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.

Moran State Park, Orcas Island

Moran State Park delivers! Even though we were there over Labor Day, before they open the upper trails to mountain bikes, there was plenty of great single track down low. Having never ridden there I didn't know what to expect - but found a map at the ranger station and within 10 minutes was on some sweet single track from the picnic area to Cascade Falls. Smooth trails, some technical and some grunts made for interesting riding. Up from Cascade Falls on the double track, then down to the trail that hugs the southern boundary and back to the southend campground. Some good steep downhills there and good technical; roots and rocky drops. Looking forward to heading back when I can hit the upper trails.

It's hard to get a sense from the photo, but these trees are huge! All the riding was in gorgeous forest like this.

Sometimes it clicks

Butt back, point it forward, keep  your speed - up and over the gnarly roots. Then weight forward, all leg power, spin as fast as possible and get up the steep section. OK, up and over a big stump: speed, weight back, keep pedaling, pull the front tire up just a little and keep pedaling with an eye toward the exit. Another steep section- weight forward and pedal like you mean it. Around a hairpin, over a log, down the hill and up - onto the bridge. Hard right turn, over the log...

After 20+ years of mountain biking I can do the basic moves: short, steep climbs, hairpin turns, stumps, roots, rocks. The fat hand trail (Iverson RR) at Tiger has all of these in spades. I had never, in all my years of biking, made every obstacle on the one-way, mile and half trail. Riding with Aaron on Wednesday night it all came together. I couldn't believe I had actually made every obstacle- it's almost humbling because there's certainly no guarantee I'll ever do it again! Something about the climb up the trail to warm up, the fact that I had ridden it several times already this year and the mental attitude of "I'm going for it" all came together to make it happen. Luckily it's fun even when you don't make everything, but it sure is nice when it all clicks.

Sun Valley Early July

The three of us went to Sun Valley in early July and Ava had her mountain biking breakthrough. Here she is crossing a log bridge; we rode every day and she did one 6 mile ride with about 600' of climbing - not bad for a 12-year-old! I was able to ride Baldy, Adams Gulch and Fisher creek in our four days, along with other rides each day with Ava.

Devil's Gulch - first ride 2013

Heading upAaron, Kendall and I headed over to the Gulch on Saturday, June 15. This is our favorite mountain bike ride, bar none - it kicks your butt with 14 miles and 4000' of climbing (on the road, the easier way up) then rewards you with 12 miles of sweet, sweet singletrack downhill. We were eager to understand the condition of the trail given the extensive forest fires we had last summer - the trail was closed in late August for that reason. June is early to ride the gulch, but there was no snow even up at the top of the Mission Ridge, and the trail was smooth and dry.
  We were surprised to see the road closed to cars just after the access road turns to dirt, and we couldn't figure out why because it was in good condition all the way to the normal parking area. We rode up the road (the trail is for manlier men than us - it takes significantly more energy to ride up), and the second leg was still severly washed out in several places.

Aaron and Kendall at the lower Devil's Gulch trailhead

 

With sore arses, we reached the top of the Mission Ridge trail and dropped in. The forest service had done  a great job of clearing the trail - many blowdowns had to be cut to open it up.

Aaron riding through a scree section on the upper trail.

We quickly came across remnants of the burn, most of which were on the upper (Mission Ridge) trail. The trail was as good as it gets - not too dry so minimal dust kicking up and a perfect 70 degrees. We rode the whole thing in about 4 hours, and finished up with a beer and the fantastic barbeque at Country Boys in Cashmere

 

Ready for the down!

 

 Kendall on the trail, Tronsen Ridge in the background.

Mt. Adams, June 9.

Mt. Adams is about my favorite annual event. We usually hit it in July, so this year was a bit different to go in early June. The road to Cold Springs is open if a bit rutted at the top. Kerwin, Aaron and I rallied down on Saturday and showed up about 10pm. After a typical brief night's sleep, we got up at 5:30 and were hiking by 7. We hit snow and started skinning by 8 under clear skies and consistent wind. We trended left at the start to avoid the crowds and extra distance on the summer trail, and only had to use boot crampons once to get up a steep bowl.

We were a bit worried that things would not soften up given the wind and icy conditions we found on the way up, so we timed our descent for 3:30. We felt pretty good, took it slow and made the false summit at 2. Then on to the true summit over nasty ice (not surprising though, that section of the climb is always firm, even in July). We started down the Avalanche Glacier right away - very windy on top (est. sustained 30mph and cool). The top of the run, in the gap between the true summit and the northern peak, was firm ice. It quickly turned to nice corn though just before we skirted over two cracks. These, interestingly, have only been visible in the last two years - we skied this run in 2010 and there were no visible cracks.

 Here's Aaron shredding the glacier. It was great all the way down when usually it gets sloppy at about 9000. We whooped and hollered all the way down the glacier and to the end of the line where we went down to the round-the-mountain trail and picked our way out. We were able to skin all the way back to the main trail, with only 1 or 2 "skis  off" situations. Car by 7pm and back in Seattle at 1! Moving a bit slow on Monday but a fabulous trip.

 Me taking a break.

Route details

Washington Pass Goodness

 High pressure and warm temps settled in over Washington on May 3, so Aaron and I bolted from Seattle for the North Cascades to get the led out with some big ski tours. We camped Friday night at Klipchuck and started early Saturday with the Birthday Tour. Icy on the north faces, and slushy on the south as we headed into Madison Avenue at about noon. We skinned out and skied back to the hairpin, then headed up Kangaroo Coulour, the skinny line to the right of the highest peak in the photo above. It's about 3000' from the low point to the top. The top had already slid and shedded the snow that had fallen earlier in the week, so we weren't overly concerned about avalanches. The skinning was pretty good, although a bit slippery if you were following. We boot packed the steepest part, then Aaron put his skins back on and I kept booting it. What a mistake - I ended up sinking to my crotch at one point and wanting to just bail - due as much to sheer exhaustion from the long day as to the shitty feeling of being buried to your waist in slush. I manned up though and made the top. Good skiing in the first third, then a bit soft, then too soft at the botton.

 This is the view as you head south toward the first col in the Birthday Tour. That's South and North Early Winter Spires in the center of the photo.

 We hooked up with Jonathan (L) on Sunday for a modified day, skiing the line to the right of South Early Winter Spire back to the hairpin.

View from the top of Kangaroo Couloir.

Me at the top of Kangaroo Couloir - you can make out the hairpin in the center of the photo.