What skiing's all about

I like digital point forecasts

2007-12-02T10:16:00.000-08:00

For 7800ft on Mt Baker:

Today: Periods of snow. High near 23. Windy, with a south wind 33 to 36 mph decreasing to between 11 and 14 mph. Winds could gust as high as 55 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Total daytime snow accumulation of 19 to 25 inches possible.

Tonight: Periods of snow. Temperature rising to around 25 by 5am. Windy, with a south southwest wind 11 to 14 mph increasing to between 42 and 45 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 36 to 42 inches possible.

Monday: Periods of snow. Temperature rising to near 29 by noon, then falling to around 19 during the remainder of the day. Windy, with a south southwest wind between 40 and 45 mph, with gusts as high as 70 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 34 to 40 inches possible.

89 to 107 inches over the next 36 hours...

Some pics from today

2007-11-04T21:21:00.000-08:00

Got gear

2007-09-22T17:12:00.000-07:00

I helped drive the economy today at Beyond's 50% off sale, buying things I didn't really need... 45$ for a windstopper fleece jacket, $50 for some light softshell pants, and 80$ for a softshell jacket (which is 50% the heavyweight WB400 Schoeller and 50% the light stuff - interesting). This was the first clearance sale I've ever been to where there was actually a big selection of stuff that fit (take note Marmot, REI, etc...).

So I felt like I'd tell everyone - it's what consumerism's all about. (oh btw, the pic was taken with my D70, which I got back a few days ago, fixed free of charge - guess I'm still stuck with 6 megapixels for a while)

Back in August...

2007-09-21T15:09:00.000-07:00

The aforementioned snow in New York state, from a few posts back:

My brother is a mechanical engineer, not a computer engineer, so it takes a month for him to send pictures over email...

Me and my nephews "looking cool", after having come out of some caves.

The red eft form of the eastern newt:

(eft is a good Scrabble word).

Lords of Lame

2007-09-10T12:09:00.000-07:00

What do you do when your partner can't leave town until 2pm? Go anyway and hope things go smoothly...

Checking the time shortly before encountering a non-trival section on the traverse and bailing...

As I found out later by looking at a picture, turns out we were only a short distance from the beginning of the nice part of the climb. So we should have gone for it... oh well.

The ultimate lameness... top-roping 5.0 slab after a quick hike to the summit.

But at least we got to watch the sun set over glittering Puget Sound, the Olympics and Vancouver island. And we did summit, in defiance of a Mountaineers party member (with requisite 10ft ice axe) we met on the way up - who when told we were trying to beat the sun to the summit - disapprovingly said the mountain would win.

It was pitch black by the time we made it back to the lake where Ed had stashed two double-size australian beers.

They held much more buzz than anticipated, and so we were forced to spend another hour there watching the stars, the milky way, and meteors. Not a bad way to spend an evening.

Should have brought my skis

2007-08-10T18:55:00.000-07:00

There is still snow left in NY state. My brother, nephews and I found a snow patch today, big enough to make at least two turns on. Crazy. Kam would love it I guess.
I would update with a photo, but there is no way to get pics off the camera right now. I'm astonished I can even get online - someone around here has an unsecured wireless broadband network.

Pwned

2007-07-29T22:27:00.001-07:00

2007-07-06T19:54:00.000-07:00

R.I.P. Caroline

2007-07-02T21:00:00.000-07:00

I learned an old aquaintance of mine was killed in a rappelling accident at Skaha Bluffs last weekend.

Here are some pics from a Utah ski/climbing trip we were both on in 1999:

Caroline on the right:

The last time I saw her was about 3-4 years ago when she and a partner were hiking in to climb Mt Rexford while we were on our way out.

Abernathy Peak

2007-07-02T20:27:00.000-07:00

...can't make any puns with that. So just a plain title.

I didn't get enough video for a genuine mtnPhilms video (Jason wasn't warm to my movie plot we could have filmed with our extensive time at Scatter Lake). Plus he was self-conscious about his skiing, so he didn't want it shown to everyone. So here are just some random clips thrown together:

Everything looks steep (which may not be a bad thing) because youtube doesn't handle wide-screen video properly.

The hardest part of this ski trip was long drive!

I'm so DOMS

2007-06-22T19:52:00.000-07:00

This is what happens when you do a 9000ft day after 17 days on the couch!

Monkeys, flight, arses

2007-06-18T01:04:00.000-07:00

Oh my... look what I got:

could it be!?!?

oh wait...

whew!

I have busy days at the office too...

2007-06-15T20:53:00.000-07:00

It's not just Tony who has them. See?

Rossit on the weather

2007-06-15T20:27:00.000-07:00

Ok, to push SkiSickness off the top of this blog, I bring you:

Mr Rossit on the importance of bringing warm clothing when climbing the higher peaks here, even in mid-summer:

Don't be fooled by the hot sun and by the girls wearing shorts, whom you might see at the lower elevations. Bring the warming memory of these things with you as you struggle upward through the cold snow toward the icy summit. Remember that to you, "mountain fastness" means the upper reaches of Glacier Peak, not the speed with which you may woo the girls you saw wearing shorts after you return from the summit.

Why don't they make guidebooks like this anymore?

Getting scared

2007-06-05T18:34:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, skiing's all about getting scared shitless by taking too little gear for the climb. I don't want to ski with all that crap on my back: That's not what skiing's all about.

Photo by Pandorable nabbed from the cc.com galleries.

-SkiSickness

How many stories fit on Jason's website?

2007-06-03T22:12:00.000-07:00

Let's have a look at the following URL:

http://www.cascadecrusades.org/SkiMountaineering/baker/colemanheadwall/ch2007/chjune.htm

First breadcrumb:
Fatboy engages in 3 sports as far as I can tell: skiing, kayaking and hiking/etc.

Second breadcrumb:
This is more difficult. Skiing, there are perhaps 100 peaks that might be interesting in Washington. Kayaking... I dunno - 40 rivers? Hiking... hard to guess. Let's use 80 for this breadcrumb.

Third breadcrumb:
This appears to specify the route on a particular mountain. It does not appear to be used in river or hiking trip reports. Thus, ski mountaineering trip reports have an order of magnitude more possibilities, and we can safely exclude hiking and kayaking from our calculations. Let us assume that an average mountain has 5 routes.

Fourth breadcrumb:
The used of this crumb is inconsistent - it may be the final html file, but it can also be an additional folder, usually specifying the year. Some times it adds in the month. But the month can also be a fifth breadcrumb, as in the URL above. Let's consider all of this one "yearly crumb" with 12 possibilities (the months)

Summary
Let's calculate:

3 X 80 X 5 X 12 = 14400 trip reports per year!

It is clear that Fatboy's web-fu is strong, and he has created a very scalable trip report solution.

Satisfying the groupies.

2007-06-03T22:05:00.000-07:00

Jason wrote a TR accessed with a ludicrously long URL.

My helmet cam footage has a much better URL.

Now it is time for another nugget of wisdom from Edward A Rossit:
The mountaineer is not happy because of any material wealth he may have. Indeed, he deliberately leaves material comforts and luxuries behind him when he climbs. He does not worship sucess, because success always lies in the eyes and approval of others. The mountaineer is happy and at peace because he approves of himself. He is self-sufficient. He sets his own goal, and then he achieves it. Is there a greater contentment than that which comes from achievement?

Coleman Headwall... in the footsteps of Ben M.

2007-06-02T23:47:00.000-07:00

Doing this on the Coleman Headwall is *not* what skiing is about!

Nevermind that though... the rest of the story: Jason and I took about 7 hours to reach the summit, moving slowly so as to let the snow soften. There was a strong wind starting at the Colfax/Baker col.
At the summit plateau, Jason's stoke was very high, so we began the descent right away w/o waiting for the snow to soften any further. It could have been softer, but that might have been worse in the spots where there was an icy base.
Anyway, the headwall was a really fun, serious route. Long pitches of steep continuous turns. Great atmosphere. Probably an audience down at the flats below the glacier. I don't think you could ask for better conditions... the face was minimally crevassed and the snow surface was smooth. We took the "easy" start, down the ridge (the direct start looked icy, and w/o having climbed it first, was not worth the risk). After traversing in, the rest of the route was very direct, taking the skier's right of the rock protrusion at the bottom center of the face.
Somehow, we managed to find a good line across the lower Coleman and back to the cowpath (after I took over route-finding).

Mt Ruth, Glacier Basin

2007-05-28T21:41:00.000-07:00

Ok, not a big descent, but certainly part of what skiings about... endless great corn.

Le stoke est de retour?

2007-05-26T23:00:00.001-07:00

Helmet cam footage

Fightin' words

2007-05-22T20:09:00.000-07:00

Edward A. Rossit, on why skiers can wear plastic lenses.

Skiers can get away with their plastic lenses where mountaineers can't for two reasons. Firstly, as high as they think they are, skiers are seldom found at the considerably higher altitudes where mountaineers range. At the lower altitudes, where skiing takes place, eye protection with goggles is not nearly as important as it becomes futher up, in thinner, rarer air.
- Edward A. Rossit, "Northwest Mountaineering", 1965.

Stay tuned for more choice quotes from Mr. Rossit in the coming weeks.

"Where it all began"

2007-05-14T20:04:00.000-07:00

Some old pics...

This was on one of my first "backcountry ski" trips. We tried to ski some of the slides on Giant Mtn (NY). You read trip reports of people skiing these things frequently now - I think there is even a guidebook. But ten years ago... we never saw anyone or heard of anyone doing this stuff.

We ended up bushwhacking all day until we had to turn around. Much of our descent was thrashing through slide alder. But I just thought it was novel to be skiing downhill not at a resort. This is a nice patch of forest once we were back on the trail. What's that above my head? It's an old style wooden snowshoe (with rawhide webbing). Not the best for climbing mountains. I think I'm wearing all cotton too. I'm lucky I didn't die.

The following photo is from Whiteface Mtn in Lake Placid, probably a year later. Apparently the "slides" are an official part of the resort now, but this was a ski mountaineering adventure back then (the backcountry fad had not yet arrived). At the bottom, after negociating some icy cliff bands, we cut back into the runs at the resort (closed for the year) and skied to the base for a 3600ft continuous run.

By this time I had found more modern snowshoes which I used to ascend. We had a French guy on this trip - I lent him my "traditional" ones. I guess you could say I was mean for giving him the large cumbersome things, but he seemed thrilled - I think it just heightened the North American experience for him. You can see him in the day-glo yellow pants above.

Où est le stoke?

2007-05-13T20:20:00.000-07:00

Still too sleepy and un-stoked from non-ski-sickness to actually get up and go somewhere on Saturday morning. So decision was made to try again by waking up at a trailhead Sunday morning.

The weather: 30% chance of showers overnight, sounding like it would clear up quickly on Sunday.

It poured rain hard at the Easy Pass trailhead all night. I slept better than I have in weeks in the back of my Subie.

The rain didn't stop until 8. A quick drive up to the pass revealed 5 inches of new wet snow at 5400ft, undoubtedly more higher up (1 inch liquid precip overnight on the sno-tels - bet you weather forecasters never saw that coming). Indecision set in... sure-bet May powder with the "crowds" at Blue Lake col, or significantly-revised original plan? As I drove back and forth changing my mind, the Blue Lake trailhead population of cars tripled.

Significantly-revised original plan eventally won out - but unfortunately the stoke lost out to poor visibility and fresh debris from overnight coming down from unseen heights... blah

Gas is now $3.50 a gallon - but I managed to squeeze 29.5 MPG out of my car, so the trip only cost me $37!

CrystalFest

2007-05-01T18:59:00.000-07:00

Vinnie made a post about it on his extremely prolific blog. Check out the ugli. The Ugli site says they're 4-6 inches in diameter, but mine was bigger.

Also I would like to say that Amar didn't even ski above the lodge. He took runs on the groomers. Amar, skier of anything in all conditions no matter how steep, didn't want to deal with the hard crusty chutes on the Throne. I'd say that might be reason for ouster from the big leagues. I vote we replace him with Dave, who seemed perfectly willing to throw his body down the gnar using bizarre knee contortions that made Vince wince.

Royal blood

2007-04-27T16:34:00.000-07:00

I guess skiing in Royal Basin runs in the family... my brother went in there less than a month before I moved here. Found on an old Mountaineers trip reports board, for May 1997:

Saturday, May 24 - Monday, May 26 - Royal/Deception Basins, Olympics backcountry(M2+) Six of us made the 7 mile trek to enjoy the seldom-skied slopes of Royal and Deception Basins in the Olympic Peninsula. The first 5 miles were on dirt, which made for some heavy packs. We set up base camp in Royal Basin, near the base of Mount Deception.
On Sunday we climbed up to the notch on the East side of Deception, and dropped down into Deception Basin. The South side of the notch involved a little scrambling over scree to get to snow covered slopes. From the bottom we headed South up to yet another notch on the East side of Mount Mystery. We played around in here for a while on excellent snow, getting some steep runs off the headwalls on the East side of the valley. After this we wrapped around the East side of the basin and climbed up Hal Foss Peak (the summit registry showed we were the first ascent of the year). We had a great descent back down to the basin. Near the bottom, the snow got much heavier, and we triggered several large slow-moving slides. One of our party, Johnny, had a nice ride on one of the slides that was a little sobering. We headed back the same way we came in.
Monday we just did a half-day, and headed Westwards through a small glacier valley to a notch in the Needles that gave a great view of more mountain ranges. There was a good-sized snow lip at the top, and we took a bunch of pictures of various members of our party launching off of it.
In general, the snow is still not that stable in this area, especially in the afternoon after the sun's been on it. A solo climber attempting to climb the Honeymoon Chute up Mount Deception early Sunday morning, abandoned his climb after digging a pit and finding a very weak layer 2.5 feet down. We saw the aftermath of a huge slab avalanche that had broken loose on the lower slopes of Mt. Fricaba, and had probably happened just before we arrived. The crown extended several hundred yards, and was probably at least 15 feet high in some places. The run out was about a half-mile in length. (Marc Fortier)

Mindless pedestrian rant

2007-04-26T19:32:00.000-07:00

Taking the Burke Gilman trail to work, I often get the block by pedestrians trying to cross at the crosswalks. They stand in front of my bike and get in my way so that I have to maneuver around them when the light turns green, apparently unaware that cyclists are faster than them. Not a big problem since there is usually plenty of maneuvering room. And I am partly to blame since I don't like positioning my bike right at the edge of the street given how easy it would be to accidentally slide into traffic.
But tonight the Montlake Bridge was up. I placed myself just behind the cyclist in front of me who was right at the gate. Beyond the gate is a hundred yards of narrow sidewalk on the bridge, on which it is often difficult to pass people who don't keep to one side. While the bridge was up, pedestrians gathered around me. I was ready to bolt when the gate opened again, but two of them moved right in front of me, including a woman blabbing on her cel who seemed to be unable to determine that the cyclist who was in front of her 1 second ago will be catching up to her in 1 second. They walked abreast, blocking my way, for some time before I was able to weave between them.
When you know a cyclist is going to smoke you in 2 seconds, why do you bother pushing your way in front of them? Are you really that clueless to your surroundings?
I suspect these are the same folks that talk non-stop on their cel phones or putting on makeup while driving, in their own little bubble and completely unaware of what's going on around them.
I need to start carrying a "pedestrian beatdown stick"!

Schnabelkase

2007-04-24T15:13:00.000-07:00

We saw these guys dressed in crazy clothes filming some stuff on the moraine in the Asulkan Valley at Rogers Pass. Back at the parking lot, they had a run down van that had "http://schnabelka.se" written on it. They told us it was a "swedish website". You can read a bit about the adventures of the "powder puff boys" here: Schnabelkase.

They also have a blog, where the March 31st entry talks about a first descent one of the guys did in the Rockies. Except it was actually a second descent. The first descent on AT gear though.

Too little snow, too much time

2007-04-23T12:20:00.000-07:00

A ski down the south side of Mt Buckhorn (6988ft)

There was some powder around, but we didn't ski it (in exchange for a summit).

The Olympic rainshadow was not in effect Saturday.

Royal Basin

2007-04-15T23:05:00.000-07:00

Ski descent of Mt Deception, 2nd highest peak in the Olympics.

Yowsa

2007-04-14T09:21:00.000-07:00

Cool/pics and story here by some sledheads skiing a big peak in the Coast Mtns.

It's not about double pole plants

2007-04-10T00:24:00.000-07:00

Le col du Roger

2007-04-03T01:26:00.000-07:00

On the 28th, Sam, Lori, Greg, Bill and I headed to Saphire Col near Rogers Pass. It was a gorgeous bluebird day, perfect temperatures. Just a fantastic day to be up in the mountains. All photos by Sam A.
Some happy people.

Who's that ripper!?

Lori, Phil and Bill at the edge of a crevasse. "Are you sure it doesn't go!?"

Glacier and mountains.

View down the backside of Saphire Col...

It's my blog, so I can put as many photos of me as I want. One day I will learn how to land with skis parallel to the snow.

Fall down go boom

2007-04-03T01:11:00.000-07:00

This nice smooth track (photo by Bob) was made by a car-sized block from a cornice from the ridge-top in the background. Word was that folks hadn't seen blocks so far down the bowl before, nor the cornice crack so far from the edge.

This photo of Sam's is completely unrelated, but was nice.

This is probably the last of the Chatter posts, but I should pound one out for Rogers Pass.

Chatter primetime

2007-04-03T00:51:00.000-07:00

This is Hozz (sp?), who hangs out around the lodge and jumps for snowballs. He almost came touring with us one day (between end of cat skiing and start of hot tub, we would often hike for a run to get some exercise).
The late afternoons were also filled with demonstrations of mechanical prowess in the cut block next to the lodge. But no one got any photos of that, so here's another one of me skiing
But it wasn't all glory shots...

Hello Kitty

2007-04-03T00:34:00.000-07:00

More of Sam's great photos...
Go kitty! This was just before the last run of the trip.
And this was just after :-)
Drunk people collage.

Blah blah2

2007-04-03T00:25:00.000-07:00

This was the most frustrating jump, you totally couldn't see it or the ground from above. Vinnie makes the best of it.
See Kner Rhee. I dunno if it was this bowl or the next one over - but the next day, we witnessed an avalanche come running down from across the valley, apparently across the cat track, from a cornice collapse.
Here I didn't get my gun out fast enough, and am being thrown to the ground by the impact of bullets from the bad guy's gun. All while waiting for the cat to come around.
Morning hike.
These are all Sam's photos. Thanks Sam.

Blah blah blah

2007-04-03T00:15:00.000-07:00

Day 3 was like Day 2, which was like Day 4. Sunshine, powder, blah blah blah.

There's a new sheriff in town

2007-04-02T23:48:00.000-07:00

Dillon the photographer skied with us on the 25th. In addition to being a really nice guy, he did a great job, especially considering the previous day was his first day on the job, and first time on skis in ~8 years (normally a snowboarder).

"Try to keep your skis on the ground this time!" -Andrew P.

I really can't figure out blogger's photolayout crap... it sucks!

Well anyway, here's a picture of another cat, and us at the bottom of the Vertebrae Glacier run, looking back up at something.

Skiing in the Cascades

2007-04-02T23:30:00.000-07:00

March 24

I don't recall much from this day. It was snowing wet and heavy. 30cm overnight, another 20cm during the day, snow level possibly rising to 2000m, "but it's a little colder up here" (lodge is at 1600m). Not many pictures were taken, so here is one of Bill on a later day, planning what to do with his death cookie.

We skied a lot of sticky snow in the trees, and it was actually really fun - just like home. Once we started setting off avalanches in the trees, we moved to a lower elevation, lower angle, burned over area. It was also fun, I wish more pictures had been taken.

The snow level ended up rising to about 1700m.

I overheard someone in one of the groups (from Calgary) say that was the heaviest snow they had ever skied in their life. Wha!?

Kickin' it and a new toque

2007-04-02T23:13:00.000-07:00

Am I more excited about the sunshine and powder, or the new toque?

Greg, Bill and I showed up at Kicking Horse Resort on the late morning of the 23rd, and bought single ride lift rickets. We ran into Vinnie and the rest of the crew at the bottom, but parted ways again at the top.

We skied 500ft down the back side and skinned back up. Then we climbed over a peak, and up alongside a permanently closed area that they were currently bombing (exciting! explosions going off nearby!). We skied a semi-tracked couloir down an imposing face - the only easy way down. After all was said and done, it was 2pm. Still one hour before we had to be at the airport, and so I went and bought a new hat downtown.

Shortly before 3pm we arrived at the airport, only to find out everything had been moved up an hour due to impending bad weather. So we were an hour late. Oops. Bill, Greg and I watched a DVD of helicopter safety in a corner, while the other good people finished up outside. Being last, we were of course on the last flight. When it took off, the weather looked like this:

And only got worse. We landed short of the lodge, and had to take a cat for half an hour to get there. But then I had my beer. And dinner. And I had a nice new hat.

It's better over there...

2007-03-30T23:52:00.000-07:00

Well I don't know if cat skiing is what it's all about, but certainly skiing in the high alpine in the BC Rockies and Selkirks is.

Day 1: a one ride lift ticket at Kicking Horse, and a little touring up there before catching the flight to Chatter, which is running an hour early due to an impending storm. The chopper can't fly all the way due to the weather, so it lands near enormous piles of avy debris, and we take a half hour cat ride to get to the lodge.
Day 2: The snow at Chatter is classic "Cascade Glonch". At the bottom of one of our runs it's even raining. Everywhere else (as high as we can get), it's thick mank. It snowed 40cm overnight and is dumping heavily and even the steep treed runs are sliding. Andrew (our guide) says they might "call it" - but we manage to find safe terrain and ski a full day.
Day 3-5: Ah, there we go. The snow dries out overnight, and everything above the rain line (300 ft above the lodge) is dry powder again. It's hard to believe that actually happens, since it never happens in the Cascades. But seeing is believing. The weather clears and we are treated to three fantastic mostly blue-bird days.
Day 6: Back from Chatter, 5 of us stay at the terrible Rogers Pass Best Western, and tour up to Saphire Col on an absolutely gorgeous day. Who says it has to be all steeps? I kind of like these 3000ft rolling runs down glaciers with amazing views. Tons of folks out on this Wednesday.
Day 7: 3 of us left now - we aim for the Forever Young couloir, but the winds have kicked up and there are big streamers coming off the ridgelines. Yesterday's powder is now a mixed bag of powder and windcrust. Wednesday's tracks are gone. Forever Young has almost continuous wind drift filling it. We settle for another long glacier run from near Youngs Peak, with a couple of nice steep sluffy pitches.
Day 8: the drive back to soggy foggy puget sound.

Now I need to find out how I can move to the BC interior and support myself (only half-joking...)

Sinister Spring Escape

2007-03-29T14:38:00.000-07:00

Lefty has it dialed this week. It probably is all about cat skiing powder at Chatter Creek while suckaz are stuck in western Washington offices on some of the first brilliant days of spring.

EFFYOO!!!

Worthy effort

2007-03-19T22:07:00.000-07:00

Toasted with potato chips!

It's Not Aboot Skiing a New Route.

2007-03-19T12:36:00.000-07:00

Twice in the last week, I've attempted big ski descents. Both times I've been denied, for various reasons. Nevertheless, these days of Herculean effort were spent with good friends and offered very rewarding skiing and scenery. It's nice to "send," but really that's just the icing on the cake.

Is it the internet?

2007-03-13T12:45:00.000-07:00

This great lyric by Kool Keith summarizes why websites are not the answer:

Forget the internet.
A website? That's no way to step right.
I ain't sitting by no computer.
I'm going to Bermuda.

~~Bermuda~~ Skiing is what it's all about. But for those of us who haven't found a way to ski every day, sometimes having a website where we can revisit our best times in the hills is what it's all about.

The epic week.

2007-03-11T19:12:00.000-07:00

An example of what it might be all about was the week of February 24th to March 2nd.

Indeed, it was so epic, that this past Saturday March 10th whenever I referred to "last Thursday", I of course meant Thursday March 1st, and not March 8th. It's like March 8th didn't even exist when taken in context with that week (apologies to March 8th - I'm sure you had some redeeming qualities)

Somewhere in that week, I had my deepest day of lift skiing ever. Maybe not what it's all about, but damn good anyway.

As always, safety equipment is essential, as this photo demonstrates.

Looking good...

2007-03-10T20:19:00.000-08:00

Is that what it's all about?

March 10, "McClellum Butte"

2007-03-10T19:07:00.001-08:00

...as it is so spelled in one prominent local guidebook.

What it's all about: sneaking in a 2000ft couloir on the morning before a pineapple express hits.