wolfs

Yeah Newton is on Cave Ridge. There's a little bit of tamer stuff at the entrance but then a LOT of rope work (which I've not done) including free drops of 70 feet plus and an awkward slimy 60 degree thing with running water. Over 500 vertical in a thousand feet of passage ... that tells you something. CaverBobs list for WA is missing other entries near the bottom, notably Gardner Cave (with the extension it's at least 2000 feet) and Windy Creek up in the Baker area. Both limestone.

Nice. I was up Bean Basin on 5/20, figuring on worsening weekend weather. When you did Iron, did you just head up the summer trail from TH? If so, about how many vertical feet til skinnable or at least skiable snow? I've thought about that approach up Iron as a way to ski down into Beverly and then over to Bills, as opposed to the long boring slog up Beverly Ck from the Beverly Bean TH. But eyeballing the Iron slope with the trail, it always seems to melt out pretty fast.

Someone didn't finish the ironing.

Well, let's treat this as a test case and see what happens ... already 3" on telemetry. If you deconstruct, they actually have two statements. 1. FORECASTERS predict cooling temps. 2. WE predict up to 10". The NWAC or NOAA don't predict microclime. Baker knows how their snow-happy microclimate reacts to particular wind angles and moisture streams better than anyone, so it's not necessarily so bald-faced CO-ish for them to predict more than the extrapolated zonal forecast. But .... the proof shall be in the telemetry eh?

Bees like in ground wasps that attack you from some nondescript hole on the approach trail type bees? If so perhaps you can clue us on the landmarks of approx spot or whether you/someone marked the spot. I was thinking of doing this trip later in the year ... and I Hate Bees. Love that scramble. It's one of the few places in the mtns where we get some lasting benefit from the greedy lumber barons of our great state logging shit to 5K.

Really neat pix! Your fish vid would be good too except that it's a pretty good test case of just how bad the youtube compression algy is. So what brand is your "I'm not a deer" t shirt? I just picked up a Cloudveil one from STP that is pretty much the brightest red anyone (deerhunter or not) has ever seen ...

I demo'd a pair of the BD AT boots for 4+ hours during the Crystal Vertfest. They were bomber solid for turns, felt like an alpine boot. So much so that I did wonder how well they'd tour, being so stiff (and I was using supposedly the lighter of the two they had). Good engineering on the buckles. I love the bolo zip for the liners and the liners themselves were nice, better than the Dyna and Garmont liners. The lean adjust seemed a little arcane but didn't have time to really mess with it.

Manage your terrain. I have ski cut or remote triggered slabs on both Kendall Stump and Yodelin on micro terrain that was a little steeper than the general surrounding pitches in the past, when conditions were "Considerable" or even "Moderate" per the wide forecast. These on slopes that didn't run any more than 100 vf. Yet the resulting slide was still impressive enough that it could have busted a leg even if not bury, cuz the snow was pretty heavy and cohesive. The general NWAC theme right now is that slabs of 3+ feet are possible. That's a big slab for snow as heavy as we usually get. So ... watch it at either place, if you go.

I just called the Cle Elum RS about that. The ranger on duty was not definitive, could not say whether the NF teanaway road was open or closed or what its condition was. Factors to consider are: 1) Sometimes this road becomes or is 'closed to WHEELED vehicles' by virtue only of putting a sawhorse with that signage across the road at 29 pines. This sometimes happens/exists despite obvious bare dirtroad stretch all through that prairie area before Stafford Ck, that not even the most Busch-supercharged biler would be willing to negotiate at that time. There is no actual gate there. 2) Ranger stated that snow depth on ground at 29 Pines was reported as 12", but date of that report unknown. 3) The Jungle Ck road, which is the other road that veers left from there, IS closed (though again probably just w a sawhorse). I myself might bring my mtn bike (is that a wheeled vehicle??) just as a plan C.

Devoting some effort to plowing out that picnic area (on weekends only) would be a big help. That would add probably another 75 spots if it was done right.

The eagle is astonishing. I've never seen any eagles much above 5000ft let alone in such a stark place as the Chants. Maybe he likes Clif bars? (Never heard of birds slobbering though.)

I did that chute then schwack technique last year. Would concur it is worth it; otherwise there just isn't that much fall line to skiing Ruth. The brush there is low until the last small section over the ridge and if you are lucky you can catch some goat trails or snow fingers to ease the steep heather/scree/grass.

With where the snowline is, and some road closures, your options are actually somewhat limited. The Lk Ann / Table Mt area in particular is sure to be all snow. The Hannegan Pass trail is reasonable for kids, it doesn't start really gaining til 3 miles in (and by then you'll hit the snow). Another idea is to walk the Anderson Ck road system just behind Silver Fir camp. There used to be nice beaver ponds back there. Immediately by the first bridge past Glacier there's a short trail along the river (maybe too short for what you have in mind). Don't know road state, and also probably still mostly snow, but Damfino Lks way up the Canyon Ck road is a good kid hike.

Up on Kendall Pk slopes, the new snow was less than an inch of instacorn. It was wet and had been in the sun awhile. Some of it was pinwheeling spontaneously so I am not sure was bonding that well. Had it been 6" rather than an inch it probably would be clinkering up all over. The layer under was still pretty hard ice despite the temp because the instacorn was taking the hit from the sun.

... you start seeing this on the shelves: I know for some, Snowcap serves this purpose, maybe because Pyramid throws a good party. But this stuff's better.