skistories

The Whites

2011-02-03T15:45:00.001-08:00

Mount Ascutney with Justin Strauss, Elena Mihaly,

Sarah, Robin Liston, Nick Gladd, and Cameron

Going up 2,000 feet above the beautiful Vermont farms

The closed resort was quite the powder stash

Sarah skiing down next to the cog railway

Cort's introduction to backcountry skiing

Is he going up or down?

The West side of Mount Washington

One of the many couloirs in the Gulf of Slides, notice the skier boot-packing in the upper right

Cort Miller skinning up the Gulf of Slides ski trail

Th Gulf of Slides on the Boott Spur

Huntington Ravine

Mount Washington from Wildcat

Tuckerman's socked in

Huntington socked in

The Fuhrer Finger

2010-05-14T08:07:00.002-07:00

Mount Adams popping above the Tatoosh

Mike above the clouds; beautiful but hot

Heading up the Nisqually Glacier to camp beneath the Finger

Our camp above the clouds

3am start

Finally on flatter ground, but by no means flat. Notice there were no pictures taken in the Fuhrer Finger. It was too damn steep. It wasn't the steepness itself, but the combination of it being steep, icy, and 2,000 long. My contact case fell out of my pocket and shot down the couloir. If you fell, you'd have to self-arrest instantly or perish. So it was tired and slow going uphill: kick-kick-whippet-ax-breathe. No place to rest. Rocks started coming down at 9am. You wouldn't hear them much, you'd just see them shoot by extremely fast. You put your head down, wanting to get hit in the helmet instead of the face. A rock in the face could knock you off your feet, then you'd slide to your death. So all these factors made the climb scary. And every time after doing something this scary, I say this is the last time. I want to live to old age and this isn't fun being scared.

At 12,000 feet, we had another 2,400 left to go. Decisions had to be made. The climb up the Finger left us with frayed nerves and tired legs. Mike had run out of gas and would rather summit another time. Ryan had been on top before and was tired. Both were feeling the altitude. This was my only chance and my legs felt good so I was leaning towards going for the top. I felt like making a summit blitz but with the glacier crossing, I'd need a partner on the rope. But the summit isn't the most important thing. More than anything else, I wanted to ski the Finger in corn, not ice, and I thought that could take some time. It was 9:30am when we topped out. We thought we'd have all day, except the damn sun was so hot and there was no wind to keep us nor the snow cool. Things were warming up fast. The snowpack changed to breakable crust above the Finger, and we were in postholes past out knees in unconsolidated snow. If this got too warm, it could be sketchy. We were roped up and spread out on the glacier above the Finger when we stopped to consider our options. If we went for the summit, we would be too late to ski the snow before it's too melted out. So at 10am, we turned around. It hurt a little because I felt great and the conditions were nearly perfect, the weather was perfect (except it was a little too hot), and I probably won't be back in the Cascades for a long time. But once we entered the finger to find the southeast facing slopes had turned to corn, the decision felt right. It actually felt better and better. And an 8,000 foot run is still the longest in my life.

The Finger skied perfectly. No runnels, no sun cups, very little debris, perfect corn. From the lower part to the wide open glacier fields to camp, we had blissful corn and unfettered joy and freedom carving turns all over the place. I did my trademark 50 yard wide turns at high speeds, not shaving any speed on the turns to make the skiing last longer. Our goal was to ski the last bit of the Finger to camp without stopping and my legs could barely hold that.

At camp, we broke down the tent, had a bite to eat, packed up, and were on our way with another 4,000 feet or so to go, down to the Nisqually bridge. The skiing was perfect corn, the wide glacier highway down was spectacular skiing. We skied on and on and on in perfect snow and perfect sunshine. All the way down to where we ran out of snow around 4,000 feet, a little ways from the bridge. In all, it was the longest and probably best run of my life, but it could have been even better with a summit.

South Early Winter Spire/Porcupine Ridge

2010-04-30T14:06:00.000-07:00

Not sure of what we were going to ski, Mike and I decided to bag some chutes that had been in our minds awhile. So we skied this one on the right (between the Concord and Lexington Spires), which was nice. Then went further uphill and decided to bag the one in the Early Winter Spires. We looked up it and thought, OK, let's go to the fork and ski down from there. Then we got to the fork and thought, well, it really doesn't look too bad, and it's not very long either, so we continued on. It got steeper. One pole got switched over to use like an ax, the whippet was digging deep, kick steps went from one to numerous kicks per step. OK, it looks like it'll end at that 3 foot wide choke. Get up to the choke, nope, that's the halfway point. And it gets tighter. Wow, quite an adrenaline pumping couloir for a casual afternoon tour. Mike didn't want to ski the choke so he down-climbed to gear up under it, while I went to the top to check out the view. My skis were shorter and have a bit of damage so I didn't mind skiing it. I felt better once I was clicked into my skis, then made a few turns, jumping high and keeping them tight between the rock walls. Then it got very narrow with tricky snow, calling for some side slipping with a few turns. The choke was a bit tricky. Then after that, Mike and I had Scott Schmidt style jump-turn skiing back down the couloir. The rest of the day, "Wow, I can't believe we just skied that."

The Southwest Couloir of the South Early Winter Spire, when you get to the fork, go right.

Mike in the South Early Winter Spire

The Southwest Couloir of the South Early Winter Spire

John Scurlock's photo of the Liberty Bell and Early Winter Spires.

http://www.pbase.com/nolock/image/74637218

Our line went up the far right spire, then right at the forks, continuing up the crack (no snow on it in this photo) to the top of the spire.

John Scurlock's photo.

The couloir went to the top of the far left spire.

You can see the very top of it, left of the summit, not the obvious one right of the summit. Looks crazy from this angle!

Porcupine

Looking towards Cutthroat

Washington Pass, North Cascades

2010-04-25T22:56:00.000-07:00

The Southern Pickets

Davis

Jack Mountain

The Pyramid

Colonial

Prophet

Kitling Peak

McGregor

Kangaroo Ridge

Silver Star W Face, Vasiliki and Snagtooth Ridges

Silver Star upper W Face/Wine Spires

Corteo

Mount Black

Redoubt, Spickard, Mox Peaks, Chiliwacks

Photo adjusted to see ski tracks on Frisco

Frisco

Whistler, W Face

Fischer, Corteo, Black, Kitling, Ragged Ridge

East Peak of Ruby

Whistler from SE

Goode and Corteo

Mt. Benzarino in front of Goode

Abernathy from N

Dome

Oval Peak

Big bear tracks

Crystal, Tatoosh, and Slot Couloir

2010-04-14T14:53:00.001-07:00

Just when you think you are on something pretty high, something higher comes into view, completely blowing you away: skiers on the Silver King with Rainier 7,500ft above them.

Three-Way Peak

The Silver King

Bullion Basin

Deepest powder runs of the season here: waist-shoulders deep

Sarah heading into the Tatoosh

Keeping an eye on Fuhrer conditions

The Slot

And the Snot Couloir

The Three Fingers, Whitehorse, and Mount Baker

The Mountain Loop Highway mtns

The Monte Cristo group with Sloan behind

The Emmons Glacier on Rainier

Mount Constance above the clouds

Chair Peak

Silver Star and Delancey Ridge

2010-03-21T12:39:00.000-07:00

Silver Star, the bread and butter of the North Cascades Heli-skiing

Early Winter Spires, Liberty Bell, and Porcupine

Cutthroat Peak

Porcupine Peak

The Needles

McGregor and Glacier in the distance

Kangaroo Ridge

Gardner

Silver Star massif

The Delancey Ridge

The Wine Spires

The Wine Spires (Pernod, Chianti, and Burgundy (one of the hardest summits in the NW))

Mounts Rideout and Silvertip (Canada) in the distance

Mike skinning up within view of where we parked under the avalanche chute in the background. A long way down.

The view off the south side of Silver Star at Snagtooth Ridge

Glacier Peak

McGregor NE face

Dome Peak

Bonanza North Face

Maude, Fernow, and Copper

Mount Robinson

"Silver Star, the alpine climax of the Methow Mountains, is a grand mountain fortress of magnificent diversity. Despite a chaotic appearance, Silver Star has a finished design--on an immense scale. Gables of rock strike and dip in seemingly planned directions, each in some manner imitating the others in a repetitive scheme." Fred Beckey, the first guy to climb everything there is to climb on Silver Star, and the same for the Cascades pretty much.

Mike and I left Seattle at 4:30am to get to Mazam by 9:30. Looking up the Delancey Ridge from the Silver Star carpark, we thought we'd get in a quick 2,000 foot run and maybe do another lap. It was a beautiful sunny day and the slope was corning up very nicely. We didn't want to get too tired though for the big day tomorrow: Silver Star. Delancey took longer than we thought, even though we skinned straight uphill, not needing to switchback because the snow gripped well enough on the 30-35 degree slope. After a few hours we made it to the top, took in the spectacular alpine scenery that surrounded us, seeing mountains we rarely see from the other side. Then we were excited to ski the corn down.

The downhill took a long time. The corn was great and easy to ski, but man did we have to stop a lot to catch our breath. And the downhill kept going and going. Consistent, smooth corn the whole way down, what a run! We couldn't believe how long it felt. It was definitely the longest 2,000 foot run I've ever had. We asked a guy in the carpark how long it was: 2100 feet-ish. Looking it up on Google Earth today, I see that it was 3,400-ish. Now that's more like it!

Then we found the Early Winters campground parking lot, pulled out our thermarests and sun bathed and drank beer. At first we wished we had brought cards, or something to read, or even a laptop to watch a flick. Nada. But with the help of the beers, the tales unfurled and we laughed until the sun went down. Then popped some sleeping pills, 3X the dosage, and were out cold for the next 11 hours. Now that's what I'm talking about!

Woke up at 7, drove to the TH, met some other Seattlelites gearing up for the tour. I ripped a foul one, "Have you guys had beans this morning?" asked one of the dudes. I burst out laughing and said no.

"Do you want some?"

"What? Beans?"

"Yeah. You know, coffee."

"Oh, hell yeah."

A great start to the morning since we had had our cup of joe.

One of them had already done the tour and knew the way, so we just followed their track pretty much up the 5 miles and over 5,000 vertical feet to the summit col, marveling in the unbelievable scenery around us. The Wine Spires felt like a little Cerro Torre, Standhart and Egger, or something in Chamonix. The views of the Cascades south from the col were spectacular and unusual for us. Bonanza, Maude, McGregor, Dome. Wow! The Snagtooth Ridge below looked incredible too. Right as we were clicking into our skis, a North Cascades helicopter came in like a bat out of hell. "Comin' in hot! Comin' in hot!" Two of the guides and their two little kids and a wife hopped out. Tomorrow is their last day. Lucky kids.

The snow was a mixed bag: Windpack to powder to corn to slush. Hell of a tour.

Tatoosh Revisited: Plummer and No Name

2010-03-16T10:10:00.001-07:00

Plummer

Ryan White on the Pinnacle Peak circumnavigation tour

South side of Plummer

Southwest side of Unicorn Peak

Goat Rocks

Ryan skiing down to the Pinnacle/Plummer col

Mike doing the same

Mike skiing down from Plummer

Ryan blazing down Plummer

Lane Peak

Zipper Couloir crown

Mike under the Tooth (different trip)

Mount St. Helens

Unicorn

Mount Adams

Mike and Ryan

Unicorn, Polycorn (unofficial but better than nothing), Adams, and Foss Peak

Tevens Peak and Unicorn

Stevens above Unicorn, north ridge

Foss, a sweet mountain top

Polycorn and Adams

Mike and Ryan thinking about dropping in

Castle from the east

After skiing the Tatoosh the last 4 out of 5 days of skiing, on the way up we were afraid of getting a little Tatooshed out. It is a small range after all. But then, thinking about the proximity to Seattle, the high elevation that the road brings you to, the stunning beauty of the rocky pinnacle mountaintops around you and Rainier right across from you, the sweet terrain to ski in any avy condition, and the wildness you feel due to the lack of people and the possibilities of tours we have not yet done, we weren't that close to getting Tatooshed out.

The last tour we did a circumnavigation of Pinnacle Peak by going up to the Castle/Pinnacle col, traversing around the south side of Pinnacle, then skiing down to the Pinnacle/Plummer col, hustling up Plummer (a cool mountaintop) before the storm rolled in, then having a great long run down to the valley floor. The spontaineous decision making and our course that went through new terrain gave the tour a sense of exciting exploration, compounded by the dark clouds heading our way that added urgency and adventure. Then, reaching a mountaintop, the epitome of achieving a goal or completing a challenge, is always a reward before the downhill, another reward, and a reward that loses more meaning on chairlifts.

People in the carpark below, especially at Rainier NP, ask why you hike uphill. They think it's crazy. They usually have southern license plates, big cars, and don't walk further than the 50 yards to get to the next scenic overlook. I want to tell them its crazier to drive to WA from Texas and not get out of the car when you're in these mountains. This time, I even pulled out my skins, let them feel the one way traction, wanting to convince them this isn't crazy! You're crazy not to do it, it's so good, as Bill Briggs would say.

Yesterday was a beautiful day and we went up to the Castle, then took a left up the ridge, skied off the south side, skinned back up to the little lake under No Name, skinned up that ridge while drooling over the ski terrain next to us. Got near the top and saw a sweet couloir that looked burly with the big cornice and cliffs around it. This is where we discussed the difference between inbounds and backcountry. The couloir wouldn't even deserve hesitation if it was inbounds. But out here, this far back, you think about avalanches, injuries, how you could get out, getting lost in a fog, losing a ski, etc. There are many factors to be weighed all day long, making this sport so much more involved than the inbounds variety, which is fun but more mindless. And after you do it awhile, even the uphills are a part of the highlights: "Man, skinning that ridge was the best part!"

But the couloir was short and would cut us off from our out, and beyond the couloir it looked a bit flat, so we decided to ski the run we drooled over next to the skin track. It skied beautifully. The undulating pitches were a playground for bank turns and hucking off rollovers. The snow was boot top cream. No worries over avalanches. So we went back up for more. Then traversed north, skiing more pitches down to the road.

Tatooshed out? Far from it. Next up: the riding that great Unicorn in the sky.

Ryan's pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/115364793136330312152/NoNamePeakTatoosh?feat=email#

Baker via the Easton Glacier

2010-03-08T10:05:00.001-08:00

Mount Baker with the Easton Glacier being on the left skyline, below the Black Buttes

Mike, Ryan, and Andy on their alpine start push for the summit

Peter Mullen

Northern Pickets

Southern Pickets, Jack Mountain, Blum

Despair beyond Hagen

Triumph behind Hagen

Snowfield group

Eldorado and co.

Johannesburg and Hidden Lake Peaks

Whitehorse and the Three Fingers

Southern Pickets

White Chuck, Pugh, Stuart way back, Sloan right

Black Butte (makes me think of a good porter)

The Twin Sisters Range

The Twin Sisters

South Twin Sister

North Twin Sister

Sulphuric gas emitting from the crater, kind of cool

Peter with the Deming Glacier below

The Northern Picket Range: Easy Ridge, Whatcom, Perfect Pass, and Challenger

Northern Picket Range: Mount Challenger, Crooked Thumb Peak, and Mount Fury

Northern Pickets left, Crowder center front, Elephant Butte center back, Southern Pickets right

The Southern Picket Range (Crescent Creek Spires, Mount Terror, Inspiration Peak, Degenhardt, McMillan Spires, Terror Glacier, with Jack Mountain beyond

Southern Picketts with Jack beyond left, and Robinson back right

Mount Blum foreground left, Despair midground right, Davis midground center, Mt. Ballard background center

Hagen Mountain center foreground, Triumph mid right, Pyramid and Pinnacle mid/back/right, Azurite back left, Golden Horn back right, Tower Mountain far back right

In middle-ground: the Pyramid, Pinnacle Peak, Paul Bunyan's Stump, Colonial Peak, the Horseman, The Needle, Snowfield, Neve Glacier
Mid foreground: Triumph and Thorton
Foreground: southern part of Blum
Bckground: Golden Horn, Tower, Silverstar

Canadia

Chilliwacks: Custer, Redoubt, Spickard, Mox Peaks, Bear

Shuksan summit with Hozomeen behind, dressed in black

See the skin track and 3 skiers on Hell's highway?

How 'bout now?

Glacier Peak

Canadia

Peter approaching the summit

And getting into serious trouble with Uncle Sam

Repeatedly

We decided to run for cover

7,700 feet below to the car

Peter coming down the first pitch, 1,200 feet of nice cream.

Only another 6,500 feet to go.

Finally, we had a big weather window synchronized with low avalanche danger. Originally, the forecasters called for clear skies from Thursday to Tuesday, enough time for 2 big boys. Maybe Baker, then Rainier. I checked other websites and saw the same predictions. We've hit the mother window of the winter! Clear skies, no wind, and low avy! I called every ski partner I had, trying to secure a trip to Baker on Friday. But then the forecasts started shrinking the window. By Sunday the clouds would be back, and Thursday and Friday didn't look great either. So Peter Mullen and I were set for Saturday.

We left Seattle Friday night and drove to the end of the road before setting up camp: he in the back of the Prius, me on the truck bed of some semi up there. During the night, some snowmobilers came over to take a piss by the truck and were shocked to see me sleeping there. For the next couple of hours, they drove up and down the road on a four-wheeler, enebriated and whizzing snowballs at me, hitting me once, and driving up my intolerance for rednecks. By midnight, we had peace and quiet and I slept well.

Peter and I woke up at 5:30, got ready and had a bite to eat before skinning down the road a mile to the John Paul Scott trail. The running theme of the day was that nothing looked big but everything was way bigger than that. It took a couple hours of skinning to get out in the open. Then, the summit didn't look that far away. Seeing Mike, Andy and Ryan halfway up, I thought we could catch them. It took them an hour to go up that one slope, which looked small. We could reach them in a couple hours. Nope, it took a couple hours to get to a spot before that. I couldn't believe how slow this was going. Am I skinning slower? I do have a heavier pack. Still, it feels like the normal pace. It was like a time warp. 2,000 vert looked like 500 feet.

But then you get close to the top and look down the 5 miles of fall line skiing you have below, and it looks like you've covered some ground. Then you see Shuksan below, looking small for the first time in your life, and it makes more sense. Then you start skiing it. You stop every thousand feet because your legs are so tired. And you do this a lot! And think This is the longest run of my life!

And the snow was great the whole way down. From top to bottom. 7,700 feet of downhill. Hard to beat. But Mount Rainier is just a couple hours away. Next high pressure/low avy, that'll be the end-all mountain. The descent of descents. We'll ski that thing from summit to bridge, 2 Skillets worth, almost 12,000 feet of skiing. We'll be so tired we'll just cross the bare creek at the bottom with our skis on, and pass out on the highway. That's the biggest fish on my mind. And I think I can really relax after that.

Tatoosh

2010-02-26T14:21:00.001-08:00

Ryan before Castle

Beautiful mellow slopes for a day of high avalanche danger

Photogenic goggles Ryan

See Rainier?

Castle Peak

Mount Rainier popping out above the clouds, what a sight!

Camp Hazard

The Fuhrer Finger and Thumb

Camp Hazard

Ryan on the way out, dwarfed by the big boy beyond.

Lane Peak with the Zipper Couloir on the right, and Lover's Lane Couloir farther left

Paradise on Rainier

2010-02-23T11:46:00.001-08:00

The Fuhrer Finger

Climbers on the upper Fuhrer Finger Route

Mount Saint Helens

Climbers nearing the summit

Mount Hood behind the Tatoosh

Mount Adams behind the Tatoosh

Mount Saint Helens

Sarah on her way up towards Camp Muir

Mount Adams viewed from north

Goat Rocks

The jumble of crevasses above the Fuhrer Finger

Goat Mountain

2010-02-17T21:39:00.001-08:00

The Picket Range

The North Face of Mount Shuksan

Mount Baker from the northeast

Mount Sefrit from the west

Summit close-up of Sefrit

Tomyhoi from Goat

BC Ski Hut

2010-02-16T13:38:00.000-08:00

Snowspider

After a wintery afternoon with cold winds blowing snow and clouds increasing, Sarah and I huddled on a mountainside before our last run, taking a quick rest. We noted that visibility was dropping so we'd better stop resting and get moving.

The turns were some of the best powder turns of the year. And at the bottom, we looked back at our tracks and noticed the skies immediately clearing. One by one the majestic peaks around us started popping out. The clouds did a spectacular sunset dance around Mount Howard, providing one of the most stunning visual experiences I've ever had in mountains. It's just got so damn pretty out we had to go up again.

We put the skins back on and went uphill again. I skinned holding both poles in one hand and a camera in the other. The clouds around Howard and Matier were so breathtaking and changing that I couldn't stop taking pictures. And the views got better the farther up we climbed, and the more mountains we could see.

Howard

Our morning run's turns

Mount Chief Pascal

Howard

Mariot Basin

Touring beneath Vantage

Matier Northeast Face

Howard

Matier

Can't get enough of Howard

Or Matier

Or the Anniversary

Twin One Glacier

Best ski hut in the world?

Our Valentines Day snow-cave

After thinking for awhile that the possibility of the thousands of pounds of ice above our bodies collapsing, I came to the conclusion that it was slim enough to sleep in. It would take an earthquake to crumble the 5 feet of ice above us. Still, a little unnerving to sleep under a short bit after Haiti.

On the Shoulders of Cannon and Cashmere

2010-02-10T14:40:00.001-08:00

The spectacular Stuart Range

Colchuck

Colchuck Peak (8,705 ft.) and Argonaut Peak (8,453 ft.)

N Faces of Sherpa Peak (8,605) and Mount Stuart (9,415)

Peter Mullen on the way up Cannon

N Face of Mount Stuart

N Faces of Sherpa and Stuart

Stuart

Sherpa

Glacier Peak poking out

Smoking Couloirs

Tomorrow's objective: north facing chutes on the shoulder of Cashmere, center right

Peter nearing the end of the 5,000 foot climb.

Thank God some extremely fit locals put in a skin track!

North Face of Cannon Peak (8,638)

Peter getting some of the season's best powder!

After nearly 2,000 feet of turns like this,

you'd be crazy not to go do another lap.

So we did.

The Mullen ski hut

A sub-summit of Cashmere

Sherpa Peak

Dragontail and Colchuck

Colchuck Glacier with evidence of previous skiers

Dragontail from the NW (8,840)

Colchuck North Face

Argonaut

Asgard Pass, Witches Tower, Dragontail

Our line of choice, steep and deep north facing chutes and trees on the shoulder of Cashmere

The West Face of Cannon Mountain, where we skied the previous day, offering a 5,000 foot fall line from top to bottom.

Asgard Pass, Witches Tower, Dragontail

North Face of Mount Stuart

West Couloir of Cannon, with evidence of skiers getting some turns in the stable powder

Colchuck Glacier

Asgard and Witches Tower

Peter, a long way up from the valley floor

Asgard with the weather moving in

"And miles to go before I sleep"

Peter watching Erin get fresh tracks

The spectacular Stuart Range

Pilchuck Pics

2010-02-10T14:27:00.001-08:00

The weather forecast was off on this day. Everybody predicted sunshine all day. Wouldn't it be so great to hear the weathermen just say, "I don't know. It could do anything." That way you just go and you have no expectations. Sarah and I chose Pilchuck for something close and with great views, with easy road access. But the snow level was another 1,500 feet above the parking lot. Insane for this time of year! So we had a bit of a hike in. Tons of people on the trail too.

We encountered some nice, smooth snow in flat-light conditions. And due to Sarah's great attitude, we still had a pretty fun day!

Mt. Pugh Straight Glacier

2010-02-03T09:27:00.001-08:00

The Powder Highway: Straight Glacier of Mount Pugh

North Face of Mount Pugh

The Batcave on Mt. Pugh

Three Fingers

Jason Hummel coming up to Stujack's Pass

Looking down the glacier

East Face of Mount Forgotten

Del Campo?

Whitehorse from the east

Kyle Miller dropping in

The powder highway of the Straight Glacier of Mount Pugh

Mount Shuksan

Whitechuck Mountain from south

East Face of the Three Fingers

Skiing down from Stujack's Pass was buttery smooth

Icicle Canyon

2010-01-14T13:48:00.000-08:00

Peter Mullen getting in some good turns in a good place

Grindstone Mountain rising 5,000 feet above the Icicle Creek

Looking towards Stevens Pass with Grindstone Mountain on the right

Mount Cashmere

Asgaard Pass

"I wanted the Cashmere"

Peter looking down to the clouds with Mount Cashmere beyond.

He's got 4,000 vert to ski back to his ski hut.

Mountaineer Creek drainage

Colder than hell on Eldorado

2009-12-08T23:15:00.000-08:00

Mount Torment

Ryan and Shauna

Ahh, Johannesburg, what an unreal sight!

The two heading up towards Eldorado

I couldn't take my eyes off this incredible mountain.

Looking down the east ridge of Elforado to Shauna, Ryan,

the Inspiration Glacier, Forbidden, Buckner and Torment

Buckner with Forbidden

Shuksan from the S

The Dorado Needle, looking north to the Pickets

Ryan under Eldorado

Ryan and Shauna

Shauna

Boston and Sahale Peaks

Eldorado felt like Vesper on steroids: it has a hike in approach, but the hike goes straight uphill 3,000 feet, then an engaging up and over tour to get closer to the mountain without seeing it. Then you see it. Vesper went easier than we thought it would. Eldorado took a bit longer. But we looked at it close up and thought, OK, we can make it up there in an hour. But that last push was tiring. 7,000 feet up from car to summit is a long way. And it feels longer when the skinning is tough, forcing you to bootpack sections. Then you have a 0 degree temperature with wind gusts that must be -30. Meanwhile its really bright out. So it's a paradox when you take your gloves off to put sunblock on your face, afraid of both frost-nip and sunburn at the same time.

On the summit of Eldorado, I was reminded of Jack London's story "To Build a Fire." I had taken my camera out but without my gloves on, my fingers instantly stopped working. I couldn't turn the camera on or take pictures, nor zip it up. I focused on getting my act together and pulling the zipper shut but to no avail, my hands got worse and I had to put them in my arm pits, get the screaming barfies, then do it again.

The skiing from the summit offered some nice wind-buff interspersed with lovely bullet proof ice and chicken heads. It was like an Austin Powers photo-shoot, "Nice, nice! No! No!" And the rest of the descent back to the talus field by Eldorado Creek was like that. The golden region was from below Eldorado to the col cutover. Open fields of rolling terrain with smooth windbuff. It skied very smoothly and it sure was a pleasure in such perfect lighting and scenery; heading towards Johannesburg.

It always amazes me to be in such an incredible, pristine and rugged place, with some of the most majestic mountains in the world. Yet nobody is there. Nobody outside of this state even pays attention to this mountain range that is the most spectacular in the lower 48.

We made it back to the woods and the trail as the sun was setting, and did the steep hike down 2,000 feet back to the car by headlamp. The stars were out when we reached the valley floor.

Hidden Lake Peaks

2009-12-07T10:41:00.000-08:00

The Southern Picket Range in the background

Mount Baker from the SE

Sir Cameron Alford

Eldorado from the SW

Teebone Ridge with Mount Shuksan from the S

Dorado Needle, Eldorado, and Triad from SW

Forbidden, Boston, Sahale and Quien Sabe Glacier from W

Old Guard Peak, Le Conte Glacier, Sentinel Peak, and Le Conte Peak

Hidden Lake Lookout with Snowking Mtn in background

Eldorado from SW

Sloan and Rainier from N, with Snowking in foreground

Hidden Lake Lookout

There's a lake down there though its Hidden

Mount Buckindy from N

The Pickets

Vesper Peak

2009-12-01T20:46:00.000-08:00

Ryan White coming up Vesper

Sperry, east aspect

Sperry, SE aspect

Ryan in the Headlee Pass couloir, with Morning Star behind him

SE aspect of Vesper, so good!

Mt. Pugh

The Monte Cristo peaks

Ryan coming up to Vesper

Ryan skinning up

Mount Baker, south aspect

Three Fingers, SE aspect

Glacier Peak, Sloan, and Sperry

Rainier

Glacier Peak, west aspect

Whitehorse, SE aspect

Ryan on the summit

First turns

Ryan skiing down Vesper

Ryan below the Headlee Pass couloir

This blogger looking uphill and lovin it! (Photo: Ryan White)

(Photo: Ryan White)

This was quite possibly the greatest tour of my life.

Ryan and I met at the REI parking garage at 7am, then drove up to the mountain loop highway with no expectations. We had thought about hiking up Mount Dickerman and getting a few turns on the top of the peak. But one thing lead to another, and we started thinking it could be possible to bag Vesper today. Probably not, but we could see how high we could get.

The mountain loop highway went well. Then the Sunrise Mine road was driveable. Then the hike to the hanging canyon went quickly. Looking up the canyon, I knew we could make it up to Headlee Pass under two hours if we could find the right couloir on our first try.

The snow was firm so the travel was fast. The bootpack up the couloir went quickly too.

Then, we reached Headlee Pass and looked up at Vesper, a giant looming above us. My first impulse was that it was too big to do today. We didn't get an alpine start. But the weather was perfect: sunny but cool, with a full moon tonight. The avy conditions couldn't be better either. And with my new dynafit set-up, my legs felt great. So we thought, might as well head up there.

The skinning was perfect: perfect traction, perfect pitch and slope contours. We cruised up to the top and basked in unbelievable scenery. Huge peaks all over the state were out. From the American Border Peaks to Stuart and Rainier. And the peaks around us were especially stunning. Never before have I been in such an incredible setting like this mountaintop. With no worries on weather, no worries on avalanche hazard, just enjoying the mountains and feeling blessed for this privilege.

We clicked into our bindings and enjoyed the long, long open run down the various pitches of great snow; not quite corn snow, but similar softness. Then we traversed into the couloir below Headlee Pass and jump-turned down the steeps like we were in an 80s Chamonix extreme ski movie. We made it from the mountaintop, back to the car in a little over an hour. Plenty of time left in the day!

Mount Baker

2009-11-29T15:54:00.000-08:00

Unreal views of Shuksan!

Sarah in her element; sunshine

Sarah skinning up on her new toys: Phat Luvs and Dynafits

Recent Excursions

2009-11-19T20:03:00.000-08:00

Alpental Powder Day! (Photo: Ryan White)

Ryan

Thompson

Alpental, what a beaut

Index, East Face

Sarah catching gigantic snowflakes

Index, W Face

Baring N Face

Glacier Peak from Merchant Peak

Chimney Rock, Wow

Crystal Mountain Backcountry Powder Day

2009-11-12T10:54:00.001-08:00

This blogger on his first powder day of the season in Washington

(Photo: Ryan White)

Ryan White

Mike White

Mike in a Teddy Bear chute

Mike droppin in (Photo: Ryan White)

Mount Baker/Heliotrope Ridge

2009-10-26T09:51:00.001-07:00

The Coleman Glacier on Mount Baker is the only advancing glacier in the contiguous 48 states.

"One more lap before we can go to the North Fork Brewery"

Rainier/Russell Glacier

2009-10-21T14:27:00.000-07:00

Ryan White heading up the snowfield with Mount Baker in the distance. It was a beautiful clear day up there and we could see nearly all the major peaks of Washington.

Ryan on the blue ice from the Mother of Water

Cameron Alford getting his first taste of ice for the season.

This blogger given it a crack (Photo: Ryan White)

(Photo: Ryan White)

A massive icefall on the Willis Headwall

Paradise Glacier on Mount Rainier

2009-10-06T16:16:00.001-07:00

Back on the Mother of Water after a two year hiatus in the Tetons. Ryan White and I headed up to the Paradise Glacier for the first turns of the season. The Paradise might be the smallest glacier on the mountain, but it is still bigger than anything in the Tetons, but again, this is the Mother of Water, often the snowiest place on earth. This was quite an incredible day, far exceeding my expectations and making me even more excited for winter to come. (Photo: Ryan White)

This blogger doing some seriously extreme skiing! (Photo: Ryan White)

Ryan is heading up towards Camp Muir. We hiked up about 2,000 vert in 2.5 miles to reach the snow level, then started skinning and man did that feel good to be on skis again!

Ryan getting his first turns of the season on the Paradise.

Ryan way down on the Paradise before the crevasse fields came into play. We had a beautiful 2,000 foot run on perfect corn on the glacier.

This was my first time real I've skied next to such gaping holes and it really adds to the excitement and aesthetics of the run. At a time like now when all the crevasses are clearly open and not bridged, it was really fun to ski up to them and look into the abyss. Then, skiing along side and seeing that it is only 2 feet wide and you have clearly enough speed to hop over, you jump it and look 40 feet down into the ice in the moment you are over it.

A gigantic icefall occurred on our skin back to the Muir snowfields. There were plenty of loud icefalls on this sunny and warm October day, but this was the biggest.

Powder day? Bring your helmet.

The clouds started moving in after we were finishing our third lap. At 11 am, the Paradise was in perfect corn condition. By one, the SW aspects on the Muir were the place to be.

Mount Adams

Ryan on the last lap.

Beartooth Pass

2009-07-29T07:05:00.000-07:00

Beartooth Pass has been called the most scenic drive in America, and with every new bend in the road Conor Mulroy and I agreed with that statement. We had left Jackson at 9pm and got held up in Yellowstone construction for hours. Around one in the morning we found the place we had planned on bivouacing at; a church a mile outside of Silver Gate. We parked in front and pulled our sleeping bags around to the back and found a dirtbag's dream sleeping spot; out of sight, with an awning overhead and carpet on the floor, a mountain next to us with Soda Butte Creek a stone's throw away, and unbelievable stars above.

We awoke at 8am when the sun reached our -20 sleeping bags and made them too hot, grabbed breakfast in Cooke City, and hit the road for the pass. There was still a lot of construction to hold us up, but the spectacular setting of the Clark Fork of the Yellowstone where Hemmingway used to fish, held our attention along with the plethora of wildflowers.

The terrain was very Montanan with the heavily forested mountain valleys and perfect fishing streams below. But then we made it up higher to the Beartooth plateau and it was unlike any place I've ever been. Conor said it was a bit like Ireland and Norway. There were green rolling hills all around but they had drop-offs into deep canyons. My guess is that a huge glacier squashed the once jagged peaks here into the rolling hills, not leaving many mountain tops around except for Pilot Peak, seen in this photo.

Every time we dropped in or bootpacked back up, there was a big crowd gathering around to watch the spectacle, thinking we were nuts. I thought about putting a tip jar out on Mulroy's car. We ran into two people biking the pass and learned that they were from Jackson too. I said, "What are the chances that the only active people on top of this pass are from Jackson? Pretty, pretty, pretty good."

One guy got off his motorcycle and said to Cons and I, "You guys must have balls the size of watermelons!" Then he gave us a fierce handshake. I turned to Cons and said my balls were still recovering from swimming in the ice-cold lake at the bottom of the run. Another Floridian biker wanted to have his picture taken with us. It was like we just cured cancer. We were celebrity's up there. Too bad there weren't any hot chicks there to take notice.

A few beers, a few laughs, our problems are over. We did 1,000 vert. laps and kicked off our boots and laid in the sunshine in the meadows between laps. On the last lap up the afternoon thunderstorms were rolling in and we made it back to the car before the rain.

The Bear's Tooth

Ahh, Ireland at last. How I've wanted to see thee for many moons. Next time I'll come mid-June when there's more snow.

We had a late afternoon lunch outside at a cafe in Cooke City. I never anticipated having a gyro in Montana, let alone a good one. There were many different good beers to choose from too, so we took our time and watched the thunderstorm sweeping through the mountainous valley before continuing on our long drive back through Yellowstone. We drove through the Lamar Valley in the northeast corner, a part of the Park I'd never seen yet, and it was stunning. Tons of perfect water for fishing, very green and lots of wildlife. I could spend a long time in this part of the country fishing, floating, skiing, hunting and climbing. It's now one of my favorite parts of the country.

Rockchuck and Paintbrush Divide

2009-05-30T20:31:00.001-07:00

The Southwest Couloir on Mount Moran, taken from Paintbrush Divide.

Mount Thor and Mount Moran

Teewinot

Peter finishing the race he started.

Davey climbing the last pitch of our sub-summit of Rockchuck. With heavy clouds rolling in, we decided to cut our trip short and settle for a sub-summit. It still had a summit-like feel, and was a beautiful place to hang out for a few minutes before we started down.

The run was long and very smooth so we were surprised at how fun the skiing was. When we got back to the car and looked up to see our tracks, a dark cloud had moved over them, confirming our decision to turn around was a good one.

Peter decided to end the day with a dip in the lake, which had a hole in the ice. He managed to convince Davey it was a good idea, but not this blogger, who argued the weather didn't look conducive to such a maneuver. So while I took off my soaking socks and hung out at the car, Peter took off all his clothes in the parking lot, and with flip flops, walked towards the water. He made about two steps before he realized the flip flops didn't work in knee deep snow. So he ditched them, and post-holed his way towards the water. Davey followed on skis. Peter jumped in, and forgot to take his glasses off. He couldn't find them and soon gave up, in a state of near hypothermia.

Meanwhile, I'm hanging out at the car for 20 minutes, wondering if they found a hot spring or something because that's a hell of a long time to be naked in the snow and ice water. Then I see Peter running through the snow to the car, shivering, leaving Davey to find his glasses. While he warms up, we're wondering what's taking Davey so long. He eventually found them, and was nearly hypothermic himself. He said, "Well they're probably worth a few hundred dollars so I didn't want Peter to lose his glasses."

Peter replied that it really wouldn't have cost him anything. His insurance covers it. But he just didn't feel like going to the eye doctor today so he wanted to find them.

I waited a month before I returned. I skied to Paintbrush Divide and it was 70 and sunny when I got back to the parking lot. I jumped in the ice free but ice cold water, and it was perfect. A handy towel and some sunshine, made it all go smoothly.

Jaw Fork

2009-05-03T09:12:00.001-07:00

Davey with the North Face of the Jaw in the background

Mount Moran, Falling Ice Glacier cirque

Davey on his way down

Davey

I know it's frowned upon, but I couldn't resist.

I wanted to give the guy a good start to pleasing tourists.

Bison seen on the way home.

Buck

2009-04-19T12:49:00.000-07:00

Norton and Strauss on the NE ridge of Buck.

Davey and I left town at 2:30am to catch up with Alex Norton, Justin Strauss, and Tim Barker somewhere ahead of us to ski Buck Mountain. Half way up Stewart's Draw we saw their headlamps in the distance. We took a different route and rendezvoused under the peak at about 6am, and made it to the top just after the sunrise. It would have been perfect timing if the slopes had received the sun and heat they were expected to get, but high clouds kept the temps down and there was no sign of them getting much warmer to soften up the snow.

From the NE ridge of Buck looking north

The South Teton, South Face

Davey contemplating the ridge where Norton, Strauss, and Barker went. We thought the left looked less cool but easier so we went that way. From this point on, Davey led the bootpack up the entire face. I couldn't even catch him to take my turn in breaking trail.

The three amigos getting off the ridge.

Straussaroo near the summit

Top of the Apocalypse Couloir on Prospectors

The lovely Amore Vida Couloir on the South Teton

Barker and Norton reaching the top of Buck

Norton coming down the upper East Face

Recent Excursions

2009-04-17T21:06:00.000-07:00

Christian coming down from the Dike Couloir. Spectacular terrain with terrible sun crusted snow with pockets of powder. We should have done the Red Sentinel.

Teewinot getting socked in. We made it out in the nick of time. As soon as we closed the car doors, the rain came pooring down. That was probably the highlight of the trip, along with cb's stories of the Eiger and Chamonix.

Two alpinists making their way up the Teepe Glacier at 11am on a hot day. Not sure what they had in mind since the Otterbody and SE face of the Grand were heating up directly above them.

Strauss in the 4 Hour Couloir. It was the worst run of the season. The whole damn thing was loaded with pinwheels and death cookies. They were soft, but plentiful. Spectacular terrain though.

South aspect of Mount Hunt

Cody Peak with the Central Couloir being the obvious line down the face. Usually there's a 20-70 foot cliff at the bottom to be jumped, but with this year's exceptional snowpack there's nada.

Jack contemplating the jump into Corbett's Couloir

Jack making turns down Corbett's

And Davey climbing his way out of it. We went to Corbett's to practice crevasse rescue systems, prussiking, and climbing. It was a gorgeous day and everything worth skiing was avalanching, so it was a good day for training.