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.

Mt. Stuart - Ulrich's Couloir

My friend Aaron had skied Ulrich's several times, and his reports of the steep line at the top and committing nature of the run sparked my interest. So when he proposed we climb Stuart on Friday at the start of good-weather window, I knew it was my chance to ski Ulrich's. We drove up the Teanaway road as far as the snow would allow, and fired up the sleds by about 6:30. Because of my limited sledding skills, we dropped them at the bottom of Long's pass and skinned from there. A very icy skin in the morning delivered us to the top of Long's in about 90 minutes. The run down to Stuart started as powder, then turned to corn, then to mank. Aaron skied right to the log crossing and we started up the Cascadian in soft snow. The sun was fully out now, and softening the snow quickly. We boot packed the steepest part of the Cascadian, then skinned up to the headwall for the final boot back to the top of the ridge. Then we boot packed over to the summit, with significant downclimbing but good snow conditions - soft enough to kick steps in but not so loose as to be an avalanche concern.

Views from the summit were incomparable, but our attention quickly turned to the task at hand. The near 50 degree slope at the top was firm but carvable, then turned to corn about 1000 feet down.

 Here's Aaron just before the first right turn.

The run is marked by towering walls on your left and cliffs on the right, but the funnel shape keeps you centered and while a fall could be result in a long tumble, there is little risk of going over any cliff. We reached the bottom with little drama and then found our way back across the creek. Another couple of hours of skinning and we were back at the top of Long's ready for the last ski. As the light faded we carved the soft snow down the moderately steep slope, and reached the snowmobiles just as the light disappeared. Back at the truck by 8:45, Mexican dinner in Cle Elum and home in bed by 1AM! A day for the books... 

Yodelin 2/23/13

Fourteen inches of snow fell between Friday and Saturday morning, and high avalanche danger was forecast for most aspects above 6000'. The last month saw very little snowfall, so I was not looking forward to a day at the resort and the certainty of large crowds. Enter Yodelin - an old ski area a mile east of Stevens Pass characterized by low angle slopes and old growth trees wide enough to ski but dense enough to minimize any avalanche risk. I hadn't skied it before but John convinced Jason and I that it would be great. And great it was! After a slow crawl up to Stevens and a bit of nerves because the lot was full and they were sending people to Yodelin to park, we had skins on by 10:30. We skinned up the cat track then over to the valley where we accessed the main ski run. Then up the ridge and dropping off to the left to ski the 700' run through the trees. It was so good we made six runs - all my lower back could handle! This was true hero snow - you could launch off anything and land in a soft pillow - just fantastic. Cold beers at 4:30 back at the car capped off an absolutely perfect day.

 

Mt. Rainier 2-2-13

The brilliance of Mt. Rainier on a bluebird day can't be overstated. The first glance of the peak as you wind up to paradise is shocking - it blinds you and the contrast between the white mountain and the blue sky is just dazzling. John, Aaron and I left a foggy Seattle and were welcomed at paradise with 40 degree temps and great snow. We skinned to Muir in about 3.5 hours with John leading the charge with a wicked pace. The awe lessened a bit when he dropped his ski at the top and it shot down the snowfield a few hundred yards. Luckily it stopped an he just had to one-ski it down a ways.

We hit the Nisqually Chutes and it was perfect corn. Top photo is John on skiers right of the main chute. Bottom photo shows the chute from the approach to Pan Point. Skiied all the way to the bridge where a few cold ones were waiting for us. Fantastic day!

Days like Saturday are pure gold. Sunny skies, cold temperatures, low avalanche danger and a foot of fresh snow, along with a full free day and a partner to share it with. John and I headed up Bullion Basin at Crystal and skied two great runs into Cement Basin, then two more on the front side of East Peak. The snow on the back was fantastic, only hitting crust on the last 200' of the run. John did a manly job breaking trail out of there, and the runs on the front side were great too. So good, in fact, that John blew off his 4:00 departure deadline to do another run (which sent me completely over the fatigue cliff).

Mt. Rainier from the top of East Peak.

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.