Bullion Basin Dec 22

Loern (in photo) and I headed up Bullion Basin from Crystal on Saturday morning after 5' of snow had fallen since the previous weekend. Although the avalanche forecast called for moderate danger - surprising with so much new snow - we were on high alert. The snowpack proved ideal -  "right side up", or less dense snow on top of layers with increasing density. We broke trail part of the way then picked up a track to the top of the peak that's looker's left of Bullion Basin. Up to 6400' and then back down for some incredible powder skiing on this SW facing slope. The wind was blowing from the SW so definitely the right slope to be on. Nothing moving and a 5' pit showed little instability - a hoar layer about 12" down was the only thing moving with a few taps of the shovel on top of the column.

Varied weather all day with sunbreaks, wind, clouds and snow. 3 laps did us in and we were back at the car at 4 - toasting the Racer 5's to another safe and productive day.

Kicking off the winter backcountry season!

The front end of a big storm hit Seattle Saturday and Sunday, with 4000 foot snow levels and plenty of moisture. Prior to the storm the mountains only had 5-10" of snow - this storm bumped it up to 20+ inches at most places, a few more at Mt. Rainier, our destination for Sunday. We left the paradise parking log and skied down the Stevens Creek road, then up over the ridge to get a 1000' run just above the creek.

You can see it was still a little bony, but it snowed hard all day and delivered some fine powder turns. It was typical early season snow, a little heavy, but glorious all the same! We had a great day even considering I had no water (all leaked out of a faulty bladder), and had to rely on mouthfuls of snow (not effective) and the generosity of Kendall, Aaron and John.

John starting out on the climb.
 

Tiger Mountain

Mountain Biking is treacherous! Matt and I rode Tiger on Tuesday night and I had a horrid biff. Riding up a distinctly non-technical section with a steep drop off the left, I somehow got off balance and started falling - to the left! I tumbled down the hill into a stickerbush festival, and landed with my arse on a stick. Ow. A bit stiff and sore that night, but my bruised pride was probably the worst of it. Rest of the ride was (luckily) uneventful.

Coeur d'Alene goodness

Lake Hayden from the Canfield trails.

We headed to Coeur d'Alene for a family get together so I had done some scoping of the local mountain biking scene. I was intrigued by Canfield Mountain Mecca - they had me at "mecca". Plus it was only a few miles from our hotel. I went out there at 8AM on a Friday, and ran into some local women who gave me the scoop on where to go (trails aren't marked that well, but there are some pretty good maps posted throughout). I started with an ambitious plan that deteriorated after Trail A proved to be severely rutted with runoff. I found some great riding off trail 4 and wound my up a grunt to what appeared to be a high point. Very rough, steep ride down trail 3A to the car. I was only out there about 2.5 hours but you could go all day with the vast network they have there. What they lack in long, smooth descents they make up for in sheer variety of rolling hills, rocky and steep sections.

Mt. Adams

A week's vacation on a sailboat in Greece was fun, but I was happy to be back in Seattle and more reasonable 70-80 degree weather. Part of the appeal was that early July is typically the best time to climb and ski Mt. Adams; the snow has settled into a corn cycle, it's not sun cupped, and there's usually snow coverage starting close to the Cold Springs campground. My buddies had climbed it already but I wasn't going to let lack of partner stop me. I headed out after work on Friday night, battled typical heinous Seattle traffic and arrived at cold springs at about 11:30.

Climbers are not partiers! There were probably 30 cars and tents spread around the campground but it was dead silent. I pitched my tent as quietly as possible and tried to get some sleep. Awakened at 4:30 to the sound of climbers departing, I finally got up at 5, got organized an on the trail at 6. Within 40 minutes I was able to put my skis and boots on, and decided to head up the right ridge to try and avoid losing vert. The snow field I remember was mostly melted out, so I ended up climbing at leaset 1000' in lava scree, destroying my ski boot soles but avoiding any falls that could have ended my attempt quickly.

Once on the snow ramp at the lunch counter, I put my skis back on and started the grind up to the false summit. The snow was about perfect - soft enough for my skins to grip and firm enough for my crampons to get purchase. I made the false summit at 12, then the real summit at 1. That last section is where skis really give an advantage - there's a half-mile of down and flat before the final summit hill.

On the summit at 1, but really feeling the altitude, which was new for me. I think the three weeks at sea level, with no mountain activity really affected me. I peeled my skins and chattered back to the false summit over the rough ice that covered the summit.

I skied the south climb route, not wanting to deal with the extra hiking required by the fabulous SW Chutes. The snow was perfect, soft corn and smooth all the way from 11,000 to 8,000 before it got too soft. The views of Mt. Hood, Mt. Saint Helens and the surrounding Giffort Pinchot forest were spectacular. Back to the car at 3, a cold celebratory beer and I was home to my family by 8:30. Fabulous day!

Devil's Gulch June 23

I've had a lot of epics at the Gulch - freezing rides in December, 100 degree days running out of water - but nothing quite like the mudfest I had last weekend. I rode alone on Saturday despite the forecast of isolated thunder showers. The 2.5 hours to the top of the road were uneventful - cool and no rain - and I thought it would continue. However it started to sprinkle just as I reached the top, and I decided to bypass a much-needed rest there to try and get through the technical top section of the Mission Ridge trail before it got too wet. Little did I know my efforts were in vain. The sky opened up and it poured rain, creating an incredibly slick surface. Throwing water on the hard clay soil makes for mud so thick it sticks to everything - caking your tires, brakes, frame - all of it. It also got cold - so cold that I stopped under a tree about 1/2 mile in and put on all my kit - and thank God I had it! It rained all the way down to the intersection with the Devil's Gulch trail. There it warmed up and stopped raining for a while. At the lower section (after the three stream crossings) the sky opened up again - this time with thunder. Down below it was warmer so not a big deal. I decided to go for the Red Devil finish to the car, hoping it hadn't seen much rain (isolated showers, after all). Wrong again. The climb up was fine, but muddy. The descent was trecherous. The slick mud had made the motorcycle grooves almost unrideable. Three times I launched over to the downhill side of the trail when my tire turned left, but the bike kept going straight. That dynamic throws your balance off and makes it nearly impossible to stay upright. On the third crash I almost landed on a pile of logs which would have been very bad. I escaped the 5-hour ride unscathed though, dreaming of dryer days ahead.

Correction

Those two photos in the last post are reversed - the top is Van Epps and the bottom photo is Harding.

Picture of Harding

Here's Harding peak, that we skied last weekend.

And here's a photo of Van Epps, one of my favorite runs.

Washington Rules!

Where else can you ski powder on Saturday (two hours from Seattle) and ride your bike in 65 degree weather on Sunday? This place is awesome! Aaron and I snowmoed out to the wilderness boundry on Saturday and skied Harding mountain. The snow was a bit sun-affected there, so we skinned up a north-facing peak that faces harding. Powder! We had an incredibly good run then skinned back to the sleds. Adding several stuck episodes to the snowmobile ride and combining that with about 3500 feet of climbing and I was worked. We were out from 9AM to 8PM, but it was glorious. Then out for an Italian dinner and a fantastic night's sleep.

Here are photos of Scott and Aaron from two weeks prior on Van Epps.

Norse Peak

My fleece top was starting to get wet from all the snow, and my back was starting to show signs of real fatigue as we skinned up for the fourth and last run of the day. Just Aaron and I remained, and it was still snowing hard. The first three runs were at least knee deep and it was piling up an inch an hour. This is what we live for - working yourself to utter exhaustion with 6000 feet of climbing in a storm, with the reward of 4 of the best powder runs anyone's every experienced.

A strong storm came in Friday night, starting with high freezing levels then cooling as it dumped 8" at the top of Crystal overnight. It was forecasted to snow all day Saturday, when Aaron, Pablo, Bart and I headed up. There were at least 6" of fresh in the parking lot and as we broke trail to the top, it deepened to 8-10". We took the first run down skiers right, then did one down the middle, then bullion basin before Pablo and Bart took off.

The last run did not disappoint. As tired as I was I had a grin on my face as I pointed the S7s downhill and felt the snow fly up into my legs and chest. 10 minutes later we were back at the car enjoying a beer and changing into dry clothes.

Van Epps

It was 50 degrees in Seattle on Saturday but it stayed cold east of the Cascade crest. We were hoping some of the snow from the storm the previous week would remain in tact and give us some good powder. We headed out to Van Epps and because of the low avy danger (thick rain crust under about 8" of unconsolidated powder) we skinned right up the gut.


The skiing was pretty good, light powder over the crust, which you could just barely feel underneath. A little avy debris in the path made it interesting, but all in all good skiing. After three skins up (1400' each) - I was ready to call it a day.



Aaron, never one to pass up an epic workout, convinced us to do another run. That last lap pushed me pretty good and as always I was happy to get back to the sleds at 5:30.

Cabin Run - Jan 1

Welcome 2012! After getting skunked in the North Cascades last week, the goods were finally delivered to the East slopes - 21" of new snow over two days, the 29th and 30th. Kendall, Ian and Aaron broke a trail up Cabin Run on the 31st, so when I made it out there on Sunday it was easy skinnning to the top. We start at the valley floor, about 3400', and top out at about 6500'. We did two laps up on top before starting the final one to the bottom. Good snow stability; the new snow came in warm at first then finished cold, so there seems to be a good bond with the December crust. We saw no slab activity at all.



Kendall and Aaron at the top of Cabin Run. Mt. Rainier in the background.

Aaron skins up through the trees

Cabin run is steep terrain, between 35 and 40 degrees, with enough open slopes to make it really fun. A few chutes we took had mandatory airs, which made for a thrilling ride. I finally was able to break out my S7s this year, and they just ripped, allowing me to float and carve the powder.