danhelmstadter

I was useing a gopro hero cam, bought form rei - i hear they have an updated better version thiss year. im pretty happy with it, although the round lense does distort the view, and it goes thorugh batteries pretty quickly. Jason - it was the Y i skiied, a pretty long day for sure.

Trip: Sherpa - north face & ne couloir Date: 3/27/2010 Trip Report: Left bridge creek around 6am with a plan to ski whatever looked good in the Stuart area. Past the Colchuck/Stuart trail junction - there was a slight trail packed out by snowshoers. I followed thier fadeing trail till it busted out of the trees below Colchuck, Argonaut and Sherpa, I knew there would be plentiful options ahead. Sherpa's north face and ne couloir had caught my eye from a snack spot earlier. It did not lose it's appeal as I got closer. I climbed and skiied the couloir first -- and topped out high on the the south east ridge. the snow was a little slabby/wind-affected, and sheared fairly easily, but the slab was not propagateing, never the less - I skiied with caution, cutting, and not letting my sluff grow to big. The North face held similar conditions, although it was much steeper, and had a few icy spots. Here are a few video clips from the descent: [video:youtube] view down couloir view down face clouds progressively rolled in throughout the day colchuck and argonaut argonaut It was a long haul for a day trip 20+ miles? but totally worth it.

Kevino - The glacier route was breakable crusty near the lake, then firm wind molested forms of various types above - easy to boot up and too slippry for skinning withought ski crampons. There was about 2 miles of dirt from the gate to snowline on the road.

Trip: Colchuck - NE couloir Date: 3/24/2010 Trip Report: I had contracted a nasty head cold on monday (presumably from drinking skunk beer), and since I didn't have any work lined up -- I was frustrated to be sick under blue skies in Leavenworth. I formed a plan to at least hike up to Colchuck lake with my skis -- leaving early Wensday morning, things however did not go as planned when I slept in - and didn't get started till 930. ^^^ I bought this book during my recent trip back east, and I had stowed it in a hidden pocket of my pack (my ski pack), and had completely forgot about it until I happened upon it - looking for my lip balm at Colchuck lake yesterday, the little 300pg bugger is surpriseingly heavy beacuse of the glossy - pictures-on-every-page print, and it was in my pack during the entierty of my recent triple couloir ski trip - no wonder the pack was so damn heavy! I was expecting to see new snow up high -- but there was none. I dragged ass up the glacier, the sun was hanging in the western sky, and I wondered if i'd have enough time -- but if worst came to worst - I could always downclimb. Topping out on the Glacier -- I climbed the icy SE slopes of Colchuck, then downclimbed an easy but thin and exposed summit rock area, to the entrance of the NE couloir. I sidestepped a little down the entrance becasue of very icy snow, then traveresed over to a more sheltered aspect where I found super hardwindpack covered with a thin skiff of soft snow. Slope angles here were in the 50dg range. approaching the crux area After some pleasant turns, I came upon the crux of the route -- the crux which I belive John Plotz and Will Terrano had aired in powder conditions a couple weeks ago, yesterday the landing zone was hard - slide for life - conditions, what a differance conditions can make... anyways, I decided my safest options was to downclimb -- which was actually quite tricky where I choose to (the curx is a wide rock band - of varying heights and steepnesses from left to right) I took my time -- thinking through every move -- makeing sure none felt too awkward, there was a inch or more of ice coating some of the tops of some rocks, and that helped a lot for quality pick placements, there was also quite a bit of hard snow (mixed with sugar) which yeilded good shaft placements -- I shuttled my pack down and held it with a ski anchor/webbing - then made the tricky moves down the 6 foot overhanging rock step. By the time I had negotiated the crux (upper couloir) it was dark... I put on my headlamp and skiied the couloir by way of headlamp light -- which was actually quite pleasant, and did not impeed skiing much at all, also -- there was quite a long stretch of quality powder mid couloir - it was awesome to be skiing steep pow in some wild couloir at night! - and feeling great about it. skiing down the lower glacier and moraine was fun -- although snow quality decreased dramatically through this portion. I met some slayers from Montana who were camping by the lake (I hope they get some good new snow the next few days!) I skiied the icy luge trail to within 2 miles (snow is melted past)of the gate at bridgecreek. A great day out -- and I think I stomped my cold way down too.

AWESOME!

sounds like your in for a great time! I'd love to see the pics - especially of mansfeild. uglyspud - it's a gopro hero, i think they came out with a better modle this year though.

Trip: Colchuck + Dragontail - NBC & TC opt. 3 Date: 3/19-20/2010 Trip Report: I hate to clutter this forum with a double tr - but I got a few pics and I like to write - so what the hell. John's TR, comments should be posted there: http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=948170 The road was gated at Icicle Creek, and I started hikeing mid morning, the first couple miles of the road had melted out to dirt. 8 miles after setting out - I reached the scenic Colchuck Lake, and set up a little bivy site on a sunny picturesk shore. Then skinned up towrds Colchuck Glacier to scout out some of the N/NE faceing lines off Colchuck. The snow up to the moraine was a dissapointment -- crusty with patches of hard windboard. The NE couloir looked as though it was quite dirty and scoured by avalanches - the North Butress Couloir - a little less so. As I approached the base, I noticed a skiier had very recently booted up the aprun - but turned around and skiied down before entering the couloir. Conditions were chunky slabby powder with buffs of hard wind pack or hardened runnel remenants -- not ideal conditions - but not super scary either. Looking down the NBC View of Stuart from the Notch at the top of NBC The ski down was as expected -- slow controlled turns (maybe not that pretty - but safe). Apparently there is a ski route from the summit of Colchuck to the entrance of the NBC, I did not know this at the time - and it did not appear obvious from the col, definetly a route I'd go back to -- especially with better conditions. I settled into my solitary camp, watching and hearing many people cross the lake to set up camp in the woods at the south end. I had plenty of time to sleep - but sleep was plauged by my leaky air mattress that required re-inflation every few hours... I purposely slept in to about 9:30 - so that I would drop into the Triple Couloirs late in the day -- so as not to knock down sluffs/chunks on any climbers. I made my way up assgaurd pass, feeling slower than usual since I was toteing a 60 meter rope, plenty of pro, and two axes. The snow on the way up was pretty crappy and wind hammered. I met Jason and Tim at the top of the pass -- and they gave me the low down about the upper crux and snow conditions - which were apparently not ideal... and apparently deteriorated with elevation loss.. (Thanks for the beta fellas!) Several other climbers passed me on their way down, again offering useful info (thanks!). On the summit I met Will and John! they were going to ski it too! and there were apparently climbers still in route with skis and intentions to ski it - what are the chances? seems funny that the route was only skiied once years ago, and now, now there were many people attempting to ski it -- in less than ideal conditions? so it is. I was super stoked to meet John and Will up there - them being super storng climbers and skiiers - and having climbed the route - helped to ease the anxiety associated with a pre-extreme ski a little. They also had apparently found way that would require much less rapping/anchor makeing. The first few turns were the scariest for me -- there was an intimidateing roll over visible from the couloir entrance that disappeared into oblivion 30 feet down or so, turns were a little wierd with my heavier than normal pack, but the snow in that upper couloir was quite good, and I felt solid. After weighing rap anchor options -- we settled on a few pieces of rock pro - which John placed. We coupled my 60m with Wills 30m and it proved to me more than sufficiant for the steep rock step. The Northwest Face section held variable bumpyish snow, but still not all that bad, and it was great to ski in warm sunshine. The entrance to the Hidden couloir was steep and held variable snow -- conservative skiing was important. The turns were super exposed to the last one -- as there is a 60' ciff at the bottom of the couloir that has to be skirted around. Thanks for the incredible ski experience John and Will! Here are some random video clips. Fish eye lense distorts the steepness a little -- much of this shot was pretty steep. [video:youtube] Will below Will Rapping John Ripping Will feeling the grove halfway down the hidden couloir steep to the end the dragon has been slayed

Trip: Mt. Washington - Various Date: 3/10/2010 Trip Report: I've been back east for a week or so visiting family and friends, a decent looking weather window materialized in the forecast for the white mountains, which had seen extremely stormy weather the previous week (4+' followed by HIGH wind for days) but sweet weather allowed for a couple days of good skiing, and i was able to ski about 12k in two days, 2 summit to parkinlots, 6 shots on tucks and the diagnol in huntingtons. rented some ski/climbing equip. in North Conway, and was stoked about the clearing skies and to be back in an area where I had made so many good childhood memories. left Pinkham Notch around 730am and made my way up to the summit via the Lip area of tucks -- there were a few slabs, but everything was well bonded -- as forecasted. The summit (6288') was breezy and cool, everything covered in rime ice, includeing the many buildings and towers... The ski down off the summit was a mix of rime ice survivaly skiing and bumpy sustrugified windboard. I dropped into the Lip -- which was cold windpack over ice crust in areas. I skiied to the floor of the ravine, then did laps on the sluice, the right gully twice, and the "lobster claw?" then the trail through the woods all the way back to Pinkham Notch at 2035'. left the next day a little later - skinned up towrds Huntington Ravine, and got a little sidetracked following a drainage i thought was a trail, but soon found the giant well maintained Huntington Ravine trail. Huntington is a little bigger than tucks i think and stands at about 1300v'. There were many ice climbers on various routes, and there was also constant ice fall comeing off the cliffs, most of it smallish... I've been really stoked on skiing the diagnol gully, but a little unsure about acsessing it because of the notorious 50' steep frozen waterfall at the base of the gully, especially since all I had with me was a gen. mountaineering axe, but it proved easy to find a way around on snow - climbers right, and climbing conditions were ideal in the gully -- firm windpack... I had not been too stoked on my rental equipment -- it felt a little awkward -- so I skiied the gully with care, but it was a LOT of fun ! At the base of the Ravine I climbed up the far northeast aspect of the ravine by way of a much easier gully, and made my way towrds the summit. The summit was warmer and less windy than the day before. and the skiing was better this time too, and skiied down to the "lobsterclaw?" which was a south faceing aspect in tucks, and much softer than the day before. There were many other people enjoying the fine snow and weather. The Sherman trail back to the parking lot was in soft condition and a tun of fun. Huntington Ravine from Pinkham Notch second summit me about to drop the right gully in tuckermans the Presidential mountains from summit of wash climbers and ice routes in Huntingtons Ravine Huntingtons Ravine, the diagnol gully is hidden, and cuts diagnoly across from left to rigt, ending just above the center ice bulge climbers in the pinnacle possibities for next time in the diagnal south faceing gully in tucks random videoclips [video:youtube] link to current 3 day forecast for mt washington alpine: http://www.mountwashington.org/weather/summit_forecast.php

be careful of thinly bridged cracks as you exit the upper finger area and gain the upper nisqually. looks like a great window, unfortunatly i'm unable to get out and enjoy it. have fun!

FKNA! sick fellas

Trip: Mt. Rainier - Gib Ledges climb, Fuhrer Thumb ski Date: 2/22/2010 Trip Report: I left Paradise around 2:30, and made my way up to Pan Point through a myriad of tracks under dark skys. Once atop Pan Point, the winds picked up considerably, and I donned googles and an extra jacket, temps were pretty cold. Not being familiar with the Muir route, I question whether I took the most direct line to the huts. I made the huts before light, and went inside for an hour or so to snack and heat my water for an expected but not to be - bitterly cold upper mountain. I felt groggy climbing up to and past "the behive", but I was quickly invigorated by the coolness and fun of the Gib Ledges, which was in excellant shape and I was far from the first to have recently climbed it. I witnessed an impressive serac fall calving off the Nisqually Ice Cliff. Temps were warming rapidly... Once past the tricky crevasse section just past Gib Rock, I made good time in relitively warm temps and only a breeze blowing from the NE... The summit felt pretty warm too, although this was because of the sun not the air temprature. The skiiing was pretty crappy down the summit cone (really wind affected and icy) but conditions improved dramatically once I gained the upper Nisqually. The entrance into the Wopawety area is a little trickier than last year, I took the high entrance and found some steeps on the cleaver. Then some bumpy but powdery snow, a crevasse jump led to ripper winboard. As I gained the entrance to the Thumb the windboard began to soften in the sun, and I knew it was going to be an epic run. I should have brought my helmut cam, absolutely ripper conditions, and I skiied to the bottom without stopping. The skiing down the Wilson and upper Nisqually was fantastic, although there was plenty of variable according to micro terrain features and aspect changes.

Trip: Mt. Baker - CD Date: 2/18/2010 Trip Report: I woke up to a rapping upon my window, it was Andy Traslin! he his bro Andy, and Dave Narona had the same idea I had, to ski Baker via the CD. I had been sleeping in my motorhome a few hundred feet before the Heliotrope trailhead... The first half mile or so of the trail was snowless! As we got into the alpine, gaining the lower slopes of the Coleman Glacier -- I felt some pressure on the backs of my skis, like someone stepping in my skis, I turned surprised - and saw my dog, tounge hanging out of her mouth, with a half guilty look on her face. She had evidently chewed through the door of my motorhome - escapeing its confines, and ran the two or so miles of trail to catch up to us. If we had been planning on skiing the Coleman Headwall or North Ridge, I would have turned around to take her back to my motorhome without a second thought, but the Coleman Demming route is fairly mellow in angle, and there were very few open crevasses, and the weather was good, the snow travel easy, so it seemed reasonable to let her come along. Travel conditions were easy and enjoyable up to the col, where our world turned windy, though warm in the sun. After booting up the cleaver, we tested our skins, although booting proved to be more efficiant after only a little ways. We stuck to the north edge of the Roman Wall, and almost at the top of the wall -- whumph!! a scary big hardslab ripped out taking most of the Roman wall to our right with it... The slide -- the flanks of which shallow, but the crown perhaps 2 feet at it's deepest ran maybe 1k, then a hundred feet below it's end, a similar size slab cut out sympathetically on a steep glacial roll. I had been worried about windloading/slab danger, which is part of the reason why I had choose to ski the CD that day, instead of something steeper and more exposed on Shuksan. There was a danger of being swept into and burried in a crevasse on the Roman Wall slide (that being the only terrain trap), but the slope had a gradual run out, relative to more serious slopes -- it's not the worst place to go for a little ride -- thankfully we didn't get caught... The summit area was extremely windy, and we made our way over to the exact summit in full wind attire. It was very cool to see John Scurlock fly overhead in his yellow aircraft. He took a cool picture of us crossing the summit platue, which can be found in the link below, as well as a awesome video by Dave: http://bb.nsmb.com/showthread.php?s=9d6c8db98b8ead7da315dccda84f8b04&p=2323773#post2323773 We skiied down the bed surface of the Roman Wall and down to the col on OK snow, some sections were good, but there was a lot of rime ice chunks and various variable to call the skiing great. From the col down the Coleman, the skiing conditions improved greatly, and got better with loss of elevation, to the point where we were slaying big GS turns. I got so caught up with the good skiing, I didn't stop to cheer Sadie on, but I wasn't worried about her not being able to follow - cause she has always been very good about that, and she's quite an experienced mountain dog, haveing been to the summits of a few of the highest mountains of western states. Anyway, looking back, she was nowhere to be seen... I told the Traslins and Dave that I had to go look for her, and for them to go on... I skinned up a thousand vertical feet or so, and found her yelping in a seracy section of the Coleman, thankfully she was just lost, instead of a more dire circumstance. Skiing back down, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Dave, Andy, and Mike had waited for me, which must have been about an hour, thanks yos! The best snow of the day was found in the reaches just above and at treeline... Thanks for the great day guys, let's do it again soon! Andy Traslin doggy skiiers seracs where i found sadie

i rapped once useing a 5mil with a rap ring and a 2 mil pull cord, i think it was something like 30meter vertical in rmnp, the 5 mil stretched a LOT. super light though.

dropping down through the clear cut near the bottom of chair 8 into the white salmon valley is the way to go.

wow that firecracker video is FUNNY! glad you are ok, looks like pretty ideal conditions and a great time.

the mt baker ski area is actually located on a feature of mt shuksan

Trip: Shuksan - summit pyramid & white salmon Date: 2/9/2010 Trip Report: Left the parking lot around 9, and skinned up the White Salmon under clear skies, the skin track from the previous day had mostly filled in, but conditions were easy enough to bust it back out. Clouds rolled in as I summited, but they were thin, and visibility was decent enough for the gully descent -- which provided fabulous ski conditions. The clouds blew by as I skiied down to the Curtis. I got the best turns of season on the White Salmon, ripper falline fattys, the pitch being just right -- so that slaying the fallline did not create a highspeed deathsluff. the focus on my camera broke -- so it's not as cloudy as it looks summit shots

Trip: Shuksan - northwest couloir Date: 2/8/2010 Trip Report: Taken in the clear afternoon The weather looked questionable as I woke, better than the day before, but there were still clouds. I left the WS parkinglot around 9, and advanced towrds a dark cloud enshrouded Shuksan, in otherwise partly cloudy skys. I had hopes that the weather would clear, as the forecast seemed to indicate for the day from the last time I checked it some days before. I decided to skin up the White Salmon Glacier -- and drop the couloir from the top, as I was weary from the days before, and confident enough in the absense of ice in the exposed upper portion of the couloir... I was relieved when the dark clouds cleared and revealed the beast. Clouds once again wafted in, as I gained the upper Curtis Glacier, and I traveresed the upper Hanging Glacier to the couloir entrance in a almost complete white out. There I waited for perhaps an hour, slowly loseing hope that the clouds would clear -- and they did! I skiied the upper section very gingerly, because I had noticed some reavtive shallow windslab on my traverse of the hanging glacier, and the entrance was no place to get caught in a slide. I found and avoided some windslab, and ice... Snow conditions at the couloir entrance were stable slabby windpack. My knees were shakeing a little as I stared down the exposure below giveing quick considerations to possible slabs or ice... The exposed traverse did have a touch of shallow ice crust, but it was neither a problem or all that difficult to negotiate. Very good snow conditions existed in most of the couloir, although I practiced sluff managment, as I was knocking down quite a bit of snow with every large turn, so I got out of it's way by evadeing fall line after a few turns. looking at the entrance tracks

Trip: Shuksan - North Face -- BYS direct Date: 2/7/2010 Trip Report: Picture taken On clear afternoon of a differant day... I woke up determined to ski the North Face, I had packed and prepared the night before, but the weather was not looking good... Clouds, of various kinds loomed darkly overhead as I sipped coffe outside the Glacier Ski Shop, there was quite a hustle and bustle as the infamous Banked Slalom was underway... I asked the guy at the coffe shop if he knew what the forecast was calling for -- he said he didn't but he could find out with a call(thanks!)... high overcast and no snow is what he said. Sweet, sounds reasonable for the nf... I left the parking lot around 9am, The skin track up to the BYS variation entrance was still there, but the boot pack had disappeared overnight... Clouds steadily built - darkened, and approached, if worst came to worst - I could just downclimb my track. Tempratures were a lot warmer than the previous day. This - I thought - helped to relax some of the tension in the shallow surface slab that was the theme on much of the route.. Clouds rolled in enfulfing me and the face in fog. Occasional breaks in the clouds gave me hope as I neared the top of the face. I skiined up to the north shoulder in a foggy white out, buckled my boots and got ready to drop at a moments notice -- in anticipation of a much hoped for break in the clouds. It came, I dropped, skiing happily in the narrow clear window. There was a little ice crust at the very top, then a little pow, then mostly windslabby affected snow. It was cool to ski to loud reggae music -- that echoed up from the party at the ski resort many thousands of feet below. As I gained the entrance to the BYS couloir the weather window closed as the clouds once again engulfed the mountain. I waited for about half an hour and thankfully the clouds cleared for a few minutes. The couloir was very fun skiing, especially the steep exit through the rock band at the bottom. There were no more weather windows that afternoon, thick clouds rolled in and drizzled on me as I made my way back to the parking lot. top of face lookin down view tracks entance couloir random

Trip: Shuksan - nf climb, summit pyramid & white salmon ski Date: 2/6/2010 Trip Report: My truck sputtered, lurching a little as it lost power and I pulled over to the shoulder - westbound on 542 near demming. Fuck -- it could be done for this time, maybe the engine finally quit... Ring...Ring -- wtf? I have cell coverage? and who the hell is calling? It was Sky, asking if I wanted to get uber rad on shuksan the next morning... I explained that my truck had just broke down a minute ago, and that I was stranded on the the side of the road somewhere near demming. I told him that I'd try to make it, but it was getting near 8pm, and considering current circumstances -- I propbably wouldn't be able to make it... I crossed my fingers and fired the ignition -- and it fired up just fine, must be the fuel filter.. I drove into town and replaced it, then got some groceries and prepared to head up on the 'hill for the mmorow. I got to the White Salmon parking area the next morning around 8, I could see Sky, Eric, Alex, Andy and Casey makeing their way up the WS drainage. I debated wether to try and catch up with them or just accept that I had gotten there too late and go ski sumpthin on the pidley side up near table. I decided to try and catch up, and ended up leaving around 9. Travel conditions were nearly ideal for quick booting and skining, minus a bit of snowless shwacking on the descent through the clearcut into the white salmon. It was nice to have a skin track and boot track to follow higher up on the north face -- which defintly saved time, and I topped out on the north face just as the crew was getting ready to drop. I was weary of some of the questionable stability/slabbyness I noticed on the nf, so instead of joining them, I continued to the summit. The pyramid gully is in fine shape for skiing. There is however a 10' band of unskiable but (easily climbable via a chimney) massive rime formations seperateing the top of the gully from the summit. The skiing was fabulous off the pyramid, a little bulletproof in the devils highway, and again on the Curtis Glacier as I gained the White Salmon -- which was absolute ripper pow. summit shot lookin down pyramid gully pyramid

Trip: Mt. Ruth - north slopes + dog avi Date: 2/1/2010 Trip Report: I booted most of the 6 mile slog to Ruth, wich seemed like the optimal method of travel to more easily overcome the many creeks, and huge avi debris piles. It was quite pleasant to start skinning on the last mile. My dog Sadie broke out from the safety of my motorhome where I had left her, she caught up with me several miles up the trail. I was not too stoked to see her, even though she loves the exercise, the mountain wilderness is full of danger for hyper little doggies... The north slopes of Ruth were looking nice. Sadie enjoys my skintrack. But she took the lead towrds the top. She was not to comfortable on the summit. Visibility deteriorated rapidly around the time I made the summit. Ski conditions were shallow windbuffed pow. I experimented with some new camera angles that didn't work out, So much of the descent is left out of this video, but I still got some action, includeing me triggering a shallow soft slab, which Sadie got caught in, she struggled out of it with little effort. I was never worried, even though I noticed obvious signs of instability, they were confined to the few inches of surface snow, and the runout was gradual and clean. The slab was only 3 or 4 inches deep, but did propagate pretty much the entire start zone of the convezity. It slid on the crusty older snow. I would say that shallow soft slabs are currently LIKELY to be triggered by skiers on STEEP, LEE start zones at upper elavations, in the 542 area. [video:youtube]

almost to the th

Trip: Nooksack Ridge, pk. 6966 - nw face & gully Date: 1/28/2010 Trip Report: I took a walk up Ruth creek yesterday, in a mood to ski whatever looked good. This is what I found: Snow was a little wet down low, pow up high - with the usual transition types inbetween. Views from the top were purtty. north face - shuksan sefrit There was some exposed 50 off the top, and some non exposed 55 pow lower down, the gully was quite low angle. zoomer of pk 6966, my route is partially hidden purtty alpenglow on hike back Gear Notes: bring skin wax Approach Notes: left the truck at 11am, back before dark.

nice! was the road gated at silverstar? congrats on the proud mileage btw. i'm glad my odometer's broke at 90k, or maybe it's stuck in a time warp, either way -- stoked that mine keeps chugin too.

I could drive to the trailhead in my '83 2wd beater, there was a ways of dirt-trail hikeing before the skinning began.