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TonyPlush

Getting off the lift
Skier
Joined
Jan 4, 2018
Posts
492
Location
Minnesota
I've actually skied there...
Me too. Hyland skis the smallest of all the Minnesota resorts I’ve been to, and that’s saying something. 4 turns and you’re done!

Not this season, but most winters Whitewater gets 39ft of snow. That's tied with Whistler but without WB rain or wet snow. No 7 day a week resort gets more snow than that in Canada. In the USA, Targhee gets more snow than Whitewater but Lookout Pass according to Google, does not.
Good intel, I can see why Nelson attracts such good powder skiers then!

Tony C’s stats first piqued my interest:
  • Whitewater: 389 inches
  • Silver: 351 inches
  • Lookout Pass: 446 inches
 

James

Out There
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Dec 2, 2015
Posts
24,442
Anyone mention Tucks yet? :huh: Never made it there but up til about 2-3 years ago I was interested in the climb.. They should open a cat skiing operation there for us older, out of shape geezers..
It would have to be a winch cat for Tuckerman’s, and it would ruin it.
There was actually skiing for a certain time this century along the Cog Railway. The snowmaking pipes are still there.
I've never been there, but I've also heard stories about it being too crowded already on nice spring days... lots of people willing to hike and climb up it...

View attachment 195864
It’s always been crowded certain times going back decades. All those people had to hike in a couple hours. Maybe they could skin if there was enough snow. But it’s not easy.

Last time I did it was Friday of Memorial Day weekend in 2021. We got up there late. Did one run and called it because by then it was 4:30. There was no one else skiing when we were there. A few had just left. There wasn’t a lot of snow. Nothing above the rock band.

On the way out of the bowl, hiking down the rocks, we passed a mom and 3 or 4 kids heading up. They were summer dressed, with shorts and sneakers. That’s just nuts. They did make it out because they passed us.

The big danger, besides hypothermia, is slipping, falling, and sliding. You’re probably going to hit a rock. Worse is if you slide under the snowpack, prob can’t get you out alive. There’s space created under there by the running water.

On Sunday of that weekend, the Coast Guard heli rescued someone from the caretaker’s cabin. It was foggy and windy, I guess they were the most qualified at the time. He slipped and fell, slid, and hit his head. It took 9-12 people to carry him down there to the heli pick up.

Had that happened when we were there on Friday, no way could we have gotten him down. You’d have to wait for rescue.
 

dbostedo

Asst. Gathermeister
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Worse is if you slide under the snowpack, prob can’t get you out alive. There’s space created under there by the running water.
Yeah, I've read a couple of horror stories of that. Here's a 2019 one:

 

cantunamunch

Meh
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Nov 17, 2015
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Behavioral sink
You ever go all the way up to Shames Mountain or Hudson Bay Mountain?

No one's been up there, just for the maritime dirtbag giggles?

Yeah, I've read a couple of horror stories of that.

Yeh, I was there on Black Friday 2002.

What the newspapers won't tell you is that the refrozen crud is dense enough that even a partial burial is likely to crush your ribs and collapse your lungs. On lesser gradients stuff like that doesn't slide much. But it does at Tucks, especially if lubed by water underneath.

<-quit climbing that weekend, left before the slide on Monday.
 
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TonyPlush

Getting off the lift
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Jan 4, 2018
Posts
492
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Minnesota
No one's been up there, just for the maritime dirtbag giggles?
I have not. But while at Whitewater a few weeks ago, I had a chat with a lady who lived near Shames. She called it “Shames My Mountain Co-op” and apparently most locals refer to it that way or as My Mountain Co-Op. As the name implies, it’s community owned and sounded like the most unique mountain I’ve never heard of. The most surprising part of the conversation - she mentioned how she actually enjoyed traveling to ski icy moguls, because they never get those at Shames - if that gives you an idea of how low trafficked the place is…
 

cantunamunch

Meh
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Behavioral sink
I have not. But while at Whitewater a few weeks ago, I had a chat with a lady who lived near Shames. She called it “Shames My Mountain Co-op” and apparently most locals refer to it that way or as My Mountain Co-Op. As the name implies, it’s community owned and sounded like the most unique mountain I’ve never heard of. The most surprising part of the conversation - she mentioned how she actually enjoyed traveling to ski icy moguls, because they never get those at Shames - if that gives you an idea of how low trafficked the place is…

AHA, this is exactly the kind of details that belong in this thread :D
 

raisingarizona

Out on the slopes
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Sep 30, 2016
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1,112
I have not. But while at Whitewater a few weeks ago, I had a chat with a lady who lived near Shames. She called it “Shames My Mountain Co-op” and apparently most locals refer to it that way or as My Mountain Co-Op. As the name implies, it’s community owned and sounded like the most unique mountain I’ve never heard of. The most surprising part of the conversation - she mentioned how she actually enjoyed traveling to ski icy moguls, because they never get those at Shames - if that gives you an idea of how low trafficked the place is…
The touring from the area looks absolutely insane. Same with Mount Cain.
 

DanoT

RVer-Skier
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AHA, this is exactly the kind of details that belong in this thread
One more detail about Shames: once your plane lands in Vancouver it is a mere 16 hour drive to Shames. Or you could fly to the nearest international airport in Prince George and then it is only a 7 hour drive.

Shames is so remote that by comparison the failed Valemount Glacier Resort looks suburban.
 

Jerez

Skiing the powder
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Forget Taos. That ship is leaving port, if not quite sailed. Ski Santa Fe (have seen RVs park there and the State Park very close has overnight RV sites.) Pajarito, Wolf Creek, Monarch.
 

cantunamunch

Meh
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One more detail about Shames: once your plane lands in Vancouver it is a mere 16 hour drive to Shames. Or you could fly to the nearest international airport in Prince George and then it is only a 7 hour drive.

Shames is so remote that by comparison the failed Valemount Glacier Resort looks suburban.

So when you road tripping next :D
 

surfacehoar

Getting off the lift
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May 12, 2017
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182
Shames and Powder King are way up there. They are about as far North, from the US/Canadian border as Salt Lake is South.

However, getting to Shames isn't that bad, with direct flights into Terrace from Vancouver(90min) or Calgary(2.5hrs). I'd bet most people could get to Shames quicker than Revy, Golden or Nelson etc.
 

DanoT

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Shames and Powder King are way up there. They are about as far North, from the US/Canadian border as Salt Lake is South.

However, getting to Shames isn't that bad, with direct flights into Terrace from Vancouver(90min) or Calgary(2.5hrs). I'd bet most people could get to Shames quicker than Revy, Golden or Nelson etc.
^^^Good point about connector flights to Terrace but it begs the question of how frequent are the flights and how expensive? OTOH, with the price of gas these days, especially in B.C., it's damned expensive to drive there.
 

Jeff N

I'm an anachronism
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595
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Gnarnia
Forget Taos. That ship is leaving port, if not quite sailed. Ski Santa Fe (have seen RVs park there and the State Park very close has overnight RV sites.) Pajarito, Wolf Creek, Monarch.
For parking an RV, it has been several years, but I have parked just outside the gates of Santa Fe with no issues. Parked right at the bottom of Aspen at Pajarito with no issues several times.

Monarch- they’ve changed. :( Used to be you could park your rig at the bottom of Gunbarrel next to Inn-Ferno, but now their official line is “no camping without ski area permission.” I don’t know how hard it is to get permission- it may just be that they added that clause to reserve the right to boot people that act like jackasses, but officially it is no longer acceptable to just pull in and camp.

Wolf Creek is still golden. Officially they want you to camp in the overflow lot about a half mile down from the ski area. I still see people camping in the main parking lots that don’t seem to get hassled but worst case you camp 1/2 mile away and drive in to ski that day.

Other NM/SW CO- Sipapu has never hassled me for camping in their main lot in my class C. Done it 3-4 times. They have a campground, so worst case if they did hassle is buying a site (no amenities in Winter).
Silverton is dirtbag heaven, perfectly fine to camp there or pretty much anywhere on the county road up there. Lots of rigs in the Spring.

Purgatory states no overnight. I have heard some people get away with it but wouldn’t count on it.

Crested Butte- pre-Vail parking lot attendants told me as long as I paid the $20 daily fee for the parking lot for every day they didn’t give a shit about my camping in my class C in the main lot. Under Vail this has very very likely changed.
Telluride- ha. Good luck. Maybe Placerville? You can camp at the top of Lizardhead but you can’t rely on those parking lots being plowed.
 

surfacehoar

Getting off the lift
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^^^Good point about connector flights to Terrace but it begs the question of how frequent are the flights and how expensive? OTOH, with the price of gas these days, especially in B.C., it's damned expensive to drive there.
Looks like West Jet and Air Canada both have a daily flight and it's around $400 return.

Speaking of Powder King, they are listed for sale for $8.25M CAD. I've never skied up there.
 

Itinerant skier

Out on the slopes
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Sep 11, 2017
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466
Looks like West Jet and Air Canada both have a daily flight and it's around $400 return.

Speaking of Powder King, they are listed for sale for $8.25M CAD. I've never skied up there.
A bunch of Skitalk dirtbags shaking out the couch cushions should cover that. Who's in?

Shames looks awesome, but I find the whole referring to it as "my mountain coop" very odd. That is their website URL too:

https://mymountaincoop.ca/

why would you intentionally make the name longer? People typically shorten the names of places. If someone told you they skied this season at "The Mad River Glen Cooperative", you might think them a bit odd or pretentious. Maybe that's just me though.
 
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