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[TR] Grindstone Mountain - West face ascent, S. Face Ski 3/22/2008


telemarker

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Trip: Grindstone Mountain - West face ascent, S. Face Ski

 

Date: 3/22/2008

 

Trip Report:

For my friends and I, we've been pretty lucky in setting our skiing objectives this winter and spring, and actually achieving them.

 

This time around, it was Grindstone Mountain, on the south end of the Chiwaukum Range above Icicle Rd. I had spied the South Face of Grindstone earlier in the winter, and have been wanting to ski it ever since. However, the 9 mile road skin on Icicle Rd., just to get to the base of the ascent route, has deterred me somewhat in actually attempting to get up there. I'm not fortunate enough to have a machine to haul my ass around.

 

So, the next closest thing to a machine is the human lung, Tom Janisch. He never passes on a character-building slog. We skinned up and set out from the car around 5:45am. We covered the 9 miles just under three hours, then started skinning up the the drainage that leads to Lake Sylvester, and the west face of Grindstone Mtn. We skinned, then ultimately booted up the final 300 feet or so to the summit, reaching it by 2pm. We were looking at a hopeful 5,000 feet of vertical skiing back to Icicle Rd., down south facing Boggy Creek, trying in vain to convince ourselves that there was coverage all the way to the road.

 

The views, as you might imagine were outstanding today. North to Snowgrass Mountain and Big Chiwaukum and beyond, and south to Mt.Stuart and Mt. Rainier, to east to Big Slide and Jay Peak.

 

The South face of Grindstone looked to be filled in nicely with none other than powder. We dropped in, making sun-warmed powder turns for the first 2,000 feet, in late March! As we dropped the next 1,500 feet, the snow quikly turned to just melted corn, like the top 2 inches making for effortless hero turns towards the steepening ravine. The last 1,500 feet or so was hell, with the snow melted out, thick trees and of course, slide alder.

 

Here, I made a turn, fell back and ripped my front binder off my ski. I was trying not to think of the 8 mile ski back to the car...

 

We reached Icicle Rd., ultimately walking down through the alder of lower Boggy Creek. We were down by 3pm, and looking for a kick 'n glide fest back to the car. Tom was gone quickly, as I ultimately was forced to skateboard on one ski for the last 5 miles, totally spent.

 

Word has it that round-trip, this tour clocks in around 23 miles.

 

Grindstone Mountain's South Face, and East Bowl.

Grindstone_South_Face_Profile.jpg

 

Near Lake Sylvester

 

At_Sylvester_Lake.jpg

 

West Side of Grindstone from Lake Sylvester

 

Grindstone_Mountain.jpg

 

Tom Skinning towards Grindstone's West Face

 

Skinning_Above_Sylvester.jpg

 

View South on the way up

 

View_South_to_Rainier.jpg

 

Mt_Stuart.jpg

 

Looking back down to Lake Sylvester and beyond

 

Sylvester_Lake_Skin_Track.jpg

 

Tom near the summit. Of course, he summited long before I did. Snowgrass Mountain and Big Chiwaukum behind.

 

Summit_Grindstone_Looking_North.jpg

 

Mandatory summit shots

 

Tom_on_Summit_Grindstone.jpg

 

John_on_Summit_Grindstone.jpg

 

Our descent down the south face

 

Tom_Skiing_Grindstone_S_Face.jpg

 

Tom_Skiing_Down_S_Face.jpg

 

No more snow

 

Snow_s_End.jpg

 

Good times!

 

Slide_Alder_Boggy_Creek.jpg

 

Back at Icicle Rd. with a mere 8 miles to go, on a road that we noted is uphill both ways.

 

Icicle_Rd_.jpg

Edited by telemarker
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