dmiller

Your probalbly asking: What are the Cliffs of Insanity? They are the cliffs that line up on the West side of the lake. Danny a friend who often I ski with decided to call call these the Cliffs of Insanity because they are around 400-700 feet and go directly into the water. Maybe they have another name but that's what we call them. In between the cliffs lay a series of chutes that can be skied, be forwarned though, a fall could result in a freezing bath. Perhaps accessed from the top during the winter, not so during the late spring and summer. A couple of friends of mine decided to go to Snowlake, they brought their wetsuits and went swimming in the lake! I decided to pack a small inflatable raft in my pack and a couple of oars. Thinking of skiing down to the lake, you might want to reconsider. Check out some photos on www.321stars.com and click on the main picture then click on Snowlake and look for the picture of me skiing. Those are oars you see on my pack. If you notice the snow pack to the lake itself is pretty rocky. I now with the aid of my friend Chris inflate the raft and set off along the West Side of the lake. It's about a third of the way across and it's an obvious chute if you lood from the Snowlake trail from across on the East side. Once I reach the chute, my friends are off swimming and I begin my hike on 30-40 degree corn snow and lightly suncupped. I hike the first 3/4 of the of the chute and then put on my skis and side step the rest of the way up to the highest point the snow goes. I figure I feel safer on my skis as a fall will result in me sliding into the cliff wall on the right side followed by tumbling into the frigid waters. I would consider this a moderately exposed route. I now have between 600-700 feet of vertical feet of carvable corn and loose granular snow before reaching the lakes edge. The only tight spot was a 2 foot wide section half way down which required a little bit of figure 11ing. Now it's down to the more mellow 30-35 degree slope before I finally reach the lakes edge. Now it's time to paddle back to the South edge of Snowlake. My friends keep watch on me as I do notice a small leak in the raft. "No problem" Chris says "It should last you about an hour" Luckily it only took about 20 minutes to paddle the distance. Equipment: Raft, oars, skis or board and I recommend if you do have the willingness to actually find this chute bring an ice ax. The hike is a bit sketchy. Don't pop the raft with the axe. I couldn't get pictures of the actual chute but as soon as I get back to Snowlake I'll at least try to take a picture of what I skied and post it. Who needs snowmobiles, lifts or helicopters, that's too easy!!!!!!!

Better start requesting those sick days to climb midweek. Weekends it'll feel like downtown up their. That'll suck!!

Good weather, previous route experience, and motivation to want to ski something new, who needs sleep. I decided to climb and ski Rainier from the Summit again in 1 day. This time I decided to step it up! Having been up since 10:00am yesterday, my evening job kept me from getting any sleep. It's around Midnight and I head up to White River Camp Ground. I head off at around 2:30 in the morning, gotta watch for those bears. Knocking of the first 3.1 miles to Glacier Basin in just around an hour all seems well until I drank some Ensure just after finishing a Rock Star energy drink, not a good combination. With summiting Rainier 2 days prior and lack of sleep the last 2 days I basically struggled all the way to the Summit. I managed to climb in under 9:30 hours from the car. This time I climbed the Emmons and went more climbers right for some variation and some route finding. I figured why not do something different. Once again I beat out the afternoon rain showers. Winds at the Summit were at around 30mph. The snow however was much better and more spring like on top with a few icy sections. Instead of skiing the Emmons like on Saturday I decided to add some spice to my skiing by skiing off the Ridge next to the Russel Cliff, which feeds into the Winthrop Glacier. 45-50degrees with serious exposer presented me with a no fall zone for around 800 vertical feet, a fall in the wrong spot could result in ragdolling over 1000 feet. Not an easy thing to ski fluidly after climbing 10 grand in vertical on no sleep. The snow on the descent was around 3-5 inches of corn like snow, however it had a loose feel to it and would slide each time I made a turn. The Crux of the line was a mandatory straight line but being able to stop in time to avoid falling into a crevasse. Once I finished skiing the steeps I decided to ski the Winthrop Glacier. From 13,000 to around 11,500 feet the snow was a combination of corn and wind drifted snow. Fairly smooth and made for good fast turns. Lower down the snow turned to a foot of guanch. Add the fact that crevasses were opening up made me a bit nervous. If anyone decides to ski this run, I recommend skiing it before 9 or 10am to avoid falling in a hidden crevasse. Study the route from the bottom as well to avoid any navigational problems. As for the Inter Glacier, ealier the better. Avoid the boot pack. Snow is a bit rough at the base of the Glacier for those who like to open it up as I actually sensed a bit of squirlliness on my Salomons for the first time. After a 15 minute nap on a rock it's back to the car, no bears today. Watch for holes opening up at Glacier Basin, you might get wet feet if you fall through.

I've decided to leave from White River Camp Ground and do the Emmons instead and ski down the Winthrop Glacier. I'm leaving White River Camp Ground at 2:00am give or take a half hour.

Nice weather, I think I'll take advantage and do the much more tamed DC route on Mount Rainier tommorrow. Anyone interested pm me or just meet me at Paradise parking lot and be ready to go at around 2:30am. I drive 1990 blue Toyota Tercel. Donnelly M

With all this warm and sunny weather, Aaron and I decided to go for a Summit attempt on Rainier via the Emmons/Winthrop Glacier route. We arrive at Mt. Rainier National Park on Friday evening and after registering for the climb we decide to do a one run outing at Chinook pass. We were amazed at how warm it was at even above 5500 feet at 9:45pm. I figure this would be a good way to get ourselves loosened up and ready for our climb on Saturday. We decided to get all of our gear set up and ready to go before getting a couple of hours of sleep. It's now 3:00am Saturday morning and 10,000 feet vertical climbing is ahead of us. The Glacier Basin trail is pretty much snow free for the first 2.5 miles after that snow patches can be found until you reach the Glacier Basin campground where snow is continuous from around 5800 feet on up. The snow was surprisingly firm on the Interglacier but I new it would soften up in the Afternoon. We hike all the way to the top of the Inter Glacier and due to a slight navigational error we are stuck doing a class 3 with some class 4 moves 200 foot loose scree and rock scramble down to Camp Shermon. Next time I'll know to hike towards left and hike up to Camp Sherman staying to the left to the Prow to avoid that rock scramle. Was not fun doing in Alpine Ski boots with my 195cm Salomon Ak Rockets tagging all the rocks. Now the fun really begins. It's a straight foward and easy route to follow all the way to the Summit with only a few crevasse crossings. The only thing to watch for was blue ice on the last 500 feet before the Summit. Unfortunately Aarron only made it to around 11,000 feet. Got to give him credit though, it's not easy logging over 10,000 feet of elevation gain. He figured he'd wait at Camp Sherman while I summited. Arriving at the Summit at around 1:00pm I spend little time soaking up the views for thunder clouds were building up. Strapping on my skis I'm treated with a variety of snow conditions from Solid ice to perfect spring corn below around 12,000feet. Above that elevation the snow was very uneven and not easy to make linked and carved turns. Once I reach the Corridor quality of snow is near perfect corn with only a few crevasses to watch for. As for the Inter Glacier I'd recommend to get an earlier start if you want to do a ski outing over there. My GPS only clocked in a sluggish 43mph making only 6 turns for 3000 vertical feet, now that's dissapointing!!! So much for my speed rush of the day. After getting over 8,000 feet of skiing vertical, it's now back to the trail. This is when I wish I had a camera. I encounter a bear walking up the trail. It gets to within 20 or so feet of me. So I did the make my self look big, made noise and slowly walked facing the bare. Once I felt that it wasn't going to charge I decided to walk up the trail slowly. For 15 minutes I walk back up hoping the bare would've veered off. Nope, It's still following me. Finally I come accross two hikers and tell them there's a bear behind me. Now there's 3 of us. The bear then finally decides to head off into the woods. Finally, I can now head for the car. 13 hours and 44 minutes round trip. What a day. Serious vertical, calm winds at the Summit, Ice near the summit, sluggish skiing on Inter Glacier, and a bear encounter.

Unfortunately I'm not anywhere near Vancouver. Others wise I'd be glad to give a ride.

Looking for someone to ski with tomorrow. Anywhere there's snow is fine.

Silver Peak is an option exept for the fact I drive a piece of **** car that would break on that road. I figure when my boss has work for me, I'd use that patch of snow as an emergency to get my turns for the day in. 15 minutes is all it takes. 2.5 miles in and out everyday means less time for work which means less money = keep on driving ****ed car. No thanks!! Reality sucks, doesn't it?

If weather holds out I plan on skiing from the Summit of Rainier via the Emmons Glacier this Saturday. I plan to do it as a one day event. Send me a pm if interested.

Allright now, you probably thinking don't I have anything better to do? Just like most of us, I to have a job that I go to. However I must get my daily set of turns in, no matter how silly or dumb it may seem. Since this is the most easily accesable snow patch that I can find, I'm gonna get my turns for the day, no matter how small the patch is. Not that I'd do this everyday, on most days I at least make an effort to get some descent vertical in. This patch happens to be right next the Pacific Crest Lift at Summit West. It was long enough to make 15 turns, tight turns for that matter. Yes, practicing tight turns has saved me from hitting a couple of trees as well. For most people the skiing at the Summit at Snoqualmie and surrounding areas has ended, not for me. I'll keep it up until July, then I can rest. Might as well take advantage of any snow on the ground there is. AAAhhhh, there's no other sport like skiing!

At least a couple of weeks. I'd like to do it again this Friday unless I find someone who wants to go skiing elsewhere.

By any chance are into ski mountaineering?

I'd be into doing Adams both Sat and Sunday, howevever I would car camp. I don't have overnight equipment. I'm used to doing one day summits.

Arriving at Timberline Lodge on Friday night a few minutes before midnight, just enough time for me to make a short jaunt and get my bare minumum ten turns that I need to make to keep my ski streak alive, I did it but barely, that was too close! Then it's a cold night car camping, the wind was blowing fairly briskly. I can't help take notice many other climbers getting that midnight start. I'ts 9:30 a.m Saturday when I start my climb to the summit. With groomed slopes the first two miles and a well established boot pack all the way to the summit, this makes for a fairly easy and enjoyable ski outing. The last 500 hundred feet posed no real danger. With about a foot on snow that had fallen of the last few days higher up, ice was minimal. The bergschrund is not too opened up. Once on the Summit I traversed skiers right where I found more opened and climber free skiing. Snow had a thin ice layer on top on the top few hundred vertical feet but was easy to punch through. Lower down corn snow and some wind drifted snow made for nice fast turns. The surface all the way down to the Palmer Snowfield was smooth as butter when you avoided the boot packed areas. The snow conditions were also fairly stable with only the ice crust sliding off as I skied across my fall lines. Once on the main ski area I opted for skiing some park and popped off a couple of booters. The snow below 7000 feet started to get a bit sticky but not bad. I say this makes for a good ski outing if you feel comfortable hiking on 30-35 degree snow and ice (mainly last 500 vertical feet) plus you get to summit a volcanoe. The majority of the run is more steep than the Muir Snowfield. You can ski all the back to the car without any ski carries. Figure on a 4-7 hour round trip depending on your climbing and ski pace.

I've got next Wendsday off. Anyone interested in doing a ski outing? Baker, Colchuck Peak, or Mt. Hood seem good.

How about Wendsday, Got the day off. Climb up Coleman Demming Glacier route and maybe ski down Coleman Headwall.

Think the ski season is over at Snoqualmie Pass? Not quite. Being a trail runner I'd normally be into my trail running by now, not this year. I figure I can run and then ski. From the Alpental parking lot it's only a 30-40 minute jog on the Snow Lake trail which is basically snow free, only a few small patches, until you hit the ridge. Once on the ridge your on continuous snow all the way down to the lake. Not much vertical but, easy access. Feeling the need to tour more you can ski patches of snow that range from 300-500 vertical feet towards the other side of the lake and towards Gem Lake. Snow is fairly consolidated, with light to moderate sun cups. Figure on at least another good week of skiing in this area. Easy way to get a 5 mile trail run in (2.5 miles to ridge) and get some turns in as well I've averaged 5 laps a day at 300-400 vertical feet a pop. Folks, leave the Burke Gilman, Tiger and Cougar Mountain and all those crowded city parks behind and come up to the mountains and make some turns. I'll keep skiing till the snow runs out!!!!!!!!! I can't stand the city: Roadrage, stress, bosses, traffic, crime, etc, etc, Who needs that I escape it when I'm not at work!

Who gives a rats ass on the weather, just get out there and do it. If your worried about weather just do a more mellow route. Can't trust the weather man, what you see is what you get.

I've done that route twice, solo, and it was icy as well. The guide book: Selected Climbs in the Cascades mentions the route as being 35 degrees. I'd agree it's between 30-35 degrees. I wouldn't worry to much, just pay attention to footing and falling rock and ice kicked off by climbers above you.

With all the warm weather we've had all the snow on lower elevations is melted out but higher up I find there still seems to be average to above average snow coverage. More snow would be nice but the down side of getting it this time of year is that when it warms up it's like skiing on glue, you can't move, even when it's steep! Pray for sun, not snow.

I'm for sure into doing some skiing. I'd like to summit one of the volcanoes or do something long and and adventureous. I'd like to find a first descent but I'm open for any kind of skiing or tour. I have Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off. Donnelly

Hello, and I'm looking for people who are interested in doing one day outings with long approaches. One of my interests are doing Mt. Logan and Mt. Challenger in the North Cascades and skiing them and maybe skiing some of the steeper lines on any of these remote peaks. I'm not into setting up camp much, I prefer the enduring 15-24+ hour treks. I'm always looking to climb and ski something adventureous. Donnelly