PeterC

Thanks Curt, that's really helpful. Another possibility is Middle Fork Snoq. Is that still washed out?

I used to tour around the WA cascades a lot, but a couple of years ago I moved to SF so I'm not up on WA conditions. I'll be back in town over Xmas and I want to do some touring (both day and 2-3 day), but I don't really know what's in condition. Can anyone comment on road access and/or touring conditions for the following (or make alternate suggestions). 1. Sulfide Glacier/Shuksan 2. Cascade River Rd/Eldorado/Forbidden area ( this thread suggests good access. ) 3. Enchantments (in particular, is 8 mi road open or gated now?) 4. Tatoosh range 5. Mt Baker/Glacier Crk Rd ( this thread suggests you can get within a mile of the trailhead ). Thanks in advance! -Peter

Heather Ridge at Steven's Pass is an excellent beginner backcountry ski area w/ good overnight potential (camp at the lake... I forget its name). There's good turns skier's left of the road that you ski up as well as off the backside of the peak. This is an area people often go during higher avy conditions, but if you don't know what you're doing... just stay home until conditions stabilize. I agree with Gene that camping around Artist Point at Mt Baker is another good overnight trip. Keep in mind that the ski patrol there sometimes checks to make sure you have transcievers, shovels and knowledge before you head into the Baker backcountry... but you should have this stuff anyways... Another place I really like which is close to Seattle is Source Lake. Good for short tours with the GF. I've found good pow weeks after storms in the Snow Lake Basin. This would be another cool place to snow camp. I also really like the Tatoosh area at Mt Rainier. I think you need a special permit to overnight in MRNP, so check on that if you want to overnight. Also, the gate up to the skiing at Rainier opens at 9 am or later depending on snowfall, so check that before heading out (my first time up there I showed up at ~6am and ended up sleeping in the car). Check out the Castle Saddle first. It's the easiest ascent and what most people do there. The skiing from the saddle tends to be wind affected though - I've found skiier's right to be generally better though it gets cliffy down lower. Have fun, pray for snow!!! -Peter

A couple of years ago my dynafits popped off (still not sure why - they're like Steven King's Christine) at the top of the Cascadian Couloir on Stuart. I'm pretty sure my whippet saved my life. If I had it to do over, I'd probably get a Condor b/c I often find myself worried about impaling myself while skiing powder - it'd be nice to put that thing away.

About 8 yrs ago I rented ice tools in winter from Marmot mtn works in Bellevue.

Dave, I could give you enough ascension glue for you to reglue kurthicks skins. Also FYI, I've tried to make my own kicker skins from the 1' long scraps left over from my last skins folowing the template of http://www.agavegroup.com/?page_id=62 Apparently the tin can I used was too flimsy because it immediately bent down and acted more like a brake than a wedge... so keep in mind that if you're following this template you NEED the strongest can you can find (which is difficult since most cans have funky grooves in them). Let's talk more about this in person. -Peter

To add my two cents: I tele'd for about 5 yrs (mostly backcountry) and got a rando setup around last Xmas. I expected my new skis to be just another pair in the quiver, but haven't tele skied since. When the snow is perfect, tele looks and feels cooler for sure, but so often in the cascades you have to deal w/ concrete or crust and those are way easier to handle on AT. I was also getting exhausted by the end of the day and as soon as I switched to AT I could go way longer + harder. Ironically, one of the main reasons I got the new skis was for releasable bindings, which almost killed me when they early-released at the top of the steepest part of the (icy) Cascadian couloir last winter. That said, skiing WITH your wife instead of at the same time as your wife is totally where its at. Whatever you can do to handicap yourself down to her level is worth doing. In that context I think learning to tele is perfect for you.

I bought a mammut *galaxy* 10mmx60m dry treated around that time. Mine was sky blue w/ orange accents. This site: http://www.mtntools.com/cat/rclimb/rope/MammutGalaxyDynamicRope.htm illustrates that there's a lot of color options/features (and it looks to me like they've changed over time) so dipping is probably the way to tell whether it's dry.

Skied/climbed the S ridge of Black Pk this weekend. Lots of snow the whole way. Traverse from Heather Pass to Lewis Lk is relatively low-angle sidehilling through avy debris, but w/ cliffs below and HUGE cornices above. Might be mildly unpleasant if it was too icy and dangerous if it was too warm. Most of the S ridge was snowy couloir - I wished I hadn't left my skis at the base. The top 20' or so were rock and snow-covered rock. Might be better to wait a few days after the last snow before attempting. All in all a fun climb. 7hrs car to car.

Thanks for the TR. Can you be a bit more specific about how much road-hiking was required? An hour? 3 hours? Thanks.

You mean Long's Pass to Ingalls Crk? Totally snow covered. The issue is that the road is (was) impassible due to a snowdrift 7 or so mi away from the Long's Pass trailhead. I wouldn't go that way right now.

Tried Cascadian Couloir on Stuart this last weekend. A deep patch of snow was stopping everyone w/out super-high clearance about 1mi from the Beverly Crk Rd (so ~2mi from the Beverly trailhead). Could skin continuously after a mile or two up the Beverly trail. The couloir had already melted out in a couple of places (but was reasonably continuous).

Is the road section mostly ridable on a bike at this point? Does anyone know when the gate will open this year? Thanks

Skied Silverstar this weekend. It's not W of the crest and I don't have too much intelligent to say, but TR: http://www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboarding/trip_reports/index.php?topic=6807.0

I've been tele skiing for ~6yrs now. At first it sucked and I was always bruised. I kept at it, though, sure that once I got the hang it'd be awesome. When I got better but it still wasn't awesome I bought more gear, convinced that was my problem. That helped a bit, but I still get tired a lot faster than I did on skis or a snowboard and I still crash lots more whenever the snow is suboptimal (which thankfully never happens in the NW). Since AT boots and dynafit bindings weigh about the same as modern tele gear but have the advantage of RELEASING, have ready-made ski crampons, and take much less energy and skill to use, I wonder why anyone would learn to tele? It definitely feels cooler to do nice turns, but telemarking just seems contrived to me these days - like climbing a route w/ one hand behind your back... Comments?