Trip Reports Backcountry photos, videos, patch skiing and other stoke!

[4ster]

I can't say the same, i was focused on my descent, pretty steep and narrow, didn't want to make a mistake.

LOL, I know the feeling

 

[Jtlange]

Silver Couloir, Buffalo Mtn, Silverthorne, CO 5/12/19

 

[Analisa]

It's quickly becoming carry season in the Cascades. Hit Washington Pass this weekend for a fun mixed ascent climb with a little glacier climbing and a 5.fun scramble to the top of Silver Star. Skiing left a lot to be desired thanks to an unseasonably 80+ degree day, and I'm still traumatized by the slide alder, but skiing > not skiing. Always.

 

[4ster]

@Analisa , I relate to this way more than I’d like to admit

 

[pais alto]

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I laughed, but I give you full props for getting out there and after it. BTDT

 

[neonorchid]

@Analisa redefined the meaning of "putting on a spring structure". You go girl! You rock!

 

[Rod9301]

Halls of God again today with my wife. A bit late at 2.

 

[Analisa]

Another great day at WA Pass on the "Birthday Tour" - a nice short point-to-point tour that Sally Portman featured in her 1980s ski touring book after skiing it for her husband Don's birthday. Usually the route goes until my birthday in late May, but it's going quickly and we needed a route where we could wrap up before things got sticky ~10 am. Area's world class for easily accessed alpine rock routes, which are just starting to dry out, so the area was extra busy.

1. Eyeing up the skintrack between South Early Winters Spire and Cornice Peak
2. Cornice Peak living up to its name
3. Post-descent on Madison Avenue
4. Yesterday's climb on Silver Star & Kangaroo Ridge
5. Fake smiles after 8k of gain on the weekend
6. Exit out of Spire Gully
7. Avalanche carnage. Hwy 20 gets pounded so badly, they just close it in the winter. The spring debris piles are always a good reminder to take things seriously.

 

[Analisa]

Hit Vesper Peak last weekend for a birthday ski. It's a little eerie to be up there - last summer, a hiker who's about my age just disappeared off the mountain. 22 days of official search by the sheriff's office and over 100 by volunteers, and there's not the slightest clue of where she went. We may not have found Sam, but we found plenty of other people, including a friend doing a project to ski all 255 named glaciers in Washington. Vesper was #206. Usually his trips involve a few eons of bushwhacking, but we definitely made the wrong choice not to follow them down a short pitch on the north aspect.

1. Wirtz Basin, a welcome sight after a 2 hour carry in.
2. Up the Headlee Couloir
3. My buddy Omak in front of Sperry Peak. Don't ask which one of us had an easier time with the river crossing.
4. Morningstar Peak & me.
5. Copper Lake
6. Lines Lines Lines
7. Stoked for Headlee
8. South Fork Stillaguamish River & my try hard face

 

[luliski]

Hit Vesper Peak last weekend for a birthday ski. It's a little eerie to be up there - last summer, a hiker who's about my age just disappeared off the mountain. 22 days of official search by the sheriff's office and over 100 by volunteers, and there's not the slightest clue of where she went. We may not have found Sam, but we found plenty of other people, including a friend doing a project to ski all 255 named glaciers in Washington. Vesper was #206. Usually his trips involve a few eons of bushwhacking, but we definitely made the wrong choice not to follow them down a short pitch on the north aspect.

1. Wirtz Basin, a welcome sight after a 2 hour carry in.
2. Up the Headlee Couloir
3. My buddy Omak in front of Sperry Peak. Don't ask which one of us had an easier time with the river crossing.
4. Morningstar Peak & me.
5. Copper Lake
6. Lines Lines Lines
7. Stoked for Headlee
8. South Fork Stillaguamish River & my try hard face

View attachment 74453 View attachment 74454 View attachment 74455 View attachment 74464 View attachment 74458 View attachment 74460 View attachment 74461 View attachment 74463

Beautiful, but looks intense!

 

[Ken_R]

View attachment 73928
@Analisa , I relate to this way more than I’d like to admit

Come to CO, still plenty of snow

 

[James]

Hit Vesper Peak last weekend for a birthday ski. It's a little eerie to be up there - last summer, a hiker who's about my age just disappeared off the mountain. 22 days of official search by the sheriff's office and over 100 by volunteers, and there's not the slightest clue of where she went. We may not have found Sam, but we found plenty of other people, including a friend doing a project to ski all 255 named glaciers in Washington. Vesper was #206. Usually his trips involve a few eons of bushwhacking, but we definitely made the wrong choice not to follow them down a short pitch on the north aspect.

1. Wirtz Basin, a welcome sight after a 2 hour carry in.
2. Up the Headlee Couloir
3. My buddy Omak in front of Sperry Peak. Don't ask which one of us had an easier time with the river crossing.
4. Morningstar Peak & me.
5. Copper Lake
6. Lines Lines Lines
7. Stoked for Headlee
8. South Fork Stillaguamish River & my try hard face

View attachment 74453 View attachment 74454 View attachment 74455 View attachment 74464 View attachment 74458 View attachment 74460 View attachment 74461 View attachment 74463

Looks amazing. How did the dog get across the stream?

 

[Analisa]

How did the dog get across the stream?

Easy peasy on his own. We brought gear to setup a hand line and had a backup route nearby, but he was totally fine on his own. I was kind of hoping we would've needed the hand line. Omak's quite the alpinist - as long as it's not technical rock or in a national park, he's usually in tow. This was his other most recent descent, down the Gunsight Couloir. He's way more freaked out by skis and tries to attack them once we transition to downhill.

 

[Mothertucker]

EYT in the MLB.

 

[4ster]

A narrow window for a morning tour today, in before 8am & out by 10am.

Looking across Frog Lake toward Red Lake Peak

On the way up

Ready to drop

2nd run

Looking back with another storm approaching

 

[Rod9301]

A narrow window for a morning tour today, in before 8am & out by 10am.

Looking across Frog Lake toward Red Lake Peak
View attachment 74622

On the way up

Ready to drop
View attachment 74624

2nd run
View attachment 74625

Looking back with another storm approaching
View attachment 74626

How was the snow in North facing aspects?
After tomorrow's storm, I'm thinking of skiing crescent Moon couloir on round top in Monday.

 

[4ster]

How was the snow in North facing aspects?
After tomorrow's storm, I'm thinking of skiing crescent Moon couloir on round top in Monday.

1/4” frozen crust over heavy old snow. I could punch through with my ski pole or boot but supportable for my skin up. Any warmth would turn it to manky goo & danger of heavy, wet snow slides. Me reason for fleeing early. Friends in Crescent on Monday said snow was not good. Top of Round Top was socked in this morning.

Up to 18” forecast out there. Could be a whole new game by Monday.

 

[4ster]

Better today with a 4 hour window but just beat the rain...

 

[Analisa]

@4ster - that snowpack is to die for! I got curious just how bad ours is in comparison - 9% of normal (I know, I know, kind of the antithesis of stoke).

 

[4ster]

@4ster - that snowpack is to die for! I got curious just how bad ours is in comparison - 9% of normal (I know, I know, kind of the antithesis of stoke).

View attachment 74877

Our pack is fat for sure but I think PNW had it last year. I think we’re 180% of normal.
Things are actually smoother & whiter than they were a few weeks ago.