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Hiked in Wednesday night and climbed Silver Star via Burgundy col Thursday. No snow until camp plateau, some dry flat patches melted out for tents. Didn't see water to pump nearby but didn't look too hard. The way up to the notch was about 1/2 dirt or rock and 1/2 snow. There was a small stream running, a good place to pump water about 1/3 the way up, on the side of the main snow patch in the middle. The snow was not ideal for travel even on a cold morning, but it went ok. Still good bits of snow on some of the spires, verglas n-facing. The snowfield-glacier was straightforward. As of Saturday probably 6-10" of fresh on the glacier from Thurs-Sat, with the next layer about a foot of semi mushy yet generally strong stuff. Good bonding in general. Getting up on the glacier the snowpack became firmer. From the col to the summit was great semi steep snow climbing.

 

*Skiers + boarders- This would make a great descent. Thursday would have been good, but with snows th-sat maybe wait for 1 day of sun to consolidate things again first. Skiable terrain all the way from the summit blocks (so all but the last 10-15' vertical), at up to 45 degrees +/-. The upper glacier/bowl was looking ideal for turns, the last 1000' or more (going up)in nice shape. The snow continued a lot further down as well, though my guess is that it'd be getting more rotten w/ loss in elevation. A bit slabby in the gut of the main bowl but nice overall. We "tested" the upper slope all the way down to the plateau below the col with a large rock; no loose or slab propagation. It's a burl to get there but setting up a mega mid for a day of turns there would be pretty nice. Upper bit of descent recommended for strong skiers/boarders only; a fall from the upper mountain would be, on a scale from good to bad, bad.

 

Liberty Bell + SEWS friday and saturday- approached from trailhead fri and hairpin sat. Blue lake side snow and dirt to meadow under slabs, the more snow, a lot of it rotten and postholey. Approached LB via boulders and snow, took a little while. Last bit to notch was all firmer snow, no need for crampons. From hairpin Sat was pretty good. Generally better snow, and a 90% glissadable downhill (watch for rocks)which saved a lot of time vs. the other side.

 

Southern facing routes were generally dry, most N facing walls had a retained over the 2 days verglas in and around cracks, etc. S arete SEWS in good shape, a tiny bit of ice in the chimney, snow on the big upper ledges but all in all very easy going. Was pleased to meet a nice group of Mountaineers Saturday who, after the chimney, cruised the route in very good, efficient style (i.e. solo and with a fixed rope on the hand traverse) which got seven of them from the flat 100' above the top of the chimney to the summit in under an hour. They were also kind enough to let us pass. They were a credit to their group, and a nice change from what can sometimes be a cluster of confusion, over-sieged techniques and bossy leaders. Cheers to you guys!

 

It snowed for about an hour each afternoon, and looked like more of the same moving in when we left. We got spanked by 6" of snow in 40 minutes while climbing the 5.6 chimney on the Beckey route Friday, but the route seemed to be back in shape again Saturday (via the view from SEWS). Felt nice to be in the hills and see some snow!

Edited by crazy_t
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