Inaugural 2015 tour!

The boys were back in town for the first tour of 2015. Kendall, Aaron and I sledded out to the end of Salmon la Sac and skinned up to do the Cabin Run. We've had very little snow so far this season so it was pretty bony at the bottom, but the top 1000' of this 3000' climb was filled in nicely and had a nice light-powder consistency due to the extended cold temps.

It was a gorgeous day -cold but blue sky and no wind. After picking our way through the trees at the bottom, we were skinning in t-shirts and no gloves, even though it was 20 degrees. Glorious day of powder, and so great to be out with the fellas that I've known since college and who got me into backcountry skiing in the first place

Kicking off the touring season!

I can't believe I haven't posted since June! It was a fantastic summer - warm and dry with mountain biking galore. We capped the season in Moab the first week in October with Porcupine Rim, Slickrock, Klondike Bluffs and Gemini Bridges.

But enough about that. A short month later, we kicked off the touring season at Mt. Rainier. Given that Halloween was on Friday, I wasn't that psyched for the 5AM alarm bell that Saturday morning. I met Jason at 5:30 and we  picked up Josh and Brian and arrived at Paradise around 8. It was cloudy and cool, and although it had snowed the previous few days, the temps had dropped and I feared it would be an icy mess. The hike out from Paradise confirmed my fears. The blacktop path was covered in a thin layer of ice, making it very slow going at first. We hiked all the way to Pan Point with skis and boots on our back and I was really feeling the cocktails from the night before. Then - bang! The sun was out, we were above the clouds and had continuous snow to camp Muir.

There was no wind, mild temps and a few inches of fresh on the ground which made for fantastic skinning. Made Muir at 1PM and then skied down to the Nisqually Chutes. That's where the clouds started, but we skied it all the way to the moraine, avoiding the sluff as we went. We then hiked back up to near Pan Point and then down the car  - completely worked but a great start to the season.

Adams June 8

Adams is probably my favorite trip of the year - I block out 5 weeks between June 1 and July 4 to await the opening of the road to Cold Springs, perfect weather and partner availability to make it happen. My wife understands, but doesn't love it. This year the road opened earlier than usual in June, and there were trip reports from the end of May saying the corn cycle had set up nicely. John and I headed down on a Saturday night, arriving last at the camp ground at about 11 (as is customary for us for some reason). Luckily I only drank one beer so had a great sleep, and we decided to slumber until 6 as there's no need to get up there too early. Two of us were fast too - we started at 7 and summited by 1:30. John is a great partner - enthusiastic, collaborative, fit and fun. He appreciates the fact that a day on Adams is a gem not to be taken for granted. Perfect corn harvesting off the top (lookers right of the main track from the false summit to the true summit) and down the SW Chutes. Of course a bit of bushwhacking to get out, but not too bad and overall a spectacular day. With about 7,000 feet of climbing, you're leaving all your worries on the mountain. Looking forward to the next one...

Let's Ride!

The nice weather has been drying out the trails around town and I was psyched to try some of the three new ones the Evergreen MTB Alliance opened up this year at Tiger. Four of us (Loern, John, Kendall and I) rode up to the top of the East Tiger Summit on a beautiful Saturday, talked it up with several other riders before heading down to Preston then up to Fully Rigid. A few technical challenges and a mostly dry trail made for a great ride. We met a guy up there who steered us away from Swamp (?) trail so we rode up the road from the end of Preston, and down Fully Rigid to Joy Ride. Some nice drops (mellow for the Duthie crowd) and technical moves on Fully Rigid make for an interesting ride, but I would definitely like to see some faster downhill sections up there.

All in all a fantastic Saturday out with the boys.
 

Nisqually Chutes

The morning rush.

Other than the 2 feet of snow we received two weeks ago, it's been an incredibly dry January. The high pressure has brought some sunny, warm weather though and with that in mind 6 of us (and a few others as you can see) rallied up to Rainier today to take advantage of the 50 degree weather at Paradise. Getting prepped to skin at about 9:30, we donned t-shirts, sunscreen and sunglasses.

North Cascades - Rainy Pass

We were up in Winthrop for a family weekend, doing some cross-country skiing and crying about the lack of snow. However, the mountains a short 25 miles west had been blessed with a recent 7" of new at cold temperatures, and the time was right for a tour. Loern and I hooked up with North Cascades Mountain Guides, and Josh met us bright and early on Sunday for our adventure to Maple Pass. We took the sleds from about 7 miles west of Mazama, up over Washington Pass and on to Rainy Pass. We skinned about a mile south on the summer trail to Lake Ann, then up the hill for the skiing. Fantastic snow and 15 degree temps made for a perfect day. The snow was not consolidated at all, and well bonded to the previous layer. We took a run toward Lake Ann, then another down a north-facing slope, then a final run back to the lake. With blubird skies and a strong group of four, it was by far the best day of the season so far.

Paradise to Muir

I took Veteran's Day off and got lucky with a fine weather window. After being cloudy and rainy for several days, we had a brief clearing and low wind forecast for Monday. John and I rallied to Rainer where we could skin right from Paradise. We set out at 10:30 and skinned right up to pan point, where we had to shed the skis to get around some exposed rock. Back on the skins a few hundred feet later and we went right up to Muir. Almost no wind until about 9,000', and gorgeous skies as you can see from the photo (that's Adams in the background). A little water ice had formed on top of the snow near the top and I destroyed one crampon, but we still made it up there by 2. The ski down started icy, with scraping heard far and wide. About 2000' down we were rewarded with some corn and decent turns.

Back at the car (and an ice-cold beer) by 3 and home in time for dinner! Fabulous day.