Jump to content

TR: A Ride on the South Side


Roger

Recommended Posts

July 5th, 7:45 am – alarm goes off, I instantly regret honoring the birth of our nation with several late-night rounds of kentucky bourbon. Hit snooze twice.

 

8:03 am – hit snooze again.

 

8:20 – breakfast of Advil and orange juice, start looking for gear.

 

9:10 – partner arrives to pick me up, characteristically late and annoyingly chipper. Typical snowboarder. A quick stop for coffee and solid food, and we're eastbound on I-84.

 

10:35 – rendezvous in the Timberline parking lot with the other two members of our party, who drove over from cloudcap after spending the Fourth on the snowdome. They've been waiting for us long enough to have picked up some unwelcome beta – Timberline won't sell a $15 single-ride lift ticket if you're carrying any sort of glisse devices. Also, you must have an MLU. Oh well. We throw super-light daypacks together and remind ourselves that despite our intent to summit, this is really a skiing trip and not a climbing trip.

 

11:05 – we grudgingly purchase tickets and board the chairlift.

 

11:30 – top of the Palmer, skins on, the actual work begins. I sweat a little whiskey and start feeling better. Weather is perfect.

 

12:35 pm – daunted by crappy looking dirt-covered and boot-cratered snow, two of our three snowboarders drop their gear somewhere around crater rock. Resolved to ski off the top regardless of how hard it will suck, Scott and I remove skins, and strap split-board and tele skis to our respective packs.

 

12:50 – we encounter a ranger just below the hogsback, who informs us that we're "getting a late start," and asks how high we are planning to go. I shrug, issue an evasive response, and we continue upward. Except for a guy on AT gear coming up behind us with an exasperated beagle, there is not another person to be seen.

 

1:35 – we are alone on the summit on a summer weekend, looking down to the north at our guys' tracks on the snowdome from yesterday. Blue sky, light wind. We take a couple of photos and eat some food. Life is good.

 

2:00 – enough stalling, it's time to go. We can't ski directly off the top, because it's completely melted out. Damn. Scott and I hike a little west to a likely looking chute and scope. It's melted out, rocky, and heavily tracked by climbers. I'm sure someone could probably ski it, but not us… I'm not very interested in tempting a fall at this point. We downclimb about 40 feet of the chute to a steep and somewhat sketchy location where we strap in and start down. The snow is actually pretty nice this high up, and only slightly suncupped. Several turns later, there is one thin crevasse to negotiate, then more decent turns, and a traverse back east to the upper hogsback, just below the 'schrund.

 

2:40 – after some good turns down the eastern side of the hogsback, we have to hike across a melted out area near crater rock. The other two boarders find their gear, strap in, and we head down, passing the guy with the beagle. The beagle is now completely fed up, and refusing to move. Snow is pretty wet, but still a lot of fun.

 

3:00 – big, fast GS turns on the Palmer.

 

3:30 – cold beers in the parking lot in the sunshine... life is really good. A four-hour tour.

bigdrink.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 2
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Top Posters In This Topic

Our plan was to buy the $15 single-ride pass, but they won't sell you one if you're carrying boards of any kind. madgo_ron.gif I guess their theory is that they don't want to sell even one run for $15. Also, for the single-ride pass you have to have an MLU. So we had to shell out the full $39.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.




×
×
  • Create New...