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Mothertucker

Sweep Dodger
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Joined
Jul 6, 2016
Posts
1,939
Location
Desolation Row
In the South Sierra last week. Photo courtesy Keith Bates.
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Analisa

Making fresh tracks
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Joined
Dec 29, 2017
Posts
982
Learned an important lesson this weekend: driving 425 miles takes a good chunk of time. Planned to hit an alpine climb in the NE corner of the cascades on Saturday and then swing down the SW side to ski the Inter Glacier at Rainier in the afternoon. A combined 10.5k of gain looked a tad ambitious on paper, but not any worse than a Rainier or Baker climb. But unlike a longer volcano climb, there was more driving, more park & ride shuffles, unpacking rock gear, repacking glacier gear, and even a shower because some people get mad when you come to be covered in dirt ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. When the alarm went off Sunday morning, I'd just hit 5 hours of shut eye for the weekend. But FOMO and flake-phobia are good motivators.

I had a stellar crew that packed the rescue rope & pickets. No one was upset if we turned before Camp Schurmann. It's June! We're skiing! Even in a pretty dismal season in the PNW. We carried out to Glacier Basin, which felt like way more than 2 miles, but then I found salvation. One of Rainier's sub-peaks, Mount Ruth, had some glorious looking turns on its north ridge. It'd cut 2 miles and 1000 feet of vert of the day, and with more northern facing aspects, I had a little more time in my race against the sun. At the creek crossing, we found a bundle of mylar birthday balloons that turned into forest litter, but instead of popping them and stuffing them in my trashbag, I decided to tie them to my pack. Figured the helium would lighten the load and all the happy birthday greetings from strangers were a nice distraction from being wrecked (it was my birthday a week and a half ago - I'm not a total fraud). I decided to call it about 1500 feet from the summit at a nice ridge where I could sit and watch rope teams coming down from the summit on the Emmons route. The turns were amazing - especially for a hot day in June - but luge tracking down the Glacier Basin trail was the highlight of the day. I ran into a super fast ultra-runner friend and made sure to give him some hell over being so slow. He needs a pair of skis. The carry out flew by, surprisingly, since usually I'm left wondering if they added miles to the trail while I was out. We spilled out in the parking lot for our traditional "stank & drank" where we let the boots air out a bit over a few beers. A few friends showed up for their car-to-car push on Liberty Ridge that night, which claimed a life as rockfall tumbled through Camp Curtis just few days ago.

I can't believe it was my first time hitting that side of the mountain. I feel like I've explored almost every nook and cranny from the Paradise side, top to bottom. There's a lot I love about that side - more infrastructure from ice cream to commercially guided climbing on a maintained route that makes the mountain accessible in so many ways. But I really liked seeing a quieter side of the mountain. I'll definitely be back.

1. The White River
2. Tahoma, as the native Puyallup people named it.
3. Ruth above the Glacier Basin
4. Wait for meeeee.
5. Lunch spot.
6. Crevasses on the lower Emmons under next week's objective, Lil T.
7. Signs of summer

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Thread Starter
TS
4ster

4ster

Just because you can doesn’t mean you should!
Instructor
Joined
Nov 12, 2015
Posts
7,219
Location
Sierra & Wasatch
^
Looks like a big, big day on the big hill! :golfclap:

Above Paradise sometime in the 80’s.
205cm Atomic OT skis, Chouinard tele binders, Asolo Extreme leather shoes & it was still fun. State of the art at the time.
Seems like yesterday...
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Analisa

Making fresh tracks
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Joined
Dec 29, 2017
Posts
982
Happy June-uary! Squeezed in a little dawn patrol when telemetry for Paradise showed 9 inches, but the weather showed a stark warm up over the course of the weekend. Consolidated quickly, so skied more like 3-4, but no complaints. Spent the afternoon cooking out and taking the pups to the beach - hard to believe it was the same day.

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Pequenita

Making fresh tracks
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Joined
Aug 5, 2017
Posts
1,613
Short party laps off Chinook Pass in the sun today. Best day ever (except for the part where my binding broke)

What happened (looks like plastic failure?)? I have the same binding and had problems with a heel piece last weekend...I couldn’t click in/get the heel to engage. Thought it was user error, but now I am thinking the tension somehow got messed up.
 

Analisa

Making fresh tracks
Skier
Joined
Dec 29, 2017
Posts
982
What happened (looks like plastic failure?)? I have the same binding and had problems with a heel piece last weekend...I couldn’t click in/get the heel to engage. Thought it was user error, but now I am thinking the tension somehow got messed up.

There are two wire nubs that used to wrap around that metal piece sticking up. It just sheared at some point between the summit block carry and transitioning to ski down, but worked fine on the skinner up.

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Ken_R

Living the Dream
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Joined
Feb 10, 2016
Posts
5,775
Location
Denver, CO
There are two wire nubs that used to wrap around that metal piece sticking up. It just sheared at some point between the summit block carry and transitioning to ski down, but worked fine on the skinner up.

View attachment 75435

So the brakes could not stay locked in the up position? How did you fix it?
 

Analisa

Making fresh tracks
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Joined
Dec 29, 2017
Posts
982
So the brakes could not stay locked in the up position? How did you fix it?

They weren’t locked, but the metal arms under the heel piece are attached to the brakes and kept them relatively in place.

The fix was forcing that little S shaped arm down so I could get my heel & the pins aligned. Both partners used their pole tips to force it down, which were narrow enough that I could click in. Total Cinderella treatment for every run. Uphill, it just felt like one of my risers was down.

It’s happened to a few friends as well - some just pull the brake out, but others have gotten free replacement pieces from Dynafit or it’s <$100 to get it done at the shop. I’m just glad it’s an easy fix - ski season isn’t over yet!
 

Pequenita

Making fresh tracks
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Joined
Aug 5, 2017
Posts
1,613
Mmm. I have to go check out my heel piece/brake to see what the deal is. Might be a related issue...
 

Analisa

Making fresh tracks
Skier
Joined
Dec 29, 2017
Posts
982
This was supposed to be a Rainier descent post, but a June-uary cold snap and advice from the climbing rangers about packing our ice screws convinced us to hold off for another year. Switched destinations to Adams since a few friends hadn't skied it, and the warmer weather and sun gave us a bit more hope for corn. Carried for the full 6.6k of climbing and the suncups on the descent were my personal hell. At least we picked the right volcano - trip reports off the Emmons sounded decidedly worse.
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Thread Starter
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4ster

4ster

Just because you can doesn’t mean you should!
Instructor
Joined
Nov 12, 2015
Posts
7,219
Location
Sierra & Wasatch
^built in footholds :ogcool:
 

Ken_R

Living the Dream
Skier
Joined
Feb 10, 2016
Posts
5,775
Location
Denver, CO
This was supposed to be a Rainier descent post, but a June-uary cold snap and advice from the climbing rangers about packing our ice screws convinced us to hold off for another year. Switched destinations to Adams since a few friends hadn't skied it, and the warmer weather and sun gave us a bit more hope for corn. Carried for the full 6.6k of climbing and the suncups on the descent were my personal hell. At least we picked the right volcano - trip reports off the Emmons sounded decidedly worse. View attachment 76392 View attachment 76393 View attachment 76394


:eek::eek::eek:

Suncups on their way to being penitentes... :eek::eek:
 

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