years ago on the old Mountaineers Backcountry Ski Trip Reports page [may it RIP]. Tom and I repeated this "ski-cumnavigation" of Chair Peak on this gray Memorial Day. We followed the usual route from Alpental up to and over Pineapple Pass, then traversed benches and steep forest to near Melakwa Lake and on to Melakwa Pass. From this pass we descended past Chair Peak Lake to Snow Lake and walked across the lake below the north face of Chair. Then we popped back over the Snow Lake Divide and skiied out past Source Lake to the car. Other than the usual clot of climbers on the South Face of The Tooth we didn't see anyone else all day. Snow conditions were stable although we avoided all terrain funnels. Ski conditions were some good corn on some aspects, otherwise lots of old rotten avalanche debris." Pictures from this trip can be found here. Freshie Monday, May 27, 2002 South Sister, Oregon: "Monday in southern oregon was warm and cloudly but the road had opened up to devils lake saving about 5 miles of hiking so we went. We had snow all the way from the road so we were able to skin all the way. Around tree level (7500) the clouds really rolled in and visablety went to feet sometimes. The snow never really firmed up. We left the ski's at 9300 ft and continued up the rock to the top. If the vis had been better we would have left ski'd anyway the snow was a bad combo of winded sastrugi and breakable crust. Oh and it started raining sideways too. WEEEEE. Back on the ski's It was pretty good The vis was a little better. The part I worried about on the way up was the last 1000 vert in the tree's because it was already soft on the way up. But it turned out to be the best of the day.It was my wife's first volcano summit and we had a grest time." tom Monday, May 27, 2002 Shuksan Arm: "Sylvie and I scrapped our plan to ski Heliotrope/Marmot Ridges after waking up and seeing it socked in. (you can drive 6mi. up Glacier Cr. Rd. by the way.).....Instead we chose Shuksan Arm for an easy day. Started from the gate to the lower ski area lodge and put skis on at the lodge. Just as we reached the lower slopes, we witnessed 3 climbers in "The Hourglass" ski run on the arm, (not the climbing route on Shuksan) first, start a wet slide to clear the slope for glissading, but instead of waiting for the slide to descend, began glissading into the torrent of slush!! Needless to say, the first person looked to get pummeled!....Skied up "Mr. Ed's" under a very light mist with a couple inches of wet on a solid base. Up top, saw a helicopter flying just below the cloud deck around Baker. Hope no one was hurt..... The skiing was fast and creamy. Very nice turns here. Just one run today. T. " toby tortorelli (tobytortorelli@hotmail.com) Monday, May 27, 2002 Goat Island Mountain, Mt. Rainier N.P.: "Continuous snow up the trail to Summerland (2-3' at trailhead), very crunchy, dirty and bumpy at first, so I hiked it. A pair of fresh tele boot tracks left the usual route after about a mile and climbed right alongside a melted out stream, a route I had been thinking of trying, so I followed. About half a mile later here come the pair back down, having giving up in despair of being able to cross the creek, aiming to regain the standard route. I couldn't convince them that crossing would be easy farther along, so I kept climbing alongside the creek by myself, beginning to wonder if I would be proven wrong. But at about 4800' snow filled the creekbed, and crossing led to glades and a beautiful snow-filled draw leading right up to a little ridge where I had hoped, about 100' above the trail. Put on skis and picked up the trail just before it breaks out into the open near the footbridge over Fryingpan Creek. The creek was totally melted out, the footbridge bare, but I managed to ski across it anyway (good thing I didn't have my fat skis). Skiing up the gentle open slope above the bridge was great, with only 1-2" of soft on a very solid base - perfect snow for my Catamount waxless skis. 20-minute rain shower #1 arrived at about 5800', so I kicked a snowbench under a sheltering stand of trees and had lunch. The sun came back out and I skied up more steeply, gaining the west end of the Goat Island Mountain ridge at about 6400', and began skiing NE up the ridge; the snow was still well consolidated, helped by dust blown from melted out areas of the ridgetop. Suddenly I came across a very fresh set of boot tracks, going the opposite way; some crazy hiker had somehow climbed to the top of the E end of the Goat Island Mountain ridge (above the White River bridge), traversed the whole ridge, and then headed down the way I came up. I never saw or heard the hiker, but judging from our tracks, we must have missed each other by about 1 minute. As I skied up the ridge, 20-minute rain shower #2 arrived, so I found shelter in krumholtz at about 7000', then the sun came back out and I skied out to the central "summit", with a view down into the nice looking north-facing bowl bounded on the W by Baker Point. The fabled Rainier rainshadow seemed to be focused on me, as Panhandle Gap, Sunrise, and Burroughs Mountain all seemed to be getting mostly rain and low clouds, but I was getting a lot of sunshine. The ski back down the ridge was fun, with lots of little groups of turns; only above 7000' were there some deposits of more recent, clean snow which was a little mushy. The ski back down into the Fryingpan Creek drainage was similarly good on the fast snow. Once across the footbridge, I followed the trail and was able to ski back to the car. Lots of fast gliding down through the beautiful forest, with only a few spots of nasty snow where turns were required. It started sprinkling as I reached the car, and rained for the entire drive back to Seattle." Charles (tay@turns-all-year.com) Monday, May 27, 2002 Granite Mtn., Snoqualmie Pass: "Run to skier's right of SW Ridge was very skiable (but rocks are starting to show near bottom). N facing slopes of course are more skiable, but very recent cornice action with more big ones to go. Otherwise stable." Brent H Monday, May 27, 2002 Muir Snowfields: "Weather Report--cloudy. Reality: snow slushy, cloudy, windy, and finally a nice rain storm to turn us back at 8000 ft. Nice ski down Panorama face because everything else was/has been sluffing and rain loaded the surface layers and I didn't want to fool around. Left the lot at 9:30 and was done before 1 p.m.; short day. abc" Andy Carey (careyab@yahoo.com) Sunday, May 26, 2002 Pinapple Basin : "Abuse. The word of the day. It rained during our entire ascent of Pinapple basin to the notch at the top of pinapple ridge before ascending to the top of the couloir for the ride down. Snow coverage was excellent although some loose rock deposited in avy debris that was relatively fresh from the recent rain loading. Traversed east towards alpine lakes and then back to the ridge line before the final ascent. Snow stability was solid although mixed with a lot of consolidated avy debris. The second shoot after the top bowl produced considerable slough although straightlining into the lower bowl was still possible to skiers left. Should have gone up to Piss Pass. Expect a lot more movement before the snow consolidates - water percilation from bedrock run off and avy debris makes the main chute a questionable ride - would recommend holding off in Pinapple if for nothing else - to find less rotten/better consolidated snow. The big hit in the middle of the top bowl is still good ... net is that it's a bumpy ride. Piss Pass is a lot better right now." Dr Foster (dr_e_foster@hotmail.com) Sunday, May 26, 2002 Earl Peak, Bean Creek Basin: "We hiked the first thousand feet to where we found continuous snow. The first stream crossing was mercifully well bridged with snow. The snow up in the open basin was nice - pretty firm base under melting corn. After looking around a bit, we decided to head up to the ridge coming NW off Earl. We had to carry skis across rock for 100 vertical feet right around where we gained the ridge. The snow was rather mushy and a bit hollow here and there on the ridge, but was suprisingly good for turning on the way down. We were pleased to see that we could follow snow to very close to the summit. Great ski down all the way to the valley floor, with just that one ski carry, though we all sent basketball-sized rollers down the slope that would hurtle along until they broke themselves up." jim Sunday, May 26, 2002 Hawkins, Salmon La Sac: "Road above Salmon La Sac Guard Station (going past China Point, FS ?) is driveable to Hawkins approach turn-out (3118'). Hawkins is in good spring condition. No recent avalanche activity (big cornices above E facing slopes)." Brent H Sunday, May 26, 2002 Chinook Pass, Washington: "From Cayuse we toured up and over Yakima saddle and down the back way down to 410. Bomber base with anywhere from two to six inches of corn to snow cone slush, depending on the aspect. Nice skiing with good stability except for the occasional surface slough. Pics here." Ron Jarvis Sunday, May 26, 2002 Mt. Rainier National Park: "Snow Report: I made some calls around MRNP today to check on road and trail status, with regard to snow, and thought others might find the info useful. White River area: White River road open from 410 to White River bridge, but closed nearby, leaving a 1 mile hike to the White River campground and Glacier Basin trailhead (apparently 1 lane is plowed but they're not opening it to cars until plowing is complete). Glacier Basin trail: some bare spots at first, and several people mentioned the large quantities of avalanched trees and debris across the trail in numerous places. Trail to Summerland: continuous snow, as far as I can tell. Sunrise Road: gated at White River bridge, haven't started plowing, projected opening June 28. Paradise area: Stevens Canyon Road closed, being plowed, projected opening May 31. Carbon River area: Mowich Lake road is gated at Paul Peak TH, snow blocks 1/2 mile short of gate (leaving 5.5 miles to Mowich Lake), 11' of snow at lake; projected opening in late June (ha ha - not this year). Trail from Ipsut Creek CG to suspension bridge: mostly bare for first 2 miles (out of 3). Cataract Creek section of Wonderland Trail: continuous snow up into Seattle Park." Charles (tay@turns-all-year.com) Saturday, May 25, 2002 Granite Mountain, Snoqualmie Pass: "Despite a forecast calling for showers we decided to go for it on this nearby tour. A finger of snow still reaches down the frontside gulley that the trail intersects at about 3500 feet. We ascended this head-on, then angled west towards the southwest ridge. Following tracks, we stayed on the westward reaches of the main south face, and attained the southwest ridge relatively high and close to the top. This ascent was direct and seemed safe. On the way up we observed a hiker descending off the summit down the south aspect of the south-west ridge, setting off huge surface "hisser" slides almost continually as he "lateralled". After waiting out a brief shower on the summit (the only rain of the day), we chose to descend the west bowl instead. Any portion of the south face was definitely out, with surface instability and lots of rocks in the gravity path. While the sw ridge would have been a safe choice, the bowl looked so inviting. We traversed in near the top, setting off continual hissers, to the northern portion of the bowl where the angle moderates. There, we had beautiful turns in buttery untracked for the main descent. Given the choice between a continuing obvious descent to snowy benches below, or an unknown left lateral traverse around to the southwest ridge, the choice was obvious. We kept going down. At about 4000 feet the lowest clearing is reached, arcing conveniently around to the southeast. We lateralled eastwards through the snowy forested hillside a few hundred yards, then descended a few hundred feet though a conveniently placed glade. Time to take off the skis and resume a southeast trending descent. The forest was quite open and the going was actually pretty relaxing. The trail put in an appearance quite conveniently. There should still be good snow in the west bowl for a few more weeks, and in better snow stability conditions, the steeper aspects of the bowl could be spectacular." D. Koelle Friday, May 24, 2002 Church Mountain (West Summit) : "Set out alone at 9am from B'ham under nice blue sky. Reached the turn-off from Canyon Cr. Road and drove to mile marker 4, where trees blocked the road. Cut a few out of the way, then decided to start walking, thinking it would be faster....who knows if it was....reached skinable snow before the roads end, then turned up a steep snow gully just before the clear-cut (roads end) to start the climb....a couple thousand later on this quickly melting south exposure brought me to open slopes below the west summit of Church... Enjoyed summit views with my shirt off, watched snowmobilers in the Bear Paw bowls, then set off down the beautiful bounty of near perfect corn snow. Trended skiers right through 5 pitches to regain the western side of the clear-cut. (Came out perfectly, nice when you're alone).....skied the sticky road down to the last dregs, and walked to my truck. 3.5 hrs RT." toby tortorelli (tobytortorelli@hotmail.com) Friday, May 24, 2002 Chinook Pass status: "Chinook Pass remains closed for the Memorial Day weekend. Due to 60 inches of new snow in the past 3 weeks and unseasonably cold temperatures at the summit, the snow-pack above the road is still intact. For avalanche control work to be most effective temperatures need to rise so that the snow-pack will get heavier and slide down to the road where crews can remove it. WSDOT workers will not open Chinook Pass until it is safe for travelers. Cayuse Pass is open. Have a happy Memorial Day weekend." Mike Westbay (WestbaM@WSDOT.WA.GOV) Thursday, May 23, 2002 Lake Ann, Mt. Baker backcountry: "Theme of the day: "wet loose avalanche". The forecast got downgraded from mostly sunny to mostly cloudy, which turned out to be accurate and probably a good thing, because the slopes were pretty mushy without a full sunny day. We triggered our first wet surface slides skiing down into the Swift Creek valley from Austin Pass, and more on steeper rolls climbing up to the saddle near Lake Ann. Fog moved in as we gained the saddle, so we skied out the ridge toward Lake Ann Butte and had lunch, then did a trial run on a short E slope leading down to Lake Ann. The surface snow (top 4") was ready to slide everywhere, and did so whenever the slope was over about 30 degrees. We then climbed up the ridge toward Shuksan Arm, stopping short of the top, and did a run back down into Swift Creek valley. Andy set off a dramatic slide which entrained a lot of snow as it ran over a couple of rolls and down onto the flats; I then skied down the cleared surface, which was drastically different - firm, fast and stable large-granular snow. On the way back along Swift Creek valley we found some better snow, so climbed up to the base of Shuksan Arm cliffs and did two short runs on it - best skiing of the day. Pushing skinned skis along the flats of Swift Creek was a drag (literally), so next time I will take my waxless skis. Surprisingly, the surface snow was just beginning to refreeze when we returned to Austin Pass, and the ski down the ski area was very nice on the fast snow. The snowpack seemed to have very recently been through a major spring avalanche cycle, with steep rock faces of many aspects having shed their entire season's snowpack, and debris everywhere below. On one N-facing slabby cliff, snowpack glide had created a 10 ft. high, 100 ft. wide pressure ridge which was very impressive. Mt. Shuksan's west-facing cliffs were similarly shedding their snowpack and put on quite an avalanche show in the early afternoon. There are some photos from this trip here. Charles (tay@turns-all-year.com) Sunday, May 19, 2002 Crystal Mountain: "Gary, Ken, Dorothea, Jeanette and yours truly, converged on Crystal with designs on a trip over the ridge at Silver Basin and down to Crystal Lakes. By the time we got to the top of chair 4 the ceiling had dropped to the top of the ridges and the top 2-3 inches of snow on the groomer was pretty slushy. In that we were there more for the skiing than the destination, it was enough to cause a reevaluation of our destination. We suspected if we kept to our original plan the snow would be too unconsolidated off piste and the visibility would be bad. So we skied down from the top of Chair 4 to pick up the queens cutoff and climbed that (Gary and Ken did an extra lap on the toilet bowl pitch) up to the top of the Gay Ranger (Chair 9 - now actually called the Forest Queen). Now you've done it, Charles; we ran into a guy with two dogs (Duke and Merlin) at the top of the GR. He recognized us as the "Turns-All-Year" crowd and wanted to place an order for Two cases of J-Jelly. We referred him to you, Charles. From the top of the GR we yo-yoed various aspects of Upper Downhill and Campbell Basin until we'd had our way with the good skiing snow returning to within 100 yds of CM Base via Downhill and Skid Road. Snow was two, to as much as six inches of slush on a solid base. On steeper aspects surface "hissers" (wet slides) could be triggered. Some dirt starting to show at lower levels of the ski area, especially west facing aspects. Still plenty of snow at upper levels. Pics to evaluate snow conditions and coverage can be viewed here. Rumor has it that CM is still considering opening for skiing in Green Valley for next weekend. That's either good for you or bad for you depending on your preferences." Ron Jarvis Sunday, May 19, 2002 Snoqualmie Pass: "Pete and I climbed through old-growth forest and then up an average 35 degree SW-facing open slope to about 5600'. Continuous snow started in the forest at about 2800'; at 3200' there was about 5' of snow, and at 3600' about 8-10' of snow. Clouds slowly floating across from the east covered the sun most of the time, keeping the surface snow from getting excessively mushy, but no rain and good local visibility. At the bottom of the open slope, the snow was very nicely consolidated (1" soft on a solid granular base), and above 5000' there was 6-8" of loose granular on the same solid base. Great snow for kicking steps. We did one 2000' run with the snow getting better and better for turning as we descended out of the deeper loose snow; we set off a lot of loose surface slides on the upper part that ran pretty far, but they remained shallow (less than 4"). We had so much fun, and now had steps up the slope, that we climbed up again for a 1500' run on the same slope, stopping where the snow became most mushy. There are some photos from this trip here." Charles (tay@turns-all-year.com) Saturday, May 18, 2002 Silver Star Mountain : "Set out at 6am under clear skies to the West, and advancing cloud from the East.(??) Booted up to the breach where we then skinned the valley and ascended the eastern head of the valley. Lots of slide debris from each side of the valley, but smooth areas were found for the ski.....Once up to the glacier, a snow squall rose and was in and out of there within 30 min.....skinned the glacier to about 8400' and booted the rest to the col. Climbed up to the East Summit of Silver Star and started the ski from 8800'in a break of sun. Snow on the upper 1000' had a thin powder surface, and the rest of the ski down to 5600' was corn, wet goo, or slide path packed.....Avy conditions wern't a concern this day. We then glided through the slightly descending forest to the breach, caught a few more turns in a couple meadows on the east side of Silver Star Cr., and decended to near 3800' on snirt and dirt. Round trip time was 8hrs. Peace, Toby." toby tortorelli (tobytortorelli@hotmail.com) Saturday, May 18, 2002 Earl Peak, North Fork Teanaway: "NF Teanaway River Rd driveable to Bean Crk. TH. Fairly heavy snow on W aspect of Earl. No avalanche activity; no NW Forest Pass policing." Brent H Saturday, May 18, 2002 The Birthday Tour, Washington Pass, North Cascades: "I took a long journey in a wondrous and magical place, deep into the land of forgetting. First, I forgot to bring the breakfast and lunch which I had laboriously prepared at home (leaving them instead on the kitchen counter, bananas turning black and soft in the sun). Then, in the early-morning confusion of car shuttles I forgot maps, a camera and gaiters. Most damaging, though, I forgot where I had put down an unwrapped chocolate bar at the bottom of the day's first descent. Imagine my surprise several hours later (following one more descent and two hot and arduous climbs) when I discovered that I had put this chocolate bar in my hat. Which I had then fit tightly to my head. By this time, much of the chocolate had gone missing, melted by body heat, dissolved in the sweat which had been pouring out of me, and soaked into my hair and clothing. What remained, of course, I promptly ate. Good thing this is not grizzly country. It is the season of the North Cascades Highway at last. Initially, there were thirteen of us, including carloads from Seattle and Bellingham plus one lonely resident of Mt. Vernon. We converged on the Blue Lake trailhead on the North Cascades Highway at the usual ungodly hour, shuffled vehicles and set off up the hill, following a few groups of postholing climbers but forging ahead of the hordes of other skiers who kept cresting ridges behind us and swooping down the descents. We opted for the longer option of this tour, which turned out to involve a generally easier level of difficulty and to take about the same length of time as the shorter version. In time, the younger and more energetic Washington Alpine Club group left the rather more sedate and elderly Bellingham Mountaineers group behind. By some accident of demographics or penchant for self-abuse, I also ended up with the faster of the two, though I lagged on both climbs and descents. The hole which often splits the cornice at Blue Peak Col, a.k.a. The Cornice of Death, is not evident this year. We passed it on climbers left, booting steeply for fifty or a hundred feet. Old folks like myself, unsteady on their feet, might like an ice axe on this small pitch. The remainder of the tour was uneventful-my own losing battle with the chocolate bar aside-until the weather which had been threatening all day finally descended on us during our final, optional climb among the granite slabs and spires above Kangaroo Pass. There blowing snow and limited visibility sent us hurtling down to the hairpin turn on the highway, where an astonishing number of skiers were to be seen picking their way down thick, frozen avalanche debris in the lower reaches of Spire Gully. Skiing ranged from very good to somewhat poor, with elevation bands of corn still frozen or nicely cooked, half-thawed breakable crust, deep slurpy slush, and actual fresh snowfall on a firm base. Shallow snow around rocks is quite rotten, and in a lot of places a potential sliding surface within the snowpack is overlaid by a couple of feet of unconsolidated wet snow; this probably bears watching. Many of the steeper couloirs have slid vigorously during the past week or so, but there is still plenty of snow perched precariously up high, including substantial cornices on what almost seemed random aspects. There are also ample numbers of steep and smooth rock slabs in this area, at least some of which are currently releasing wet slabs. The parking area at the trailhead is tiny, and by the time we returned cars were stretched out along the highway, and persons unknown had actually rather rudely parked one of us in. Although everything worked out in the end, this seemed rather odd; in the world in which I have spent much of my life, such things are routinely dealt with very vengefully. Perhaps the owners of a certain camper-equipped white minivan have not yet glimpsed this alternate world as clearly as I. On the other hand, there were few or no cars at other trailheads along route 20, suggesting that solitude is available in other locations for those who desire. Enjoy." Mark Saturday, May 18, 2002 Paradise, Mt. Rainier N.P.: "Forecast Sunny. NOT! Cloudy rain turning to snow. Headed across Edith Basin on deep slush to Golden Gate (I booted up--my Karhu Pavos were sluffing downhill) towards Cowlitz Rock. Stopped short becuz of supersaturated surface layers and threats of wet slides. Did Mazama back bowl--gentle E-facing slopes--. not bad but really soft. Glide cracks and sluffs on S-facing slopes and near rocks. Down the front of Mazama and up Paradise Valley Rd (good snow becuz its been packed)." abc Thursday, May 16, 2002 Snoqualmie Mountain, Snoqualmie Pass: "Constrained on both ends of the day by child-care duties, Nick, Mike and I opted for this close-by and relatively short trip. We started hiking from the Alpental Road on the climber's left of Commonwealth Creek, climbing into Commonwealth Basin and then up to the Guye-Snoqualmie saddle. Plenty of snow everywhere (the ski areas don't even have any bare spots yet!), and the snow in the forest was neither excessively dirty nor chunky/icy. From the saddle we skinned to the base of the steep south ridge of Snoqualmie Mountain and then up it. With the clear skies and warm sun the steepest south-facing slopes had gotten somewhat mushy (pole plant easily went into the top 1 foot of granular snow), but still stable enough. Above about 5500' the snow became (mostly) walkable crust, and we went back to booting up. Spectacular views from the summit (Baker, Glacier, Stuart, and Rainier were all visible), and especially impressive was the amount of snow still left, considering it is mid-May. There had been a lot of recent avalanche activity on the slopes of surrounding peaks, and NE-NW aspects were especially trashed (eg Alpental peaks), so much so that there was little unaffected snow left in some areas. The ski down was enjoyable, a long series of rolls going down the ridge, at first on a firm corn surface coated with a little recent new snow and then in the deeper mush. On the steepest section near the bottom of the ridge one of my turns set off a surface slide which threatened to sweep my skis out from under me on the next turn, but I managed to stay upright as the slide passed. The ski from the Guye-Snoqualmie saddle down through the old-growth forest to the flats of Commonwealth Basin was reasonable, and only unpleasant where turns had to be made in old hole-filled avalanche debris which had come down from Guye Peak. We were able to ski all the way to the car. There are some photos from this trip here." Charles (tay@turns-all-year.com) Thursday, May 16, 2002 Silver Fir Runs, Snoqualmie Pass: "Another steel toes to Scarpa night (maybe I could have my steel toes resoled with 3 pin?). This time I talked Bob "Noodles" Nitzinger of tandem ski fame to join me for some exercise, skiing and maybe even find my lost bi focals. About 1.5" of snow at the parking lot to Silver Fir and the pack increases to 5' on the top of the hill. Lots of good skiing left. Started up at 6:30pm and walked up on pretty soft corn. We came to search area for glasses, split up and 20 steps later Bob "hey I found the glasses". I thought he was kidding me but sure enough he had them in his hand and unbelievebly in perfect shape. I had lost them over a month ago while pulling my skins out of jacket pocket. They had been covered with what I think was 2' or more if snow and run over by skis, snoboards, snomobiles and groomers. I gave Noodles a big hug cause he saved me some dough and will do something nice for him (Can't believe he tried to lay some gas money on me). That took about 5 minutes with my celebration lasting longer than the actual search! Up we went skiing the the upper steep section twice in some really good corn and finally stopping to put some special wax on before gliding out and down to car. Not a bad way to spend a night maybe next week I'll start taking a picnic supper with beer along in these exercise trips. "The only thing coming up in my garden is moles." " Robie Tuesday, May 14, 2002 Crystal Mountain Area: "What's so fun about getting your aerobic work out on a stair Climber or bike? Heard forcast of 1-3' new and that kind of agravated the afliction so last night headed up to Crystal for a little aerobic workout. Got there at 630pm (bad traffic up 410) and quickly changed from steel toes to Scarpas. Snow coverage is all the way to Lodge but won't be for long. I could see new snow on the trees higher up. Snow raged from shallow slush -corn -refreezing with elevation gain. Put in a solid hr and made it up 1000' or so just shy of Campell basin. Could have went further but snow was getting trappy as it refroze. Would have been great conditions for Jarvis Jelly but manufactor has been unreliable with first shipments and unfortunately (maybe even lucky) I was not a "Beta" tester. First turns were erratic with no crowd watching but finally settled down and ripped out a bunch on the way down to reward myself for the workout. Biggest Danger was all the Deer and Elk grazing and lurking on the drive home." Robie Sunday, May 12, 2002 Silverstar Peak: "Skied Big S Sunday after Birthday Tour on Saturday (lotsa fine corn there). In primo condition. Three of us were able to ski down to 3700' using the route staying just east of the Silverstar Creek for the first/last 1500'. Some north facing semi dry powder in last 1000'. A little stick problems. Snow up to last 30' of true summit-good steps. Avy danger minimal as weather was cooler than predicted. The wide gulley at appr 7400' not filled yet with debris--will probably be soon as lots to slide above it so beware. The usual ab fab views, should have had the camera. Start 700a finish at 330p with relaxed pace." Nick Davies Sunday, May 12, 2002 Naches Peak, Chinook Pass Backcountry, MRNP: "While there were those that claimed Cayuse was not open yet, there were enough that believed the same info we had to end up with 6 or 7 hearty souls sharing the (south) summit of Naches, including Brent Hostetler and his ski buddy Eric. Also ran into eastside (of Rainier) guru Eva on the way up. The road over Chinook is cleared to almost the first switchback on the west and past the summit on the east side. Most aspects were reasonable stable with nice, sweet corn but the ones that had seen the most sun since the foot or so dump a week earlier had an extra melt/freeze cycle or two in the recent snowpack and were the best. Steep (35-40 degrees) north and east aspects sloughed easily especially as the day got warmer. The sun and high temps urged us to forego laps, arriving back at the car by 1:00. Pics are posted here." Ron Jarvis Saturday, May 11, 2002 Cowlitz Rocks and environs, Mt. Rainier National Park: "8 of us montaineers of many flavors (branches) skied down Paradise valley road under a very bright sun. Donned skins at Horsehoe and caterpillered our way up Mazama ridge, past Stevens Canyon drainage and up to Cowlitz saddle. Snow was very cornish but holding up. We sat down for Lunch before the assault. We watched 2 lone lone skiers come down...one on the Paradise side was a friend Gary Vogt making graceful wide turns on those old skinny skis. The other skier Rick Alway skied equally gracefully down behind us from Cowlitz rocks (I had mistakenly given him a earlier starting time so he left the meeting spot thnking he was behind us). After apologies and lunch and for some a snooze we set about the not so serious business of tearing up the west facing slope of Cowlitz Rocks. Doesn't take long for that many to destroy a good slope! Paradise Glacier is still in good shape and skiable, crossing of Stevens Creek was well covered and best of all we were the only group up there. Got back to the parking lot at 6pm well satisfied and slightly toasted. Like I said the snow held up all day not even a slush slide." Robie Sunday, May 5, 2002 Sauk Mountain, North Cascade foothills: "For some reason it's gotten very difficult to convince my regular ski partners to join me in skiing fresh, soft, light powder recently. One wasn't feeling well, another had a prior engagement, and yet another actually claimed a preference for a trip to Yakima (!) this weekend, though I did not fall for this obvious lie. Once again I had an entire mountain to myself today (although three snowboarders showed up briefly on a sled, then left after filling an acre of hillside with giant landing craters). Sauk Mountain is a steep little hummock only 5500 feet high, just outside the illustrious town of Concrete; it is a small mountain with BIG avalanche tracks. A logging road provides access; it took just over an hour to drive there from Bellingham (all the good citizens of the Skagit Valley were probably in church or at home watching Sunday morning cartoons; the roads were deserted). In Bellingham it was drizzling slightly; in Sedro Wooley spitting rain; in Hamilton pouring; in Concrete a deluge of biblical proportions. On the Sauk Mountain road, however, it was snowing at 2000 feet, the road blocked around 2500. I left the road to climb directly up the first avalanche chute starting around 3200 feet. It was clogged with an astonishing amount of debris, which appeared to have come down wet during the past week, dropping 2000 feet or more off the summit face. I intended to traverse along a less-than-precipitously-steep bench above 4400 feet, passing under the steep face where the summer trail is located, circling around the peak to climb the obvious SE trending ridge or continuing around to the bowls beyond. Most of the exposure faced west, and would therefore be less likely to have accumulated fresh slab in the current storm. But as I traversed I found that each little micro-terrain feature had collected its very own windslab pocket, heavily crossloaded by shifting winds. These got more pronounced as I continued across under the face, and I began to feel uncomfortably exposed. I stopped to consider, then carried onwards, then stopped again, got an unmistakable premonition that this was the wrong place to be on this day, turned and traversed back. I settled instead for a couple of runs between 4500 and 3500 feet, dropping through open bowls, glades and narrow gullies. The fresh snow was about 8 inches deep over a firm base, and although I did not fully enter the fabled white room I did manage face shots on every turn, again helped by an upslope breeze. Ski cuts released loose sluffs on slopes steeper than 40 degrees, releasing on the refrozen crust at the base of the storm snow. I did not try anything steep, and I stayed out of crossloaded features and anything else that looked wind affected. My terrain selection has become more conservative since my recent lesson in decision-making process. On my last run the sun poked out a few times for five minutes or so, which was just long enough to turn some of the powder into a gluey mess below about 3700 feet. Another 5 or 10 inches is due tonight, and if I were as ambitious as some on this board I'd be out there at first light in the morning, tracking up powder which will by then approach knee-deep. I'd definitely watch out on anything steep or wind-affected, and I'd be prepared to whoop and holler at high volume. Enjoy." Mark Fri-Sat, May 3-4, 2002 Cascade Pass: "The Cascade River road was drivable to mile marker 18. Trees across the road forced a 5-mile hike/ski approach to the summer parking lot. The next mile was bare gravel, but beyond mile marker 19 snow on the road permitted skiing punctuated by short hikes carrying skis. Some hikes were somewhat extensive but never so long as to be anything more than a nuisance. Avalanche activity over the course of the winter has been impressive. One large slide coming down from the south side of the river, just west of Roush Creek, swept all the way across the valley pulverizing trees on the north side of the road. It left a mound of snow and debris 40' high over the N. Fork which the river has carved a tunnel under. Most visible to summer visitors will be the damage near Midas Creek. I am guessing here because the avalanches have more opened up the drainage more completely than a clear cut with the avalanche fan extending for about 200 meters by the road leaving the area unrecognizable. One redeeming feature would be the destruction of the sign denoting the requirement for the NW Forest Pass although one would have to think that its replacement would be a very high priority for the road cruising bureaucrats. Dan H. and I intended to bivy at the parking lot at the end of the Cascade River road on Friday night and ski Sahale Arm early on Saturday. Recent avalanche activity from the Triplets, extending across the approach to Cascade Pass, and spontaneous releases from the Sahale side were enough to convince us to conclude the tour at that point. I was awakened three times during the night by avalanches. Two coming from Johannesburg carried little information because it can release from there even when conditions are quite stable. However, the third came from the direction of Cascade Pass. That, along with the fact that it was snowing, relatively warm and visibility was down to about 100' iced our decision not to proceed any higher. Dan was able to salvage some fun out of the trip by mountain biking at breakneck speeds down the road until his hands were too cold to hang on to his handlebars." Mark H. Back to top |