crazy_t

Climb: Tatoosh Skiing Sunday 4-30- Date of Climb: 4/30/2006 Trip Report: Had a nice session this morning in the Tatoosh Range, with a few short laps. It was nice to get out, enjoyed sun, some corn, and good company. Snow was kind of what I expected: last weeks melt/freeze had done a lot to consolidate the snowpack overall, especially the upper bit. Generraly we found a 4-6" "layer" of thicker consolidated snow on top that supported corn skiing w/o punching through in most areas. Below that, generally a deeper layer 1'+ of unconsolidated, wetter snow. Overall the snowpack is nice and deep. Saturday added a little fresh, maybe 1-2", that looked to have seen some wind, The effect today and tomorrow was that it filled in a lot of the incongruities in the surface and will make for a smoother ski on top in the next couple of days. The road to the skin up is maintained and dry though closed just above the Narada Falls turnout. We didn't start up until 8:30 or so on snow, and with Sunday AM's sun and temps the lower stuff E aspects was already done. Higher of course thing were more solid, and good skiing was had above 5500' (we generally skied N facing slopes, adjusting towards or away from E aspects where it made for better turns) until we left for the road at 1pm. Below 5000' at that time lower stuff was pretty funky. The session seemed to be a balance between trying to find slopes that weren't too hard/rattly, while also not wanting to go too far the other way, where it felt like if it got too soft we'd auger through the top thicker layer. If we get the anticipated weather this week (sun then cool at night), it should really help with the big picture of consolidating the pack. Saw some nice sized cornice falls off of the peaks, some of which had propagated larger wet slides, so hopefully more of that will get cleared out this week too. A nice time, quick in and out, and Rainier was definitely looking very sweet conditions-wise. Looking forward to more turns this spring.

I'm planning to head up to Paradise/Tatoosh tomorrow, sunday april 30th. Was wondering if anyone was up there, and if so how did you find the conditions. Thanks in advance, and I'll post a mini conditions report after I get back.

I moved here after 10 yrs in CO including seasons in the Butte and Aspen. It's different, can't say better or worse. The weather here is definitely funkier, but on the plus side that's why there are glaciers here- a lot of snow. NW positives: Here we tend to get more snow over the year, and due to the amount and higher water content, there tends to be a lot more skiable BC terrain (you can ski stuff you wouldn't think of doing mid-season most Colorado winters: steeper etc) The snow here sticks to things too: trees, rocks etc. making for interesting terrain and safer drops. Check out some of the trip reports on this site for some pics of some very sweet and steep descents made here this winter, stuff you'd only be skiing in CO during corn season generally. On the down side: we are lower elevation (although the alpine here starts a lot lower, you'll be surprised) so subject to warmer, wetter conditions. A lot less "easy" road access (think Loveland Pass, Berthoud, etc in winter and RMNP, Independence Pass etc in summer). More work getting in in winter in general, starting sometimes in heavy stuff. Lift accessed BC here is pretty good, including Alpental which is only 45 mins or so from Seattle. One big bonus here: Whistler/Blackcomb. Awesome area, huge BC accessed easily by lifts and higher than most areas here, so gets generally better snow. 4 1/2 hours from Seattle by car, and B.Columbia is a lot of fun. My first year here we had a record snow year; almost 100' of fresh recorded at Mount Baker resort. I only skied 30 days during the season but averaged 1 1/2' fresh each of those days! Last year (2004/5) we had a shite season. Usually it's pretty good here, with lots of large dumps, and less of the rat-race vibe on a powder day that you can sometimes get in CO. Mid-week here is generally reliably slow at the areas and in the BC, unlike in CO where the destination resort reality and workers with more flexible schedules gets people out regardless of the day, especially during a good snow cycle. Summer time there's great skiing on glaciers with better weather. So, in all, it's different. I miss Colorado for the weather, the high peaks and awesome access, but the glaciers here are pretty special and the more stable, deep snowpack with lots of dumps makes it sweet here too. Get a copy of Martin Volken's book "Backcountry Skiing Snoqualmie Pass" for a good look at a local area, with tasty tours and good local information. They should have it at Neptune's if you just wanted to browse it. Hope this all helps. I'm going skiing tomorrow in the BC here, should be pretty good.

Nice job, man. Pictures are sweet too! Lots of fun ahead of you...

Cool "TR", brought me back. Like you say that is nice rock, though real short, a little jewel in the huge city. I spied rock and chalk a couple of years ago there, and then last year there for a wedding I brought shoes and an ipod and "the trinity (lighter, .., ..)" and while my wife hit the major stores I had some fun, then slipped back into the action with a smile. What a city, amazing.

West Seattle is pretty sweet. Slower paced, a bit of a community vibe, easy access for your needs. 10-20 minutes to belltown depending, 20 min or so to airport. And we have the Beveridge Place Pub...

back to the goods- the Taco Bus "Rincon" in white center, hands down. 16th ave and sw 116th? epic. one of the best places in town for any food at any price. get the tacos al pastor, 4 for $4. I was in Mexico 3 weeks this fall and ate all kinds of food there from street food to fine, and the bus measured up to the best. Part of my "holy trinity" of the bus, jones barbeque MLK and Salumi. Guayamas white center is also solid, and second the la carta de oaxaca in ballard votes.

You should talk to Armando (cubaclimbing.com). He's a really nice guy and is into supporting exchange and developing climbing there. I'd ask him for some local contacts.

so, monkey fuckers, if some dude sent you(another guy) an email like this then you wouldn't find it the least bit patronizing? If that showed up in my inbox I'd throw you in a fucking lake. crazyt, you sound so deep and sensitive when you use the word "relationship". Who would you rather do...Jake or Heath? Someday your balls may drop...keep the faith! Are you fucking kidding me? Funny stuff.

That must have been a great day. Soloing for me was always the most rewarding, such a deep experience with yourself and the natural energies. Good for you to step into that space and that challenge! It sounds like you were prepared for it, and it was part of your progression and deepening relationship with the mountain. Cheers to you!

a friend used to call it "Life Mart"

Liquor Mart )

Have you climbed in Eldo? The South Platte? April you can sometimes get the epic front range dumps (once every year or 2), but usually if that happens it snows hard for a day or two then melts off quickly. Otherwise it's in great shape those months. If you haven't climbed Eldo, you should. It's metamorphosed sandstone, but doesn't feel or climb like "sandstone". I have Rossiter's Eldo book you could borrow and could give you recomendations, beta etc. The South Platte is also awesome. Granite, cracks and faces, clean, not too many people, lots of crags, towers. Both beautiful areas with lots of amazing quality short + long trad routes. But maybe you already know this...

has anybody been in to colchuck lake this week? or recently?

does anyone know how far you can get up the road to the Colchuck lake th?

Cannon sounds interesting. Any more info on it? I'm checking online..

I'm really, really feeling it this week too. City + grey, + rain, + lack of outdoor adventure, kind of a downhill spiral for me. I know other people are fine with it, but it's hard. I used to go to SA a couple of times per winter but with a 1 year old that's over for now. Buy a ticket to San Diego for a weekend, gives you something to look forward to and the sun and temps will help. Superfoods too to keep immunity, energy etc. up. Good luck ), you'll get through it. For me it's a question of do I want to endure this every year? Making a long-term plan might be part of this year's solution.

good idea, but a bit long with our schedules including driving.

A note, each of us has plenty of technical experience but due to all the snow are looking for a couple of long days that are safe and straightforward and will focus on a steady aerobic workout (but are a bit more interesting than a "hike").

At Snoqualmie? If yes, I'm not against recommendations up there if anyone has recent beta on conditions.

Hi, I'm planning to hike in and camp somewhere in the Steven's Pass/Leavenworth area tomorrow and friday and wondered if anyone had any suggestions or had been up in these areas this week. Our plan is to hike in (snowshoes, unfortunately) tomorrow am, ideally for 3-4 hours and set up a camp, then have the option to do a short tour that day, then a longer one with maybe a summit Friday, and be able to get back to the cars at a reasonable hour. It would be great to gain 5000' from trailhead to highpoint. The main goal is a good workout; a couple of big days w/ nice ambience vs. something technical, though a rope and axe could be used. My other concern is the snow- has it set up in the last few days, or are we looking at epic slogging? Thanks for any suggestions!

So, you remember Ernie and Bert from Sesame Street? Bert asked Ernie "Ernie, do you want to get some ice cream?" What did Ernie say? "Sure Bert"

Have you guys ever spent time in Pittsburgh? It's a tough place to be a climber, but actually a great town. The people there are really friendly, warm. There's a real community feeling there, something lacking in a lot of cities (hint?). And if you like bar type food, it is like Mecca. Primanti's, the O, the Strip,... A lot of midwest cities may blow, but the Burgh definitely isn't one of them. As far as football and sports fans, they blow Seattle away. It was a tough game to watch, since it was generally poorly played. If both teams had brought their A game, that would have been great. I feel that Seattle as a team and organization was shaky, as it was their first trip there. Pittsburgh played poorly too, but made less mistakes. To blame the loss on bad calls is simply an error. Seattle shot themselves in the foot too many other ways to leave it at that. They robbed themselves (how about letting the clock burn at the end of the 1/2??). But they also gained valuable experience. I hope they have a great year next year. Coming from the east coast, as a Bruins and Red Sox fan, I was always put off by the weakness of Seattle fans. But seeing the stadium rock for the division championship game was something wholly different than I have witnessed in Seattle. This season, Seattle grew as a sports town, and the fans realized their power. Good luck next year!

Two snowboarders are in a car. Who's driving? The police.

Hey, it's a Mountaineers Book. Whadda ya expect? As stated, it's clear that these people (this "bumbly segment") has A LOT of extra money to spend. And to boot, they have no interest in ultimately climbing larger or harder routes, they are simply a scourge subset of the population who wants to project 5.1s for decades at a time. Someone stop them, or at least put them to shame! No one here has used a Mountaineers guidebook. One of the Beckeys guides, one of Nelson's? Of course not!