trumpetsailor

Sunday, the road was open to just shy of the Morrison Campground. A few longer gaps on SW facing aspects, but otherwise the road was easily skinnable. ~4-5' of snow at Cold Springs.

Apologies in advance for the thread drift- you can get to the Crestones with a low-clearance 2WD by getting permission from these friendly folk to cross their land (did it in '06) and head in from the West: http://www.manitou.org/MF/mf_index.php . It's beautiful in there. I believe some of the Kit Carson trailheads are 2WD accessible, but it's been a long time. Getting to the Blanca group requires a longer walk.

I climbed/skied Wy'east Saturday - the approach from Meadows was cake. Climbing conditions on the face were great.

Many of the routes will see enough people on them, even mid-week, that you might find that soloing isn't a big deal. As above, 14ers.com has more information than you'll want. There are tons of primo routes. In addition to the suggestions in the Sangres (the Crestone rock is great), consider heading into Chicago Basin, perhaps on the train, for Windom, Sunlight, and Eolus. Wetterhorn and Uncompahgre are sublime. If the weather favors things, playing ring around the cirque for a climb of Holy Cross, with a night at the Notch Mtn. shelter, is a religious experience. For more solitude than you can find on the 14ers these days, go thirteener hunting. 13,849 and 14,000 aren't terribly different numbers. Aim to summit at or before noon (or earlier) to avoid storms - you can always dally on the summit. Roach is, in my opinion, the best standalone guidebook. Given that plenty of sweet ski descents are still going on down there, I suspect that you'll have the opportunity to climb snow if you wish to do so. I'd definitely bring my ax/pons down unless doing so was a huge headache, but I might not opt to bring them on the route. (Well, actually, I'd be trying to ski, but that's a different story.)

Wow.

How far from the TH does the snow become continuous? There always seem to be a few pesky drifts that make skiers sad. Thanks!

As a long-time practitioner of the stem-christie, I tend to find that longer-radius sidecut skis work better. The ski's less interested in doing its own thing (carving). I also seem to prefer longer radius sidecut skis for sideslipping unpleasantly steep stuff. (For perspective, I ski lighter boots on dynafits on full length skis - significantly stiffer than a leather boot. Skiing, not approaching, tends to be my priority.) Width-wise, wider will float better on trap crust, narrower will yield better edge hold on firm/hard snow. You'll encounter both. Cheap and light are good for starters - bindings can easily be moved from ski to ski as you figure out what suits you. In addition to cc.com, turns-all-year.com and craigslist can turn up good deals on cheap skis. A quick look at craigslist suggests that there are a number of possibly appropriate pairs of skis for less than $50. At 180 lbs + pack, I happily toured all of last spring/summer on 173 cm x 75 mm waist park skis picked up off craigslist for $75 (new in plastic). Found skins for ~$30. Never felt like flotation was lacking (in consolidated spring snow). At that size, they're probably superior to my snowshoes in basically all conditions, though longer, fatter skis certainly make trailbreaking through deep snow easier.

Judging by the Whippet - did he ski home? Congrats! I hope everyone is as fortunate! .

Sunday night, everything froze up harder than I'd expected from the forecast. Sliding falls were a far greater risk than any surface-driven wet slides when we ascended and descended the Old Chute. In fact, when skiing off the Hogsback at ~9 am, the snow was teeth-vibrating proto-corn. I didn't find truly good snow until ~8k. You have to go to know, and you have to be willing to go home early.

I'd call them to make sure they have it, just to be sure.

Saw a black bear crossing Glacier Creek Road this morning. Very lean and glaumphing along.

http://www.rei.com/stores/78 Looks like these guys close up at 9 on weekdays, 8p today. The Seattle REI's open 'till 9. http://www.rei.com/stores/11 . Fred Meyer 'prolly carries white gas, don't know about cylinders. There are several near the airport/on your way. This one (and maybe all of them) is open 'till 11p. http://clients.mapquest.com/fredmeyer/mqlocator?screen=find&link=map2&sqlcol1=record_id&sqlcnd1=%3D&sqlval1=70100031&queryIconCol=icon_id&addr_origin=&city_origin=kent&state_origin=WA&zo=&occ=US Don't know if Target carries cylinders (the more I think about it, the more I doubt it), but they're open nearby the REI 'till 10. http://sites.target.com/site/en/spot/store_details.jsp?storeNumber=627&startingLat=47.380267536475166&startingLong=-122.23739572648198&referringURL=store_locator_new.jsp

Looks like you found far superior skiing to the wind-hammered rime I found up near the lunch counter on Adams, with breakable crust down low. Sunday was a gem of a mercurial weather window. Excellent climbing conditions to be had up there last week.

I've had good luck with the twin-tip attachment from climbingskinsdirect.com . Not very adjustable for multiple skis, but perfect for my quiver of one.

>Do not try Goodell Creek until past the barrier or you will be sorry. That's what I always hear (I presume you mean, "Don't try heading up it past the Barrier."), but folks rarely explain why. What's in there that makes it so bad? Just vicious vegetation, or something more nefarious?

SA's still doing it. Thanks again, Second Ascent!

I just returned from a trip in and out of SeaTac with some gear (but no pro) (harness, biners, cordage, helmet, ATC, etc.). Didn't even attract any attention at SeaTac or in southwest Virginia. Left the nut tool out thanks to the above discussion.

That's a cool route! My partner and I ogled it on the way up to Cache Col in the summer. A few nifty chunks of ice fell out of it as we passed by in July. As for gating, I think the road's gated at MP 12.7 now. http://www.nps.gov/noca/planyourvisit/road-conditions.htm

Sweet route! I hope all's ended well in the long term with the shoulder injury! Any thoughts on avoiding the same experience? Was it Whippet-driven?

I suck on skis too. Go with leashes. They're lighter, and they'll keep your skis nearby in the event that you lose a ski when you don't intend to do so. Consider making leashes that will break if stressed to a point that will cause you trouble (avalanches, nasty falls, etc.). Alternatively, just crank the DINs and lock the tour lever like skykilo and co. Perhaps Dynafit could make an even lighter non-releasable binding for those who want them. Also of note if you're new to Dynafits - practice stepping into them them in a mellow environment. You do just step in, but you may find that you have to step in just right. Click, stomp. Click, stomp.

Your photos of the marine layer and the Roman Wall have induced jealousy. They should've gotten fresh up there over the past few days.....

Before... the other climber falls in the crevasse too? Your logic breaks down here, there's no guaranteed stop at the end of the rope. It's slack you want to avoid to keep a fallen climber from building up speed. Note that your reply's only strictly correct if the rope is orthogonal to the crevasse. If you're paralleling the chasm, longer ropes might go for a longer ride.

Great job, and thank you for the inspiring trip report!

Wunderbar! No matter how many pelvises you break, it's a hell of a thing to be skiing only a few months later. Congratulations .

Aye, but that doesn't tend to preclude folks from prognosticating about it.