To be on the safe side though I picked up a 60 m half rope at REI before we headed out (we spent most of our time at camp debating whether we should cut it in half, leave it, or do a 40/20 cut.) Shawn grabbed a map and compass.

We left Seattle Saturday morning and I ended up messing up on how to get there so we took the long way via Hood River and ended up at Timberline Lodge Saturday afternoon. We had been planning on camping at the Alpine campground which was closed (likely due to snow), so we had to camp down lower at the Trillium Lake sno-park beside a group of fathers and sons outfitted for a massive hunting adventure (guns, boats, bow and arrows, smoker, the works!)

All our research pointed to a midnight departure but that didn’t really jive with our plan to ski down in spring conditions so we set our alarms for 2 am, packed up our camp site as the party kids were going to bed, and headed back to Timberline. After registering at the climbers cave we headed up the climbers route out of Timberline Lodge at 3:15 am. It was super windy the whole time but clear skies. Kinda eerie with no moon and a ton of snow cats ripping around working on the terrain park. After a couple thousand feet of vertical Shawn was having a tough time since he didn’t have ski crampons so we decided to put our skis on our back and boot it instead. Amazing how much easier skinning is!

When we got up to Hogsback it looked like everyone was headed climbers left, we decided to break against convention and took climbers right around and above the bergschrund, which I believe is the Pearly Gates. It was a fun route!

We topped out around 10 am and napped for a few hours. Things didn’t really soften up top so we climbed down 100 feet of the “old chutes” before putting our skis on and suffered back down some icy snow to just above Crater Rim which is where the skiing got good.

Looks like we were the only fools to carry our skis all the way up. We did see a lot of skiers on the way down. I’m guessing they went up to Crater Rim and then turned around. The skiing was awesome down from Crater Rim through Timberline. We had a blast!

Now if in January when JJ and I skied at the Timberline resort you had told me I’d summit Mount Hood this year, I would have said you were crazy! Glad to see there are still some surprises left.

Next rainy day I’ll need to dig up the helmet came footage and string it together.

More:

• My photos
• Shawn’s photos
• Crazy helicopter crash on Mount Hood
• Summit Post details

Personal Gear

Internal frame back pack – 50 Liter (3100 cu in.) minimum: Osprey Variant 52.
This seemed to be the clear backpack to get. A bunch of my friends have it. I like that it has a pocket on the front for crampons, attachment for ice axe, light weight, and could handle 5 days of gear. My only complaint is that the side pockets aren’t big enough for a Nalgene. (Backcountry, Amazon, REI)

Sleeping Bag – down or synthetic, 15º F to 20º F minimum: 1997 MEC Swan. I opted to go with my ancient MEC Swan down sleeping bag that was good to -20′c. Likely a little heavier than what Shawn recently bought, the Marmot Helium sleeping bag. Also, Martin’s choice (owner of Pro Guiding).

Compression Sack – for sleeping bag: no-name old one. Went with my old one from 1997. Next time I’ll get a lighter weight water proof one.

Sleeping Pad – closed cell foam or self inflating: Z-lite. Andre, Shawn and Martin all recommended coupling the Neoair with a Z-lite. Lightweight and warm. I think the combo worked well. Out of the three of us, I was never cold. However, the Z-lite is pretty bulky. I had a regular sized one, next time I might cut a bit off of it to lighten it up.

Headlamp – lightweight LED recommended: a Black Diamond one. Just grabbed my Black Diamond one. Nothing fancy.

Water Bottles – 1 or 2 liters, wide mouth: Two Nalgenes. Two Nalgenes wasn’t really necessary, one would have sufficed since it was warm enough to put snow in your Nalgene and have your water melt it. Nalgene’s were also good for putting hot water in at night to warm up.

Bowl or Cup – Cheap plastic bowl. I wish I had Dave’s Fozzils ThinkFLAT bowl and Guyot Designs Squishy Cup.

Utensils – spoon and fork. I think a spoon would have been just fine. Never used the fork!

Small Knife – Gerber Multi-tool. My older model is a little heavy, but got the job done.

Sunglasses – adequate for snow travel: Julbo Dolgan. Julbo appears to be the leader in glacier glasses and I went with the cheapest pair. The regular size fit okay. Two problems though, they slipped a little and would require pushing up. When they slipped down a little you could see your eyeball. Wasn’t a fan of that.

Goggles – left them at the car.

Sunscreen – SPF >25, waterproof: Sex Wax Sunscreen. Way too zinky!

Lip Balm – SPF 15+: Nothing special

Lighter: Nothing special

Personal Toiletries – toothbrush, toothpaste, waterless hand cleaner, etc.: Nothing special. A tiny waterless hand cleaner proved to be plenty.

Small Personal 1st aid kit – blister repair (Compeed™), aspirin, ibuprofen, etc.: Nothing special. Didn’t use any of it, which was a good thing!

Ski Gear

Skis – Alpine Touring: Dynafit Manaslus. Love em!

Ski Boots – Alpine Touring – no downhill boots: Dynafit Titan. Love em!

Ski Poles – telescopic poles work well, but not required. My regular poles, Swix Mach CT-1 worked fine (though I recently broke a tip in my Dynafit binding). When I’m ready I’ll pick up a pair of Black Diamond Traverse ski poles and a Black Diamond Whippet for self arrest.

Climbing Skins – I like the custom fit Dynafit Speedskin.

Ski Crampons – THESE ARE REQUIRED! I couldn’t find any Dynafit brand crampons but found a place that makes em, B&D Ski Gear.

Ski Brakes or Removable Ski Leashes: Brakes on my Dynafit bindings

Safety Gear

Transceiver – single frequency, 457 kHz only: Pieps DSP. My trustee transceiver.

Shovel – compact, lightweight, metal blade preferred: Black Diamond Transfer 3. Happy with mine. Though Dave’s has an emergency sled kit built into his K2 shovel.

Probe – dedicated probe only, ski poles do not suffice: Black Diamond Guide Probe.

Technical Gear

Ice Axe – 55-70 cm length, lightweight: Black Diamond Raven Pro. Went with a 50 cm length. Sounds like that’s the length that ski mountaineers prefer since it is on your back most of the time and when you pull it out it is only for really steep stuff.

Boot Crampons: Black Diamond Sabertooth Pro. Recommended by Andre.

Anti-Ball plates – for crampons: n/a. Built into my crampons.

Climbing Harness – lightweight, BD Alpine Bod style (no padding): Black Diamond Couloir. Super light weight harness built for ski mountaineering.

2 Locking Biners – (1) large HMS style and (1) reg. locker. Got some Black Diamond ones.

3 Non-locking Biners – any style, we recommend wire gates. Got some Black Diamond ones.

2 Cordelettes – 6 mm diameter, 6 meter lengths, untied. Just had Martin cut me some rope at his shop.

1 Sewn Sling – nylon or spectra, double-length. Black Diamond Sewn Runner.. I had a double length. Next time I’ll take a single length as well.

2 Ice Screws – 13cm and 16cm. Black Diamond Turbo Ice Screws. Went with the cheaper Turbo. Sounds like the Express ones are primarily for ice climbers.

Optional Items

*We highly recommend these items, but do not require them to participate.

Camera and Film – we’d like some shots for the PGS website! Who uses film? Took my Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS2 waterproof camera. I like that I can throw in my pocket or snow and not have to worry about it. It drives me nuts that I constantly have to wipe the lens before shooting.

Ear Plugs – essential for sound sleep: essential. Everyone snores. The wind howls. The rain, rains.

Thermos- vacuum type: didn’t bring. I don’t drink coffee.

Note Pad and Pencil – Rite-in-the-rain brand waterproof notebook works: got a small one though it seems for tour planning the larger size would be preferable. The list neglected a pen, I brought my Fisher Space Pen. Next time a pencil would be nice since I’d rather write on my map with a pencil.

Compass – adjustable declination a must: Got a Brunton Classic. But I think I need one with a mirro. And I couldn’t figure out how to adjust the declination. I have my eye on the Suunto MC-2G Global Compass.

Altimeter – Suunto watch works well: Found a used Suunto Core on Craigslist. The watch has a learning core and I was bummed at how easily the glass scratched.

Map Case – large zip-loc will suffice: went the large zip-loc route.

Maps – contact guiding office for appropriate quadrangles: got the USGS one not the Green Trails.

Collapsible Water Canteen – good for storing snowmelt at camp: bought a MSR Hydromedary Hydration Bag one but left it in the car.

Warm Socks – to sleep in – had three pairs of ski socks. Glad I had multiple pairs since I sweat a lot!

Lightweight Bivy/Tarp – handy with a floorless tent: didn’t need.

Foot Powder: don’t bring this.

Group Gear Provided By PGS

*Please contact the guiding office if you prefer to bring your own gear in place of any of our group gear.

Tents: Dave and I camped in a MSR Hoop which I really liked because it had two vestibules which is a nice feature when two people have a lot of gear and saves you crawling over the other to go to the bathroom.

Stoves: Dave and I had a JetBoil modified to include a hoop so you could hang it from the top of the tent. It worked great! Seemed better than the MSR Reactor that Shawn and Becky used.

Cooking Pots: Incorporated with stove.

Fuel: 3 oz per person per day.

Ropes: 40 m half rope.

Group 1st Aid Kit: thankfully it never came out.

Base Layer Clothes

1 Bottom – midweight or lightweight: Patagonia Capilene

Non-Cotton Underwear – All sites pointed to ExOfficio Men’s Give-N-Go Boxer Brief as being the top choice, and it turned out to work great!

1 or 2 Tops – midweight or lightweight: Patagonia Capilene

Sock Liners – 2 or 3 pair: Got some silk liners from REI.

Ski Socks – 2 pair: My favorites are Bridgedale’s ski sock.

Mid Layer Clothes

Windshirt, Soft Shell, Fleece – only one of these is necessary: A North Face Summit Series soft shell. Oddly I can’t track it down online.

Schoeller™ type pants – soft shell: Apparently the pant to get is OR’s Trailbreaker pant but they were hard to track down so I opted for the Marmot Scree which got the job done.

Outwear Clothes

Lightweight Waterproof/Breathable Jacket: I thought I could just use my old North Face ski shell but was told it would be way too much weight so I got the OR Helium Jacket one of the lightest jackets you can buy, plus it packs down really small.

Lightweight Waterproof/Breathable Pants – may be omitted w/ Schoeller™ type pants: Again, my favorite Flylow Stash pants would be too heavy so I got a pair of OR Rampart Pants which are full zip making it easy to put on with ski boots or crampons and waterproof for when it was raining.

Warm Hat – should cover ears. I’ve apparently lost my toque so I picked up a OR Wintertrek Hat. Fit well. Don’t know what people on Amazon are complaining about!

Sun Hat – baseball type or visor. Brought a white Livestrong super light hat.

Lightweight Gloves. Bought a pair of OR Stormtracker Gloves. Works great if you don’t use em in the rain or wet snow as they’re not very waterproof.

Ski Gloves: I’ve got a pair of fancy Patagonia ski gloves that rock, though smell a little :).

Down or Synthetic Jacket: I took my old North Face Redpoint Jacket.

What Was I Missing?

Dave recommended picking up a snow picket, a second sling, cheap GPS, satellite phone or radio (Dave likes radios because you can communicate with the rescue crew though you might not always be in range).

Where’d I Shop?

While I had a good amount of the gear, I still had to pick up a ton of gear at Pro Guiding in North Bend. It was great to talk to Martin the owner and walk through buying the gear. Odds and ends I picked up at Amazon and REI. I was also able to grab some pricey items used on Craigslist (ice axe, backpack and watch).

We summited Mount Baker!

And not the ski resort, we summited the volcano. All 10,781 feet of it this past Saturday, June 4th.

The adventure began in February when Shawn, Becky and I all realized we were interested in summiting Rainier. For me, I’ve been interested in summiting Rainier for years but would always decide too late in the year to tackle it. Turns out that starting to plan in February is pretty late, but not too late. After pulling together all the options to climb Rainier we decided to invest in learning how to summit ourselves which would likely mean postponing a Rainier summit to 2012.

To learn how to summit Rainier we called Martin Volken at Pro Guiding North Bend and had him put together a ski mountaineering course for us. Our classroom turned out to be Mount Baker. Our instructor & guide, Dave Jordan.

After hours of planning and preparation this past Tuesday we were packed and ready to go when we got a call from Dave wondering if we’d seen the forecast. For our five day trip we were facing two days of rain and three days of sun. Unfortunately we couldn’t push our trip back for better weather because of Shawn’s work plans so off it was off to Bellingham to crash at Becky’s friend’s place.

Day 1 – Bellingham sleepover to camping at Mirkwood

Alarm went off at 6:30 am, we loaded up the super cruiser [pic] and headed to Glacier to meet our guide, Dave, at the US Forest Service Station in Glacier. After quick intros, a last pit stop at a real bathroom before blug bagging it, we had Dave explode his pack and walk us through everything he was taking. Turns out from a gear perspective we were in good shape but from a food perspective Shawn and I had way too much food, Becky on the other hand had planned perfectly [pic]. I ended up ditching a bunch of food but in the end I still had way too much :).

Once loaded up [pic] we headed east on Mt. Baker Highway 542 and took a left on Glacier Creek Road #39. We traveled about 7 miles before hitting snow on the road. After gearing up [pic] we left the cars behind and skinned (skinning is uphill travel on skis) up the road [pic] to the trail head.

From the trail head we took the Heliotrope trail to Mirkwood which took three or four hours. Parts of the trail were nice and mellow [pic], other parts were tricky because you had to cross a stream on skis [pic] and others because it was steep and challenging on a split board [pic].

As this was my first time skiing with a large heavily loaded pack I was pleasantly surprised to find it easier than hiking with an equally weighted pack.

At Mirkwood we setup what would be our camp for two nights [pic]. As this was my first time winter camping we learned to shovel a flat platform, stomp it out with your skis on to compress the snow, and then once you have your tents up to dig out vestibules so you can sit in your tent and easily put your boots on. We also learned that when our guide winter camps he builds a snow cave with a tarp and bivy. Turns out to be a much lighter and roomier setup, though requires more shoveling. We’ll have to give it a go next time.

Day 2 – Waiting out rain, a little training

It rained throughout the night and when we awoke it was sadly still raining. So much for an early morning departure to go skin over to the Mazama Col navigating our way through the Roosevelt Glacier. Fortunately I brought my iPhone and had downloaded a couple books so I spent the day reading Born to Run. Around 3 in the afternoon Shawn was getting antsy so we geared up and spent an hour or two learning how to setup anchors and self rappel [pic]. It was great to get out of the tent but we were all a little nervous about getting wet and not being able to dry our gear out. Sure enough, when we got back to the tent Becky found that her sleeping bag had gotten wet while were gone as we had to collapse our tents since our poles and ice axes had staked it up but we needed them for our side trip. For future reference, put your sleeping bag in your garbage bag while you’re gone for the day so it doesn’t get wet.

After dinner we crammed the four of us into our two person tent [pic] and learned how to read a map, use our compass and write out a tour plan. Turns out the cheap Brunton Classic Compass I bought isn’t going to cut out. I think I’m going to upgrade to a Suunto MC-2G Global Compass.

Day 3 – Move camp to Heliotrope Ridge, training

We woke up to no more rain and cloud cover that was on its way out. We were even treated to our first view of Baker [pic] as we tore up camp [pic].

We had to gain 2100 vertical feet over two kilometers to Heliotrope Ridge which took us a couple hours. The views were incredible.

At Heliotrope Ridge we were the only ones camping on Friday night so we got to pick an awesome spot nestled in the ridge [pic]. Saturday night, the place was packed with tents everywhere.

After setting up camp we practiced our self arrests, then self rappelled off a small cornice, and learned to setup a 3-1 haul system. After a few hours playing in the sun and snow [pic] we were burnt out and starving.

Day 4 – Summit day

We woke up around 4 am for our 6 am departure. Which wasn’t a problem since we’d been waking up around 4 am each day with the sun. At 6 am the snow was very firm so we broke out our ski crampons for the first time on the trip and started moving [pic]. It was a beautiful morning, not a cloud in the sky, chilly, but I was able to wear just a long underwear top.

Around 9000 feet Becky decided to continue on foot instead of skinning as it was getting steep and technical. She roped up with Dave and Shawn and I continued skinning. Dave had us go off on our own but after a few hundred vertical feet we got ourselves onto a pretty steep slope and were struggling to get onto the ridge line so he tossed me down a rope to ensure if I had a misstep I wasn’t going for a ride. Once we all gained the ridge I decided that the consequences of a misstep were pretty high, so I put my skis on my pack, crampons on my boots (as did Shawn [pic]) and roped up with everyone else and we booted it up the thousand or so feet to the peak. But once you hit the peak you still have a haul until the true summit [pic] at 10,781 feet :).

We summited at 12:16. We had predicted it would take us 4.5 hours of travel so we must have taken a few breaks along the way.

The views from the summit were incredible! You could see the San Juans, Rainier and Vancouver.

We didn’t stay on the summit for long, with crazy winds we quickly ducked by down, ate lunch, boiled water and waited for the snow to soften. A little after one we headed down on skis. The descent off the top is definitely a no fall situation. Given that I had fallen in Alaska I was taking any chances and skied with an ice axe in one hand until we got down to 9000 feet and could really tear it up. Since we were summiting on Saturday and had an early start we were some of the first people down on skis which meant the conditions were excellent [pic].

Back at camp were high as a kite.

Sadly we had no beers to celebrate. Instead we drank snow melt and watched some folks from Turns All Year tear up the Coleman Headwall. We also watched a bunch of hikers struggling up and down (skiing is so much faster.)

Day 5 – Heading home

Sadly all good things must come to an end! After “sleeping in” (okay, not really) we had breakfast, tore up camp, waited until 10 when the snow had warmed up a bit, and then tore it up [pic]. Skiing with a 50lbs pack was challenging, but still a blast. Instead of going back the way we came we followed an old avalanche path to skip skiing through the forest. Along this path we saw a fresh slide. Likely from Saturday afternoon. And sure enough when we returned to the Glacier forest station there was a warning about increased avi danger this weekend [pic].

Skiing the old avi debris was challenging to ski but likely much easier for Becky than fighting through the forest.

Once in Glacier we headed to the nearest bar for burgers, which was closed! But then hit up Slide Mountain.

Conclusion

What an awesome trip! Can’t wait for the next adventure :). Maybe Shuksan, Adam’s, Helen’s or Hood. Then Rainier next year.

Random

• Stove to get seems to be the Jet Boil.
• A tent with two vestibules is really nice. I liked the MSR Hoop tent that Pro Guiding lent us.
• Two Nalgene’s wasn’t really necessary, one would have sufficed since it was warm enough to put snow in your Nalgene and have your water melt it.
• For wet gear, boil some water in your Nalgene and put the warm Nalgene and wet clothes in your sleeping bag.
• I was jealous of Dave’s Fozzils bowl
• Guide services aren’t allowed to lead ski trips on Rainier.

So after months of eyeing them online I got a pair of Flylow Stash Pants in Charcoal, size medium, from Chelsea for Christmas.

After a few months of use inbound, two heli trips, two backcountry trips here’s my quick review…

• Looks: Initially I was worried they were too baggy and was going to send them back but now, I think I was just used to skinny ski pants :).
• Sizing: I wear a 33W 30L Levi’s and I find the waist on them just a wee bit tight even with the waist adjusters let out all the way. Wish I could have tried out a pair of larges to compare…
• Functionality: I love the cargo pockets and cross venting. In windy conditions they’ve held up great. In wet conditions I haven’t been wet.
• Wear and tear: so far so good though there are a few small tears on the cuffs. Perhaps it’d be better if they wrapped the tougher material all the way around instead of just putting it on the inside of the leg.

We got up to Snoqualmie around 9:30 and had been planning to hit Pineapple Basin but Summit West was looking good so we geared up and planned to lap it a few times until security came along and told us we couldn’t skin up even though we saw others coming down Wildside. So back to plan A – we drove over to the top Alpental parking lot and hit the trail around 10:15.

There was a skin track up to the little lake so we followed that. Before the lake there was a fork in the track, we took the right fork to the lake. That turned out to be a mistake as we had to break trail a few hundred vertical feet until we found an old skin track up. What we should have done was take the left at the fork which would have lead to the skin track.

Close to the top we started to see a good number of people coming down. They couldn’t all have skinned up before us? No… We didn’t realize that you could hit Pineapple Pass by traversing off the top of Alpental . With sweat pouring off of us we heard from some coming down that it is only a 5-10 minute traverse over and you don’t need to trek out, there’s a ski out if you don’t ski too low.

We didn’t end up going to the top of Pineapple Pass, instead we went up to the ridge on looker’s left as you go towards the pass and then ripped down. Up top we enjoyed the 12″ of new, down low it got very wet and heavy and we set off a few sloughs in the steeper sections. Also, Martin’s backcountry guide book warns “be aware of the smaller cliff drop-offs—which are characteristic of the whole Denny Mountain north slope.” We were made aware and will be more careful coming down next time.

Now for years I’ve been hearing people rave about Alpental and I haven’t really understood why, but now that I’ve seen just how far and how much terrain you can get to I see what the fuss is about. Might just have to get a season’s pass for next year!

Learnings this time breaking trail is hard work, much easier to find someone else’s old skin track and I really need to bring a bag lunch instead of eating Cliff Bars and I now understand the Alpental backcountry map much better (there is so much terrain we haven’t skied!).

Also, this trip was a lot more fun than Kendall Stump last week…

Check out all my photos.

We parked at Summit West and headed under the highway to get started. In the forest before the clearcut we encountered pretty variable conditions. At times it’d be pretty firm/icy at others you’d be up to your waist in heavy wet snow. Moving the forest was pretty challenging, the trees were thick and we had a hard time getting into a rhythm.

Once we got above the forest into the clear cut we found it tough going for a few hundred more vertical feet until we fortunately stumbled upon a clear section. We switchbacked up through that up to 4800′ (according to Sam’s watch). Having never been up Kendell and in pretty bad visibility we don’t know if we got to the top or not.

The first 200′ vertical feet of distinct was pretty firm. Reminded me of the Chugach a couple weeks ago! But then we got into heavy spring snow which was pretty fun. Once we got back into the thick trees it got pretty challenging again.

We did make the mistake of not going skiers right enough on the descent and ended up at exit 53 instead of 52 so we had to hike back to Summit West. The most dangerous part of the trip was the walk along I-90! :) Next time we’ll park at exit 53.

The whole time it was lightly snowing, at times windy, low visibility.

More photos…

Wednesday morning my buddy JJ got the heads up about two spots opening up on a Friday & Saturday trip at North Cascade Heli (out of Mazama, Washington) that his buddies were on. Wednesday afternoon we got confirmation that the spots were ours if we wanted them. Wednesday night I packed not having checked with work yet. Thursday I hauled my ski gear to work hoping things would fall into place; they did.

After a five hour drive east and north in the light of a full moon, dodging deers, we were poking around the Rainbow Lodge at Wilson Ranch trying to see if this was indeed where we were supposed to be staying; it was way too nice. Having forgotten to buy beer we were lucky to stumble across our sleeping lodgemate’s stash chilling in the garage.

Friday we were up bright and early to hit the “heli barn” for a 7:30 safety orientation (avalanche safety briefing, beacon test outside, heli orientation). Around 8:30 the group we were joining rolled in and it wasn’t long before NCH’s pilot, Seamus, had fired up the A-Star and we were flying into the North Cascades to hit the fresh dry snow. The snow was epic but the clouds were hanging loud which I’m sure made picking which slopes we were a little more challenging for our guide and pilot.

After a solid morning our load of four ended up taking a “sightseeing” heli trip back to the barn for lunch (normally you eat on the mountain) so the heli could gas up. Flying in helicopters never gets old. The afternoon was more awesomeness. In the late afternoon the other two groups called it quits and we were the only group still out which enabled our pilot to even get some turns in:

When it was all said and done we logged 12 drops.

At dinner that night at the Chinook lodge, where part of the larger group was staying, I sat across from someone who cursed, “Oh, you’re my seat taker! I hate you.” And then proceeded to describe in graphic detail the lengths he went to get clearance from his doctors to ski this weekend. Clearance that never came. Sadly for him, lucky for me, it was I who was flying in his vacated heli seat :). Yes, it was awkward moment.

Saturday we awoke to a perfectly clear sky, it was a bluebird powder day! Even better, we were being guided by Ken who took us to seldomly used LZs (landing zones), had us hiking on some sketchy slopes to get the goods, shoveled out a hole in a cornice for us to drop in, directed us on the construction of a proper LZ, and let us rip it as fast as we could.

When it was all said and done we had done 13 bumps and likely could have done a few more. Conditions were epic. On only one slope did we encounter some wind affected snow at the top, and only on one south facing slope did we encounter some really sun affected snow on the lower half of the run.

For dinner on Saturday we ate in Winthrop at Three Eyed Jacks. Which turns into your quintessential small town bar after dark. And like Leavenworth, the locals love their karaoke!

On our way out of the Methow Valley Sunday morning we had breakfast at Antler’s Saloon in Twisp. We contemplated trying to win back our money spent on heli with pull tabs but commonsense prevailed. After Antler’s the drive back through the Methow Valley and along the Columbia River was pretty nice. Definitely a nice part of Washington State, would love to do more out here. North Cascade Mountain Guides looks interesting, the Rolling Huts look to be an awesome place to stay, and I’d love to go on a snowmobiling adventure.

So, if you live in Seattle and love skiing you should get on NCH’s last minute availability list :). Or plan a trip for next year. Turns out there are only six heli operations in the lower 48. We’re very lucky to have such a great outfit in Washington that is only a five hour drive away. And not just is the outfit great, there is tons of terrain! (They have about 70 top LZs.) Something to keep in mind is that if you can put together a group of 12 hard core skiers and riders is that it probably makes sense to do the private heli option as opposed to the package deal.

Thanks to the crew at NCH and the Amazon crew for a great trip! The fun meter was pegged the whole trip:

Extras:

• All my photos
• JJ’s photos
• JJ’s trip report on Turns All Year
• Freestone Inn’s Rainbow Lodge (where we stayed)
• North Cascade Heli (one of only six heli operations in the lower 48)
• I learned there is a ski resort in the Okanagon, Loup.

It was a short trip, we only skinned up ~1,160 feet. But it was a good first trip to break in the Dynafit Manaslus I bought last season. One of the discoveries was that I didn’t adjust my bindings properly (here are the proper instructions, though where do I find a 6mm spacer??).

Here’s Joe all decked out in his new gear:

JJ wrote up the conditions for Turns All Year:

The good news: As usual there is a well trodden track up to the ridge that made the skinning effortless.

The bad news: Wind transport has made things really variable. The rain crust from last week has been scoured bare by the wind on eastern aspects. In the trees and on other aspects there were patches of goodness but we didn’t have the time or the willingness to work on finding where all the good snow had gone. Suffice to say, the ski back down to the car was pretty poor. I would be very concerned about wind loading and possible slides due to all the wind.

Sadly we are pulling the plug on our Cascade Powder Cats trip that we were planning on Wednesday because of the conditions.

I’ve got a few more photos on SmugMug.

Update: Thanks to JJ, what I need is called a feeler guage or some coins…

We had all pretty much given up hope until this morning when I spotted this Tweet:

Had a good day touring @StevensPass and mad props to the p-lot staff who unlocked the truck when the dog locked the key while it wzrunning.

Fortunately JJ, Shawn and Ming were game and rallied fast with only a few false starts, so we hit the road around 10 and rolled into a pretty full parking lot around noon; turns out we weren’t the only ones wanting to play in the snow before the resort opened.

Conditions were actually pretty decent. Probably 18″ of loosely settled base. Here’s JJ’s video and trip report:

There was a pretty big crowd of sledders and jibbers hanging out at the bottom of Big Chief so we opted to head over to the Skyline lift (ed: actually it was Hogsback). Given the intermittently decent track from snowmobiles and cats we decided to boot pack it up the hill. It was difficult at times when we go into small brush and post-holed our way up. Coverage is still fairly thin (18 inches of loosely settled snow in most places) — no rocks, but not enough snow to really take the numerous bushes out of play.

The hike up was about an hour. Even though it was 22′F I should have ditched a layer, I was sweating way too much! I also should have brought my better skis. Turns out there was no rocks.

After a few minute ski down we fired up the grill and watched people in the parking lot getting stuck, driving around with their girlfriends hanging on to their roof racks, and kids setting up their own jibbing rails.

Here’s a few more photos.

After much debate about Baker versus Crystal, we settled on Baker (36″ base), and believe it or not I actually woke up before my 5:20 AM alarm. After picking up Shawn and Ming we were on the road by 6, at Baker just before 9 but were stymied by the longest lift line I’ve ever seen at Baker. Guess we didn’t leave soon enough to get first chair! Fortunately there was still plenty of snow left and even better, it was sunny.

Even in the afternoon conditions were still decent. Here’s a brief clip of Shawn:

I don’t know why we didn’t bring our packs. Every time I don’t, I regret it, the backcountry was looking good!

Fortunately the apres was more accessible:

I took some helmet cam action but the processing of that will have to wait for another day. Here’s the few photos that I took.