JoshK

Great recap of an awesome winter season! Here is to a good Spring and Summer. Best of luck with school.

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing about the color choice. Not sure what they were thinking with that. I suppose it would be bright inside.

So people disagreeing with you is spray? The majority of the replies were on topic, people just didn't agree with you. If you are that sensitive, perhaps don't start a thread stating your opinion? Just a thought...

I look forward to doing fuck all and failing miserably with you this summer. I am excellent at both. that's b/c you never forget the plan B essentials Nothing soothes the sting of failure quite like a large quantity of cheap wine packaged in an environmentally destructive box and a spirit. We must find another mounty-inhabited dog route to saunter up wearing an alpine bandoleer and boombox. It's important to provide them with plenty of "what not to do" teaching aids.

I look forward to doing fuck all and failing miserably with you this summer. I am excellent at both.

A really long axe is also a royal PiTA sticking off the top of your pack when you are in the middle of a bushwhack. I wish I was kidding, but the reality is that is actually a concern. Whippets are awesome. I've carried one plenty of times on trips where I may or may not even use an axe since I'll have poles anyway. I've lost track of the number of times I've used a whippet to hook a tree while skinning up through some absurdly steep forest. Perfect for pulling up Dynafit levers too. An all around great multi-purpose tool.

The lifetime of a rope. Ice climbing rope --> glacier slogging rope--> canyoneering rope --> S&M tiedown rope --> rope floormat.

Thanks for brining this to light again, I will add a comment in support. I'm all for environmental protection in most every case, but this is getting ridiculous. Sure, I enjoy the solitude back there since the road was washed out, but it isn't worth the trade-off in how difficult it makes doing things in there, most notably the Ptarmigan Traverse.

Another vote for Sin Dawg. The stuff is flat out amazing. If you haven't tried it, you *will* thank him later.

Answer 2: Because Bellevue likely embodies everything about the target market for FA gear and RMI clientele. Yup. That would be my take as well.

Occupy Bellevue, with heavy tents.

It's called being female.

Assuming you have a car (or access to one), try to make it up to the North Cascades of Washington while you are out here. It's a long drive from OR, but they are definitely the alpine jewel of the lower-48 and you won't be sorry.

Dan, yours is the aluminum one. The Ti version features a thinner "cozy" that doesn't have the color-changing heat gauge, which I see in the picture of yours. Blake, the orange plastic on mine slightly melted and deformed as well, but thankfully not enough that it won't fit in the pot. It definitely seems like a stove that you have to excercise some caution with. Sig, to your question, I definitely found the Sumo more user-friendly when melting large amounts of snow for water. I do melt snow in the smaller one, but it obviously takes a lot more user input to continuously be adding snow and emptying the small cup. For now, since Spring is finally here, I'm sticking to the smaller cup. Next winter I may look at getting an MSR reactor (or whatever the latest and greatest is) for large scale snow melting instead of replacing the Sumo I returned.

Snickers hold up well in the heat...because they use hydrogenated oils. Even when you are in the backcountry burning tons of calories, this stuff is just plain bad for you. It's amazing to me they can even put it in food legally; Europe has banned its use for good reason. I like bringing lots of chocolates and sweets (I have a bad sweet tooth) but avoid anything with hydrogenated oils. I do plenty of stuff that isn't good for me, so I figure staying away from that is one sacrifice I can make. For energy density, Halvah bars are quite dense. I'm sure sources like "optimum sports nutrition" offer good advice if you are trying to set PRs or push yourself to the absolute max but on the vast majority of trips I'd rather be eating stuff that I enjoy and find work for me, personally. Some people seem to think that eating is only the means to an end, I'd like to think it as a life-affirming and enjoyable experience, and that extends to the mountains. Good story about the white gas in the granola, that must have been awful. This is why I "just say no" to somebody else packing my or group food; I'd rather be the one responsible for making myself sick.

Agreed that the 30m option is popular when ski mountaineering. You also need to evaluate the type of glacier climb you will be doing, as Kurt alluded to. There is a big difference between walking a heavily broken and steep glacier in September and skiing a lower angle, well bridged and infrequently crevassed glacier in May. The discussion in this thread, and the list of options presented, are all viable in different circumstances. Perhaps start with a rope that you find most comfortable using for what you first plan on tackling, and you can add additional rope options to your collection as you gain experience and have new goals.

Some summer skiing, some rock climbing, some alpine, some long solo backpacking, taking lots of photos, in the Cascades or road trips if it works out. Hell, I don't really care what, just as long as I'm not sitting around in Seattle.

Agreed. Also a half rope, in my experience, is more durable than a skinny single rope. The skinny single rope achieves its weight savings largely at the expense of sheath durability. 50 meters is a great all around length. Good for technical climbing, plenty long for glacier travel. Look for something 8-9 mm X 50 m and you should be good to go. My preference is the Edelweiss 8.5mm Sharp Everdry. Not cheap, but a great rope. Another vote for 50m for an all-around glacier rope. That's still long enough if you want to climb with a 4-person team or need to do an occasional short rap. A 30m is nice to add to your gear collection later for just travelling with one other person and you aren't expecting to rap much. Also agree on a half rope for glacier travel rather than a skinny single. For glacier use you won't really need to worry about the leader taking a high fall factor whipper, or if you do, something has probably already gone quite wrong.

Hi Bessi, I have no experience with that La Sportiva Spitfire boot, so I am only speculating here, so keep that in mind. It is a very lightweight boot with only 2 buckles. Spec says only 1065g a boot, so I imagine it would be a dream on the uphill or for climbing in. It probably won't perform quite as well on the downhill as a heavier 3 or 4 buckle boot; at least that's my guess. If you mostly ski easier terrain in forgiving conditions and tent to focus on the uphill, maybe this won't matter to you. Though if you are looking for something to give you better downhill control in steeper terrain or challenging conditions (deeper, heavier snow, crust, chopped up snow, etc.) it may help to have a bit sturdier boot. Perhaps a 3-buckle boot somewhere between the Spitfire and the 4-buckle Mobe would be a good choice. I hope that helps, and maybe somebody who has actually used the Spitfire could comment.

The most important factor in mounting Dynafits is getting the alignment of the toe and heel pieces correct. If they are off by a little bit, the boot won't engage correctly. It's pretty easy to do yourself (as shown on wildsnow, as you saw) but does require some measurement and taking your time. If a shop does it they should have a jig. Other than that, preventing them from pulling out is the same as any binding: cleaning drilled holes, not overtapped, and some epoxy before screwing in the bindings. Depending on which binding you got, the heel piece will have some fore/aft adjustment in case you switch to a boot with a slightly longer or shorter sole length. It's best to have them mount with the adjustment in the middle so you can go either way. Any shop with half a clue about Dynafits should know this.

r Another vote for the Exped Synmat UL7 if I'm carrying an inflatable pad. I couldn't stand sleeping on the NeoAirs; the sound drove me nuts. The UL7 is super comfortable and quiet. In winter I add a ridgerest or a hardman pad.

An awesome ski trip where you got to burn stuff. That's pretty much my dream vacation.

Matt, that is an interesting observation. I wonder if to some extent it has to do with skiing and winter climbing competing for the same free time in people's schedules? In an "average" winter (whatever that means now) there will be stretches where the skiing is relatively poor, so one might look for a climbing objective instead? I know for me, personally, I will generally choose skiing over winter climbing unless the conditions are poor or somebody asks me to climb specifically. In the case of this past winter, pretty much every time I was free to go do something, the ski conditions were looking good. Add on to that the lack of long stable weather periods and the fact that I can have a lot of fun skiing in a storm, but it's pretty hard to climb at all in a storm. Wayne and I touched on this when we were out a few weeks ago: we had both observed a similar trend this winter with a lack of extend "bad skiing" periods. So while I can't say it was a bad year for winter climbing, I do think it lacked long weather windows and the fact that it was a stellar ski season made it easy to choose that alternative.

Hmm, realized after posting I probably should have put this in freshiezone, not North Cascades. I can't find a way to move it so here is a link. Mods feel free to move it if it should be in here. Nooksack Traverse TR

Trip: Mt. Shuksan Nooksack Cirque - Nooksack Ski Traverse Date: 4/6/2012 Trip Report: For the disinterested, picture hungry, or ADD afflicted, feel free to skip to the pictures at the bottom. I haven't bothered to write a TR in a loooong, long time, mostly because I'm too lazy and never want to figure out the picture uploading thingamajigger either. That, and the presence of Facebook in our lives, for good or worse, has made it incredibly easy to just select some pictures, click ok and be done with it, thus recording in time immortal what we did with our past weekend when we weren't returning phone calls and emails. Thankfully, sometime during the past however-long-it-has-been, a feature was added that lets you just click pictures in your gallery and spam images in to a TR. Thanks for that! Anyway, every so often a trip comes along that begs me to write at least a few words and record its passage in internet lore for future generations. So it is with an an open eye and heart to those future generations that I fumble together these words and press this "Submit" button. The Winter of 2011-2012 has certainly been one of superlatives in the PNW. While the rest of the lower-48 has apparently suffered through a pitiful snow season, the great state of Washington has been blessed with one for the record books. Aside from a brief dry spell back in January, if I recall, it has been non-stop storms dumping copious amounts of very good quality snow. I don't remember a ski season that featured so few, and such short-lived, of the dreaded pinnaple express warm-ups. When the snow level did jump up this winter it was usually only very briefly. We weren't forced to endure those several day stretches with 6-7000 foot snow levels and constant rain. I, for one, was very happy about this. With the constant barrage of snow, I enjoyed a winter with lots of powder skiing, trips to lookouts, snowcave building and just generally bearing witness to the fury of Winter in the PNW. Of course, the one downside to all of this snow is, of course, the lack of sunshine. I was desperate for it. While I had enjoyed a sunny day or two during the winter, they were mostly those bittery cold and windy days where the sun feels as if it's putting off the heat of a 60-watt light bulb. It sure is damn pretty out, but it doesn't generally invite you to sit in a tee-shirt and enjoy the view. As the calender turned over in to April I was eager for the start of Spring touring season, at which point my entire world begins to revolve around the question of "where is the best place for me to sit in a tee-shirt and enjoy the view?" Last week the weather forecast finally began to show signs of a weather window. It was time to leave the comfort of the lookouts and strike out in to the alpine, though thankfully, as it turned out, we didn't have to leave the powder skiing behind. I had several days off and began to scout for ideas and partners. Pat, newly converted to the cult of Dynafit, was game for three days. Enter the Nooksack traverse. I had seen photos and read accounts from when Sky, Jason, Lowell and crew skied it years ago and had filed it in the back of my mind as a must do traverse. Having been up Ruth quite a few times, I had often stared across the valley at magnificent Jagged Ridge. I called Pat over to my house so we could discuss options. While we chatted, I noticed Jason had logged on FB messenger, so I siphoned additional beta and stoke to complete the "sales pitch" of the traverse to Pat. He was sold. I didn't even have to throw in floor mats or leather seats. Pat and I met at the Hannegan Pass turn-off from Highway 542 late Thursday night after our respective drives up from Seattle. We finalized a few gear decisions before heading to sleep. In the morning we drove up to the ski area lower parking lot. Here we met two helpful parking attends and explained that we planned on leaving a car and heading out Ruth Creek. They told us that the lower lot is locked after closing so if we wanted to guarantee we wouldn't be locked in, we'd have to leave it at the upper lot. To the upper lot we went, and as a bonus we got to ski a short run on the groomers with huge packs to start the day. This would prove to be the best skiing of the day, as the descent in to the White Salmon drainage was pretty much terrible. Heavy, crusty glop that wouldn't normally be much of a problem made for a bit of a workout with the big packs. The skin up the White Salmon was pleasant enough, with occasional snow flurries throughout the few hours it took. As I crested the ridge of the White Salmon where Fisher Chimneys tops out the clouds had descended and began to engulf me. I found some exposed rocks and huddled and melted snow while I waited and the visibility dropped to less than 30 feet. When Pat arrived we put skis on our back for the short wallow up Winnie's Slide. Thankfully this would be the only time we were off skis until 1/2 a mile from the bottom car. We skinned along the Upper Curtis Glacier and up through the wind lip of Hells Highway on to the Sulphide Glacier in a near total whiteout, hoping that the forecasted clearing was still in the works. We made camp at the divide between the Sulphide and Crystal glaciers as we couldn't see a way through the cornice separating the two in the whiteout. Depending on conditions, the BD Firstlight tent can either be a weight-saving miracle or a disaster. At 8,000 feet in the Cascades on the night of April 6, 2012, it was closer to a disaster; the BD Faillight, if you will. Condensation formed and froze to the inside of the tent instantly and the slightest movement would unleash it upon us. We were living in a green, foul-smelling snow globe and the wind played the role of a young child constantly shaking our little world. An incredible full moon rising behind the cornice and occasional breaks in the weather kept our spirits high despite the sad state of our immediate physical surroundings. Thankfully, the next morning dawned beautiful and sunny, with only the occasional clouds obscuring the peaks surrounding us. I had fully planned on going up the summit pyramid, but the experience of the previous night's tent microclimate instead put us to work drying out gear so we could continue on the traverse. We watched a party of three traverse from the north shoulder over to the summit pyramid as we exploded our gear everywhere to dry it. With gear dry and bodies warmed we worked over to the East Nooksack Glacier headwall. At first it looked as if an overhanging cornice ran the entire length of the headwall. With the amount of snow this year and it only being early April, it wouldn't have surprised me. Thankfully a few moments of scouting around led me to a small section that was steep, but not overhung, and wouldn't require any downclimbing. A few turns down the headwall and over the large but well bridged 'schrund led on to the East Nooksack Glacier proper. Snow on the headwall and the glacier was excellent; nice settled powder that had little sun effect. The long downhill traverse along the upper shelf of the East Nooksack is breathtaking. Jagged Ridge towers above you the entire time, advocating that you keep moving lest he lose his patience and chuck something down in your general direction. Several large serac fields have to be navigated, but thankfully passage was easy enough at this time of year. In order to minimize the time spent under the watchful eye of Jagged Ridge we kept on a downward track as far out as possible, eventually switching to skins at 4800 feet. It seemed a few extra hundred feet of uphill skinning was a worthwhile price to pay for quick and safe passage. The skin up to Icy Peak is quite straightforward and the bright sunshine and light breeze kept the temperatures perfect. I was finally getting to enjoy my tee-shirt weather, now I just had to find some place to sit. With the weather forecasted to deteriorate we wanted to make it past both Icy Peak and Ruth Mountain. Thankfully the snow was incredibly cooperative in this regard. Skinning up the powder was consolidated enough to make for relatively easy trailbreaking, and the skiing down was fantastic and easy, even with large packs. We made our way up and around Icy Peak down the Spillway Glacier and towards Ruth. We put skins back on and climbed through some well covered cliff bands on the southwest side of Ruth made our way up a notch about 300 feet below Ruth's summit. Pat, in an effort to maximize sun-chilling time skied down from here. I continued the last few hundred feet to Ruth's summit to snap a few more photos and check the forecast. I enjoyed the familiar and enjoyable ski down Ruth in the late afternoon sun to find Pat on the shoulder relaxing in a snow chair. I dug a chair and enjoyed the sun before it passed below Nooksack Ridge. With no need to hurry we watched the sun set and the stars come out before finally digging a small platform for the tent. Only 24 hours later and a few thousand feet lower the Firstlight performed wonderfully and made me love it again. It's a finicky tent for sure. We slept in late with only the grind out Ruth Creek and the road remaining for the next day. Ruth Creek is very well filled in and it was pretty easy going on skis all of the way to the road. The scale of the avalanche destruction in this valley is a sight to behold. Massive fans cover the valley from both sides in several places and the bigger ones look to be 100+ feet deep in places. The upper stretch of the road is also covered by several large avalanche paths, so I imagine it will be some time before it melts out all the way to the trailhead. At least one swath dumped lots of debris and trees over the road as well. When I reached the bridge a few hundred yards before the parking lot, Shuksan was bathed in late afternoon light, rising above the river. I took a few final photos of this truly magnificent mountain we are lucky to live near. At the parking lot I recognized a familiar truck with skis, boots and pack sitting outside of it. I called out "Hey, Dan! You in there?" and sure, enough, the man himself emerged. Dan offered me a beer, a very welcome treat, and I described the tour, showed him some photos and we discussed all matters Shuksan. Ending a grand Shuksan ski tour with a chance encounter with Mr. Shuksan himself was a great way to top off the trip. It's been a great Winter, and here is to hoping for an equally great Spring, with plenty more tee-shirt lounging days ahead. Enough with the words, here are the pictures: Gear Notes: Standard ski touring gear, axe, crampons (didn't use), ski crampons (did use once), camera, alpine boombox, recreational stuff. Use BD Firstlight for weather inside of your tent as unpredictable as the weather outisde! Approach Notes: White Salmon Creek is very filled in right now.