[TR] Mounts Spickard and Rahm on skis- North glacier, SW couloir, respectively 4/29/2004

[Lowell_Skoog]

Climb: Mounts Spickard and Rahm on skis-North glacier, SW couloir, respectively

 

Date of Climb: 4/29/2004

 

Trip Report:

On April 29, my brother Carl and I climbed and skied from the summits of Mt Spickard and Mt Rahm by the north glacier and SW couloir, respectively. I won't have slides back for a while, so here are photos from a 1999 trip with another friend. The left photo shows Mt Spickard from Silver Lake. The right photo shows Mt Rahm, just left of center.

 

 

On Wednesday, April 28, we coaxed my car 1.9 miles up the Depot Creek road, where we were stopped by a washout, probably from last autumn's floods. There were some big blow-downs over the trail near the border, and climbing the Depot Creek headwall was unpleasant due to thin snow over the talus and brush. We camped when we reached upper Depot Basin.

 

On Thursday, we skied to Ouzel Lake and up to Silver Lake pass. We descended to Silver Lake and packed our skis up the narrow SW couloir of Mt Rahm. I left my skis at the base of the summit rocks, but Carl managed to ski up and down through the rocks on just a few inches of snow dumped by a thunderstorm on Tuesday. We both skied down the narrow couloir back to the lake, with Carl starting from the actual summit.

 

We skinned up the north glacier of Mt Spickard, then carried our skis up the final slope to the NW shoulder and the summit. We put on our skis at the summit and skied a 50-degree slope down to the bergshrund. The snow was wind-affected powder, offering a good edge, but uneven footing. Lower, the slopes became more gentle and we enjoyed a range of snow conditions, from dense powder to windboard to corn on the 4000-foot descent back to our camp in Depot Basin. We hiked out Friday morning.

 

Help me get the record straight

 

People have been skiing on Mt Spickard for over twenty years. However, every ski party I know of (including my 1999 party) has left their skis below the bergshrund and walked up and down the final steep slopes. I don't know of previous ski descents from the true summit.

 

On Mt Rahm, I found a record of a May 14, 1992, ski of the north glacier by Lorne Stevens and Richard Suddas [sp?]. I don't know if there were earlier ski ascents than that and I don't know if anybody has skied the south side of the peak before.

 

If you know of earlier ski descents of these routes, let me know, either by posting here, sending me a private message, or e-mailing me through my history project website: http://alpenglow.org/ski-history/project/about-frame.html

[skykilo]

All right Lowell!

Help me get it right- are these descents as spectacular as they seem? I'll be looking to head that way myself sometime soon!

[savaiusini]

Lowell,

Sounds like a great trip! I would love to see those slides once you get them back!

Nice job to you and Carl

[Dru]

Hey Lowell the north glacier on Rahm was skiied well before 1992 I believe as IIRC it is mentioned as being skiied in a BC Mountaineer annual in the 1980's. However I do not have this reference available to check.

[AllYouCanEat]

All right Lowell!

Help me get it right- are these descents as spectacular as they seem? I'll be looking to head that way myself sometime soon!

 

I'll be right behind you! Right on. I have no more family obligations for the next few weekends, so I'm sure it's going to rain now. Ha. More snow can't hurt anyhow. It's melting fast.

[JoshK]

Me three. I'll haul in the BBQ and keg.

[ashw_justin]

Where do I get in line to sign up?

 

Oh but don't ask what's in the green bag, and for sure don't look the tatooed guy in the eyes when he comes to get it.

[Lowell_Skoog]

I got a note from Steve Hindman indicating that he skied from the summit of Mt Spickard in April of about 2001. Excellent! If anybody can push the date back farther, let me know...