telemarker

I agree. Nice trip! Adam and I chatted with Greg for a bit before we continued on. Geeze, Stuart was skied out over the weekend, eh?

And the ticks?

If a climber's objective is Cocaine Crack, then why isn't he/she climbing The Arch and Forking Crack to get there? That's such a fun link-up, and makes for a nice after-work jaunt.

Wow. So, we saw a HUGE slide near the bottom of the Cascadian. You're saying that was set off from your turns down the false summit. Damn! That must have made quite a racket. The debris made an interesting pattern in the runout. We took a few photos... Nice job on your descent! I'm jealous.

Trip: Mt. Stuart Circumnavigation - Date: 4/14/2008 Trip Report: I am blessed with a bad memory. It has allowed me to partake of some excellent ski tours this year, most of which have been guarded by mind-numbing road slogs. Yesterday's tour was no different. My friend Adam and I mulled a couple options over and finally decided on a circumnavigation of Mt. Stuart by way of the Sherpa Glacier, and out through Stuart Lake. We started walking from the bridge creek C.G. by 4am. There now is roughly two miles of dry road to hike before you encounter consistent snow for skinning. The forecast was for some weather to be moving in, but we encountered mild temps and cloudless skies. Familiar shot of Stuart We reached mountaineer's basin by 9am, aided by multiple skin tracks to the basin. We spotted Sky and Co's turns coming down from the morain below the ICG. The snow up the Sherpa was variable, from refrozen corn to styro-powder up high. We were able to skin up to the schrund, then from there boot it to the top. The views weren't that bad either. Looking down valley to the Icicle Eight Mile Mountain Adam booting near the top. Adam is an endurance freak, and he broke trail the whole day. But hey, how can I break if I can't catch up in the first place? We emerged from the top of the Sherpa, then traversed over to the top of the Cascadian. Looking back East. The top of the couloir was glop interspersed with the previous day's rather large point-release slides. But the snow got much better the further down we skied. Forgive the tilt. We started our traverse to Stuart Pass at about the 4,000 foot level, reaching it by around 5pm. On the traverse, we crossed countless debris from recent large slides that would have made this tour suicide on Saturday. The clouds started moving in, and the wind kicked up, a welcome relief from the blazing sun and stagnant air. Adam and Ingalls Peak Stuart Pass, or above it at the summer entrance to the West face of Stuart. We ate a brief lunch, skied 300 feet into the basin, traversed and booted up to Goat Pass, eyeing an incredible slope down to Stuart Lake. We were a bit dismayed by the highmarking just below goat pass, and the highmarking in the Ingalls Lake basin area. Isn't this area off-limits to machines? Skinning over to Goat Pass. Goat Pass, checking out the descent to Stuart Lake below. The slope to Stuart Lake was consistent, the snow soft and very turnable, and we enjoyed incredible fall-line skiing all the way down to the snowed-over marsh. Adam on the deproach, Goat Pass and our descent above his left shoulder. We reached Stuart Lake in fading light, with minor bushwacking. From there, we eventually reached the Colchuck Lake turnoff, and the icy luge run down the trail back to the road. The two miles of road walking was the crux of the day for me. We hit the car by around 10.45pm, and were greeted by Adam's PBR's, both of us pretty content about the day's tour, which according to Adam's watch/altimeter was a bit over 10,000 vf day. Parting shot of Stuart

Vertigo is about the coolest damn climb out there. I followed Butter Brickle and found the huge flake to be quite hollow sounding, and the hueco climbing up higher quite fun. There is an initial step-out to the off-width that makes that clmib fun... Kyle Flick on an after-work lead of BB.

Trundle Dome was great two weeks ago, with the usual slimy start to April Mayhem.

From what I was able to gather, road end is 4 miles, then 4.5 miles to Stuart Lake. Of course, I'm veering east before the lake, but the mileage looks similar to the start of the glacier...Yes, very reasonable.

Anyone have the day off and want to get a long tour in? Leavenworth area prefered...send a PM!

Anyone know the mileage (or close approximation)from Bridge Creetk C.G. to the Sherpa Glacier? Can ya fill me in please? Thanks!

Yeah, but I don't lock my heels on the descent.

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. Near Lake Sylvester West Side of Grindstone from Lake Sylvester Tom Skinning towards Grindstone's West Face View South on the way up Looking back down to Lake Sylvester and beyond Tom near the summit. Of course, he summited long before I did. Snowgrass Mountain and Big Chiwaukum behind. Mandatory summit shots Our descent down the south face No more snow Good times! Back at Icicle Rd. with a mere 8 miles to go, on a road that we noted is uphill both ways.

Nice work! I'm sure you passed under the south gully that leads to the NE ridge, that leads to the true summit. I postholed up the thing, thigh deep. They must have been filled in. So, there are two gullys just west of the Pyramid, on the S. side. Choose the (climber's) rightmost gully, then head up left to the ridge. I climbed it about 5 years ago in the sprng with the Ellensburg "Freds", so I already knew where to go.

Trip: 8 Mile Mountain - NE Face Date: 3/9/2008 Trip Report: This was the last day for Kyle Flick to use his Mission Ridge season's pass, so we decided to ski 8 Mile Mtn. I have to agree with other posters, the b/c conditions have been outstanding so far, and it's not even spring. After touring on Mt. Cashmere earlier in the week, I obsessed a bit on 8 Mile Mtn., it's NE Face. It's appeal is obvious, compelling, irresistable. Exposed skiing above some large cliffs, preserved powder with a Northern aspect, and the best views of Stuart. We started from the car late, around 7:30am, skinning up the road but soon were passed by a local sledneck, carrying himself and Ludwig up somewhere to make some turns. We needed the exercise anyway. The views start early on this tour. Within a couple hours, we were skinning across 8 Mile Lake. The sunny, open slope up and right of Kyle was our approach to 8 Mile Mtn. It was one of those days where the skins have a fortress-like bite on the corn snow. The views started opening up very nicely, with Mt. Stuart seemingly within arm's reach right to our south. I played a bit with my camera's EV values to bring out the clouds more. Unfortunately, there's no auto camera-tilt correction. Looking back down on the lake. A few shots of the approach to the summit. Mt. Daniel Kyle skinning final bit. Booting up. Base of Rainier and the Interglacier behind him. We topped out at 2.30pm. The summit of 8 Mile Mtn. is a large, flat plateau. The light and clouds today made for softened contrast and rich details. I had a hunch the snow on the north side would be pretty good, and my hunch was correct. Kyle decided to avoid skiing above the cliffs, and chose to start lower down on where there was a better run-out. This allowed him to take a few shots of me on the upper slopes. This is a rarity that I actually get photos of me, climbing or skiing. The upper slope. Me dropping in, praying the slope doesn't rip out. The powder, a bit heavy, was solid and fun skiing. On the lower slopes. Enchantment Peak From the summmit, we skied down a drainage on the north side to 8 Mile Lake, retraced our skin track across the lake, and were back at the car by 4.30pm for a full day in an incredible location.

Excellent! I can sense your bliss! Nice work. But no photo of the cannon??

Thanks! I was tossing around that idea of skinning back out to ski back down the s. side. But the snow was already turning to crap as I was skinning up, and the powder was just too damn good to stop skiing, even though I knew it too would turn crusty lower down. I just have to add that the summit on Cashmere is one of the best in the area, even better than Stuart in my opinion.

Trip: Mt. Cashmere Summit and Ski - NE Couloir Date: 3/5/2008 Trip Report: Mt. Cashmere is just massive, with many different aspects. It's the first feature I notice as I'm leaving Wenatchee, the less informed often confusing it with Mt. Stuart. The forecast was just too good to pass up Wednesday. I wanted to summit then ski something on that NE side. Wanting to beat the crowds, I started from the car at 6.30am. I followed 8 mile Rd. up to the Mt. Cashmere trailhead, booted up Pioneer Creek, and pretty much just skinned up until I had to posthole the final gully that led to the summit. I ditched the skis at an obvious col, and scrambled the last 200 feet to the summit, reaching it by 3pm. I lounged on top, not a breath of wind, enjoying a coke and 360 views. From the summit, I could see Icicle Rd. roughly 6,000 feet down via the NE basin. It looked easy enough from the summit and relatively open. Time to ski. I clicked in at the top of the steepish col, and skied 150 feet down to the top of the NE couloir. I took the mandatory couple of cautious turns at the top waiting for the shooting fracture below my skis, but not today. The turns were dreamy powder, about shin deep down the couloir, and for another 3,000 down the basin. The last 3,000 feet was survival skiing on sun-baked crust, cliff end-runs, and an endless traverse back to 8 mile Rd, reaching the car by 5.30pm. I must have hit it just right, because I didn't see another soul up there. The Route Mt. Stuart and Co. with Annoying Smudge on Lense Rainier Black Pyramid below Cashmere's Summit Looking South from the Col Glacier Peak from Summit Looking Down the Couloir. The horizontal white line in the top left of the photo is Icicle Rd. Looking Back Up

The south side Icicle routes dry out so fast up high. Photo on bathtub dome and condor buttress on 2-22-04

Incredible terrain, nice work! Love the photo contrasting the dry valley with the snowy ridge. Great TR and more photos on cascadecrusades.

Ski season is just starting....

I have Tuesday the 26th off. Forecast looks great, freezing level looks to be around 10,000 feet, corn snow conditions. If by chance you have the day off, and want to tour somewhere, send me a PM, or call 509 699 9810.

Sorry for the dumb question, but...are those screws or rods in your neck?

Okay, here is important information (that we did not have prior to our tour) that needs posting from local Andy Dappen of Wenatcheeoutdoors.org, for future reference. Mr. Dappen encouraged me to paste his response to this TR: Cool trip. Nice pics, too. A note of caution about where you ski in the foothills, and especially about what you publicize: Some of our open spaces in the Wenatchee foothills (and some with very tempting ski lines) don't have legal public access. The Castle Rock area you feature in your TR is one of these. Some of our foothills areas also have winter closures (this applies to the Sage Hills area). Regarding the Castle Rock /Chopper area that you feature, if you know the landowners you can get permission to visit the parcel. Indiscriminate public use of the area, however, could jeopardise future public access. Currently the Land Trust is very close to cracking the nut with one landowner who owns property at the base of Castle Rock allowing access to the area, as well as with the landowner who actually owns all the open space you feature...so it's quite likely we'll have legal access to the area in the future. However, this is an inopportune time to promote non-authorized skiing here. Likewise, encouraging use of the Sage Hills area when the PUD has it closed for the winter (it's managed as mule deer wintering grounds) is not recommended. Even with Castle Rock and Sage Hills out of the picture--there are plenty of legal options for skiing in the Wenatchee foothills around the Saddle Rock and Dry Gulch (Asamera mine area). You can also drive about 1.5 miles up Canyon Number 2 (just past the Gun Club) and ski some north-facing lines on the opposite side of the canyon from the Gun Club (there is a parcel of public land here). Or you can drive two miles up Number 2 Canyon and access the 'One-Two Divide' and yoyo various north-facing slopes as you tour up toward Twin Peaks ( access info to the One-Two divide is in the WenatcheeOutdoors 'Snowshoeing'--you'll have to hike up to the divide because you're obtaining the divide itself on S-facing slopes). Or you can drive 4.5 miles up Number Two Canyon Road until the end of pavement and access plenty of foothills skiing on various flanks of Twin Peaks (lots of Forest Service land up here). Andy

Funny....actually, the coverage consisted of about 8 inches of unconsolidated powder over about a foot of crust over bedrock and grass. We skied some (very) isolated spots of pillowed snow of about two to three feet. The avy danger Sunday for the Cascades was possible suffocation from stepping off a trail, shoulder to head deep unconsolidated snow. Don't think we had that danger here...

Trip: Turns Above Wenatchee - Castle Rock and Saddle Rock Linkup Date: 2/3/2008 Trip Report: Travis Hammond, Mike Toigo and myself considered the avy conditions and decided to ski local. It's rare that Wenatchee gets enough coverage for quality turns, but it does happen. Wenatcheeoutdoors.org has documented the skiing to be had around town. #'s 1 and 2 Canyons both offer good skiing, if you're not too squeamish about a few core shots. We decided on Mt. Wenatchee, so named because we just wanted to name the hill. The approach is off 5th street and Western, by a huge water tank. We were able to park in a cul-de-sac right below Castle Rock without any problem, though I anticipate this won't last too long considering the rapid development in the area. Overview of the route We traversed (booted) around the pointy knoll behind Castle Rock on great coverage, and followed the ridge up to the top of the bowl in about 50 minutes of hiking. Mike at the saddle overlooking Wenatchee Trav and Mike on top, looking north. Me, looking back southeast over Wenatchee Trav and I skied the bowl, hitting the occasional rock, but overall there was great coverage for at least 800 feet. There was a nice natural halfpipe that had pillowed snow. I had to take a couple laps on that one. The descent, with the pillowed snow on the left. From there, we skied down the knoll behind Castle Rock. I chose a line that was north facing and had to jump the barbed wire fence halfway down. But it provided the best skiing of the day. Trav and Mike decided to call it a day, but I had energy to burn, so I chose to head up to Saddle Rock and farm a few turns up there. The coverage was EXCELLENT in most areas, great turns, with the powder turning heavy quickly as the temps increased. I took 8 laps on the knoll, and had a final 500 foot run down to the car. A few photos of the fun: So, sure, there's a lot of burly skiing to do out there in the Cascades. But it's great to think we can drive 1/2 mile to some unique skiing. It's been a great winter so far.