Finally some weather!

Forecast looks good for the next few days, if you can get about 5000'.
http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?site=sew&textField1=47.330&textField2=-121.486&zone=1

Teanaway Dec 19

It started out so promising! We had a pineapple earlier in the week with lots of rain and high snow levels. It was supposed to get colder on Saturday so we were hoping to find some good touring up high; we were optimistic that the higher elevations would receive some snow at the end of the storm. Ian, Aaron and I took the snowmobiles out to Teanaway and headed up the trail in a drizzle. Now I'm a novice on the sled, so I worked way to hard and was just exhaused after a short 10-mile run up the trail. Then I got the sled stuck twice (luckily not too bad), much to the chagrin of my partners. The rain kept coming down, even at 6,000'. We saw a massive wet slide come off of Esmerelda and decided there would be no touring on any slope that day. Near the end of the valley we parked the sleds and put on the touring skis and decided to just skin the rest of the way up the valley.
I've never heard as much whumping as I did that day. The rain was percolating through the snow and the whole snowpack would settle every 1/2 hour or so. We stayed on flat terrain and made the best of it. We were wet, but it was warm so not too miserable. We blasted out on the sleds and were back at the cars by 3:30.

Stevens Pass Nov 14

Heavy snow last week wasn't enough to allow Stevens to open, but it made for great touring on Saturday. Kendall, Aaron, Konrad and I skinned up 7th heaven for three runs in foot-deep powder, then skinned up Tye Mill for a run down the back.

I hate the fall!

In Seattle the warm weather, rain and early darkness makes October and November especially tough to handle. No skiing yet, and any outdoor activity risks ending in a soggy mess. We've been lucky the last month to have mild temperatures and minimal rain - and the good news is that the snow level is finally dropping to about 4300' this week and there's precip coming with it. People are reporting good conditions on Mt. Rainier and with another week or two of precip, a skin up to Muir will be in order.

Devil's Gulch

You're taking your chances mountain biking in October in Washington, and our ride proved that in spades. It all started fine with me, Ian, Aaron and Kendall doing the Red Devil trail in nice 60 degree weather. We split where Red Devil meets Devil's Gulch - Ian choosing to ride the trail, well, because he's a badass and we're mere mortals who wanted to ride the road up. However about three miles up the road it was posted as closed for fire prevention. Not wanting to risk a ticket (or getting burned up), we decided to turn around and ride the trail up. Started out ok but we weren't prepared for the extra riding, so we were slow and got separated. At about 5000' the trail became snow-covered, and I slogged to the meeting point. The snow actually didn't hamper the traction too much - there wasn't much of it and it was soft. However Ian had now been waiting for us for over an hour, and in the cold air with the wind blowing he had taken to riding up and down the road just to keep moving. We headed back and met Aaron and Kendall coming up, and with numb feet started the descent. This really is the best ride in Washington, as you have 11 miles of fast single track going down with minimal flats or uphill. And the trail was in perfect condition - damp with just the right amount of moisture to keep the dust down and make the trail sticky. The glorious feeling of reaching warm air as we descended didn't hurt either. We made it back to the car at 6:30 - over 6 hours in the saddle!
Probably the last Gulch ride this year for us as the next snow will bury the trail.

Test post 8/27

Pacific Crest Trail

Must remember... Always TRAIN for big days. I knew 25 miles on the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) would be painful, as I never hike, but I had no idea my feet could hurt that much! Jason and I drove from Seattle down to Sisters, OR, on Thurs night, left our bikes at McKenzie Pass and crashed at the hotel at about 1am. Up at 5, drove through Bend to the Devil's Lake trailhead near Bachelor and started north along the Sisters. Now, for background, Jason has hiked 1600 miles of the 2600-mile PCT already, so I knew I was going to be outclassed on the trail. It started off great - felt good, light pack, plenty of food and water - and great views. You start south of South Sister and wind your way through forests, open meadows and high alpine past Middle Sister and North Sister before reaching McKenzie pass. The weather was 80 and sunny, and you reach about 6000 feet, although there is not much vertical gain on this stretch of the trail. We passed snow fields, lava rock deposits and old glacial moraines; all in the shadow of the three 10,000 foot peaks of the Sisters. While the scenery was nice, after about 15 miles I started to pay the price for lack of training. My feet started to feel every step, just plain sore after all that walking and not being used to it. 10 miles of feeling every step is not fun! At one point I was so delerious I had to yell out to Jason to stop so I could eat a sandwich and get off my feed before passing out. Alas after 12 hours we made the other end of the trail and our waiting bikes. Although a 15-mile bike ride might not sound good after the hike, it was heaven just to get off our feet. We enjoyed a couple of margaritas in Sisters before meeting our families for the camping trip the next day. That story will have to wait for another day...

Test post

Testing only

Devil's Gulch and Kachess Ridge

Wow, was it hot last weekend. I mean, not just "I'm kind of sweaty" hot, but "I think I'm about to pass out from heat stroke" hot. I actually felt chills at one point when I knew the temp was about 100, so I knew something was wrong.

Aaron, Konrad and I rode Devil's Gulch near Cashmere, starting with the Red Devil trail as the road to the normal parking lot was closed. Red Devil is 800' of climbing and descent over 5 miles - a great addition. From the intersection of Red Devil and Devil's Gulch, we rode up the Devil's Gulch trail arguing about how much harder the trail was than the road. I say 30% minimum, and those guys were trying to tell me "not much harder". That was at the beginning of the climb. By the time we reached the intersection of Devil's Gulch and Mission Creek trails, about 9 miles up, we were almost out of water and did not opt for the summit. The trail is a bit dusty and some sections are starting to erode (where it cuts the ridge in a steep section and has lots of rocks). The creek crossings were a blessing after going through sections that felt like a blast furnace. We also had the strange experience of an old-growth tree snapping and blocking the trail in the hour between passing that point on the way up and getting back to it on the way down. Photo attached.

Saturday night was cocktails at the Stever's near Salmon la Sac, and Sunday dawned as hot as Saturday. John joined us at 11 for the climb up Kachess Ridge (the road, not the trail), and thank god, as I about passed out again during that sufferfest. Made the summit in about 90 minutes and had a great downhill - trail in great shape and all in the shade. Lots of roots, rocks and switchbacks on that trail - no time to rest.

Spent the last two days mountain biking in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest near Mt. Adams with Aaron and Kendall. 3 rides in two days, it was heaven! Camped at Adams Fork (very nice campground - old growth trees and right on the Cispus river) and rode Blue Lake Ridge, Hamilton Butte and the Valley Trail. Hamilton Butte, at 5500', has a view of Mt. St Helens, Mt. Rainier, Mt. Adams and Mt. Hood that can't be beat.

Hamilton Butte is the best of the three for mountain biking - about 3000' of climbing on forest roads, followed by a short hike to the top of the butte, then almost 100% downhill from there back to the road (trail 118). Very fast, relatively smooth downhill. Dusty in parts with whoop-de-doos throughout. The Blue Lake Ridge trail has a lot of grunts but also some great views. Also lots of sections with loose rock in them. Valley trail is pretty tame with only a few grunts and not a lot of real elevation gain or loss. Ride the Valley Trail from South to North and you can ride the road on the uphill for the N-S leg.

Mt. Adams Sat June 27th

I love Mt. Adams! 7000 feet of vertical from the parking lot, able to skin the entire way from the snowline to the summit and no rope required. Perfect for the weekend mountaineer such as myself.

We had been watching the weather all of June for a good window and it finally came. Aaron and I drove down Friday night to find a crowded campsite at the South Rim trailhead. A few beers and asleep by 12:30, then up at 5 to get started. No need to start early, as we wanted the snow to be soft for the ski down. Tim, Robert, Aaron and I made the summit by 2pm on a nearly windless day with about 80 other people on the same route. The fun really started when we took off from the summit to ski the Avalanche Glacier. Aaron had been eyeing that line for a while and talked us in to it. After a short drop to the saddle between the summit and the north face, we went skiers left and dropped into the glacier. The next 3000 feet was perfect corn down to the bottom of that glacier. Great scenery with the amphitheater as a backdrop and only two other people within site the entire way down. Then a quick traverse over to the bottom of the SW chutes, walk down to the Around the Mountain trail and we were back at the car by 5:30. Ian and crew had arrived at the site after us and started at 4:30 am (why, we could not determine), and we never did see them the entire weekend.

Mt. Stuart in April. We camped the night before where the road ended in snow. Up at 4am, snowmobilled to the trailhead (half dirt, half snow), then up 2ooo feet to the top of Long's Pass, then down for the start of the real effort. Up the Cascadian couloir to the false summit, and not motivated enough to make the real summit. A beautiful sunny day, perfect corn snow for the ski down, and we all avoided falling in the river on the final crossing.

The photo here is from the top of Long's pass. Aaron on the left, me in the middle and Tim on the right.

Finally Snowing Again!

Crystal reporting 4-5 inches today, and the NOAA site forecasting 2-4 inches tonight in the Snoqualmie Pass area. NOAA also has a Winter Advisory in effect forecasting 3-9 inches tonight, with most coming in Mt. Rainier National Park. The Summit is reporting 2 inches since 5am and Stevens is reporting snowing, but no mention of accumulation. A look at the satellite shows a weak system moving through, with snow expected to stop around 10pm tonight. Could be some good touring near Crystal this weekend or up at Rainier.

High pressure holding off the snow

No precipitation for a week as we sit under high pressure (1019.7mb) this week. This system should be weakening by Friday but not much precipitation predicted for this weekend. Please, salvage us some winter! The skiers and boarders are dying for snow but January simply did not deliver.

Inversion makes for good skiing at higher elevations

We had a rare treat in Washington this weekend with temperatures in the high 40s above 5,000 feet, blue skies and plenty of corn after 11am when it warmed up. All the south facing slopes were great, but those with a north face stayed firm - definitely not recommended.
Saturday at Crystal we stayed mostly on Sunnyside where some good sized bumps had formed, but also a few runs down Forest Queen. We stayed off of high campell - there was avalanche debris in Powderbowl and on the front side, the snow was best described as mank where a thick layer had started to thaw.
Sunday we migrated to Mt. Rainier and did two laps in the lower Nisqually Chutes. There the corn was perfect by noon and provided great skiing. The skin up had some icy patches, so having ski crampons and boot crampons is highly advised. We witnessed one person fall 100 feet in a firm section but he finally arrested and was not hurt.

An inversion is sitting over western Washington this week, with highs in Seattle around 45, and a reported high of 50 yesterday at the top of Crystal (about 6500 feet). The pattern is expected to hold into next week, so we should see spring skiing conditions at higher elevations (over 4500') this weekend.

Norse Peak, Sunday January 4

Welcome to my first post! At this blog I'll chronicle the skiing, mountain biking and climbing adventures I've done or heard about first hand. This will be primarily in the Cascade mountains near Seattle.

Wow! 8 inches of fresh snow over a recent rain crust made for some excellent backcountry skiing. Norse Peak is directly east of the Crystal Mountain ski area. We skinned to the top (happily someone had already broken trail), did a few runs down the back, which I believe is Cement Basin, then a few down the front. Only minimial instabilities in the snow were noted, but in fact my partner Tim was caught in a small avalanche as we stupidly skiied a leeward (NE facing) slope. He stayed above the snow so thankfully there was no penalty. The east facing aspect of Cement Basin had 8-10 inches of unconsolidated powder and was fantastic skiing. The photo here is looking at Crystal Mountain and Mt. Rainier from the top of Norse Peak. Of course no backcountry adventure would be complete without some screw up; ours happened to be not cutting left soon enough on the exit and having to walk half a mile up the road to get back to our car at the end of the day.