jlag Posted November 21, 2004 Posted November 21, 2004 No viable partner so decided to solo the North ridge and hopefully get some decent turns on the Hayden. Started hiking at 5am, a skiff of powder on Pole Creek trail. Patchy in spots, couldn't start skinning until above the Chambers Lakes climbers turn off. Skinned up the Hayden, on wind blown powder, other aspects very icy. Met LetsRoll and chatted with him a bit. Wind really started to pick up, was rocking the IPOD so didn't hear the blasts until they almost knocked me over. Ditched the boards at the top of the Hayden. Traversed to the upper saddle, crampons were essential due the hard rime all over the ridge. Staying on the ridge meant dealing with 40-50 mph gusts blasting ice in your face so I traversed right onto steeper ground. Basically just shot up this ice gully(blue ice in spots) and self belayed when the train sound started. Got within a couple hundred feet of the summit when the big gusts started. Got blown off my feet twice waiting for gaps in wind blasts. Spindrift coming off the summit was incredible, thought i was hallucinating. Downclimbing was interesting, no second tool and very icy. Strapped on the split board and got a killer powder run down skiers left side of the Hayden. Most of the crevasses were filled in, stay out of the middle of the glacier. Rode down to tree line, could of kept riding but too early for core shots in the split board. Very sunny,windy cold day. Got back to the car at 2. Easy access, powder turns. Quote
gapertimmy Posted November 22, 2004 Posted November 22, 2004 very nice jlag. sorry i couldn't make it, i had an overnight festival frdiay and had to work on saturday. sounds like some familiar conditiosn that i had on the north ridge back in june Quote
letsroll Posted November 22, 2004 Posted November 22, 2004 After we ran into you we hiked a couple more miles for a kick in the pants view of the sistas. Went to bend for much beer and crashed out at a local hot spot. I think they call it the econo lodge Quote
jlag Posted November 23, 2004 Author Posted November 23, 2004 Ice still looks a bit thin in my opinion. The NE slot still requires some rockclimbing to gain the upper ice. The east face is looking real good, just a bit thin down lower. The upper part of the mountain, both N and Middle looks sick. Quote
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