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.

Norse Peak - First tour of the season

The early November storms lined up nicely in Washington, just as expected in this La Nina season. There were 8 of us in for Satrurday, planning to head to Paradise on Mt. Rainier. After driving part way there, we found out the road would not open (thanks to the NPS for their Twitter feed!). We headed to Crystal and set up out up Norse peak. It was about 30 degrees in the parking lot and a few inches of fresh snow on the ground. We skinned up the standard trail and exited near the top for East Peak. There were rocks exposed on the ridge line (due to the prevailing westerly winds), but once we dropped in it was nothing but powder. With only 30 inches of snow it was pretty well anchored to the terrain and we didn't see any wind slabs.

After this first run, we skinned back up and followed the ridgeline to the peak to the south. We dropped of the back (toward the East), and had a great 800 foot run to the basin. This east-facing slope was very filled in - powder up to our knees. By this time it was snowing heavily. We skinned up to the top and took another run down the back, by this time it was above your knees - epic conditions. One more skin to the top of East Peak then we went down about 1500' back to the track out. This last run could not be beat - face shots all the way down, no slide activity and snowing hard. Incredible season opener.

Travel Trials

Overall I appreciate the ease with which we travel the world, but it can be trying at times. Case in point: As if a 24 hour trek from Chennai to Seattle wasn't daunting enough, try this on for size. I get to the airport in Chennai at 11:30 PM for my 1:45 AM flight to Frankfurt. At about 12:30 we learn there's a plane stuck on the runway, that caused our plan to be diverted to Bangalore. 3 hour delay (that's 4:45 AM) to depart - and at this point I know I'll miss my connection in Frankfurt. Assurances by the crew that we'll be rebooked on the earliest possible flight held true for many passengers, but my requests for information about my situation were met with "you'll be rebooked". After waiting for 1/2 hour at the first travel desk, I'm told they actually can't help me (would have been great to know), so they sent me to the next desk 15 minutes away. Oops, it's now too late to catch the next flight to London that would have got me home at 3:15, a mere 4 hours later than planned. So here I sit in Frankfurt waiting for my flight to Toronto, then a 2 hour layover, then another 5 hours to Seattle. If all goes well I should be home by 8:30 PM, making my 24 hour flight a total of 35 hours. We'll miss the party we were eagerly awaiting, I miss a day with my wife and daughter, and I'm in the midst of extreme frustration at the moment, in case that wasn't obvious.

This is all just payback for how smooth the trip was on the way over - the on-time departure, the nice drive from Frankfurt to Luxembourg and back, the time with Nigel, Chuck and Ross in Lux (who I hadn't seen for over 2 years) and the great weather.

Da Gulch + Black Bear

One key piece of data all Seattleites should know is that just over the mountains there lurks a drier, sunnier land. That proved true yesterday when Konrad and I left the rain and drove over to Cashmere for a September gulch ride. Sunny and 70 when we started, and greeted by a black bear cub on the road not 2 minutes from commencing the ride! After a good look for momma bear, we continued on.

We rode up the trail and gave kudos to the Evergreen team for doing some fantastic trail work - widening the trail where needed on the steep slopes of Devil's Gulch.

We only rode up to the intersection with the Mission Creek trail as it was getting cold and there were heavy clouds hanging out. Back down then up the Red Devil for a fantastic finish. Down below 4000' it was warm and sunny again. Good way to wrap up the Eastern Wa rides - I don't hold out hope that I can squeeze in another this year!

Starvation Mountain - North Cascades

This used to be one of the better mountain bike rides in the state. While it still has great views during the 4000' of climbing, much of the smooth downhill is gone. A forest fire swept through the area in about 2006 and the upper section of Blue Buck is now exposed to the elements. The result has turned a smooth and fast trail into a sandy mess, and where high speeds are no longer possible. The second half of Blue Buck is unchanged, still a skinny trail on a steep hillside, and a good challenge.

On this day I ran into several black angus cows on the Cathedral Stock Driveway, and a few friendly bluegrouse hunters.

Overall I would suggest Lightning Creek as the better quality dowhill in the area.

July Adventures

July started with a bang on the weekend of the fourth when Ian, Dan, Kendall and I headed down to White Salmon (right across from Hood River). We camped the first night in the tent Ian's friend has set up in their yard for the kids - not the most secluded camping but it sure was easy! Saturday dawned hot and sunny and the four of us went for a great mountain bike ride in right from town. A huge climb up, then down to the river, then back up on an exposed ridge, then a great downhill to finish. 5000' of climbing and we were worked! That was just the warm up for day 2...

We left that evening for Mt. Adams, and because of all the snow we had to park 3 miles from the trailhead at Cold Springs. Aaron and John rolled in at about 1AM (thankfully I was asleep in my tent) and we got up at 5 for the slog to the top. We skinned all the way from Cold Springs to the summit, topping out late at about 4pm. Then Aaron and I decided to try the Avalanche Glacier route down, which we had done twice before in years past. After skiing through the notch between the summit and the northern peak, we found the whole glacier had moved down the mountain, opening up a huge crevasse right in our path. We turned and skinned out of there with our tails between our legs. I'm eternally grateful to Aaron and his good judgment as I was thinking "it looks pretty filled in over on the right" - could have been a disastrous choice. It's all the worse because you can see the crevasse from down below and we had thought it was a crown of an old avalanche. Anyway, we skinned back to the summit and skiied right back to cold springs down the south approach. Our buddies skied the Avalanche Chutes and had a good run.

Sunday night Kendall and I camped at a remote site where we were the only ones there. He in the back of his truck and me in the tent. At 3am I awoke to somehing tromping through the woods toward the campsite. "Of course it's a bear" I was thinking as my heart pounded. The thing walked right past my tent and off into the woods. Just as I started to calm down I heard it coming back! I felt like a chewy treat inside a thin wrapper and I had had enough! I yelled for Kendall to shine a light, which he did after a few panicked requests for him to wake up. We never did see what it was, but I'm comforted to know I escaped death on that occasion.

Monday we capped off the weekend with a great ride at Post Canyon on the Oregon side of the river. They have miles of singletrack and have built out some easy t0 medium features like log bridges, drops and ramps. What a blast!