[TR] Cannon Mountain - Northeast face via Asgaard

[ryanl]

Trip: Cannon Mountain - Northeast face via Asgaard and Prussik Pass

 

Date: 3/8/2008

 

Trip Report:

photo by Monika

 

Have I mentioned that I love Washington? Yesterday was yet another perfect day in a ridiculously lucky streak I’ve been having. Great weather, good snow, great views, and even better partners seems to be in the stars for me lately.

 

The plan: ski over Asgaard Pass, then Prussik Pass, climb Cannon mountain, ski one of it’s north chutes to Coney Lake, gain Cannon’s north shoulder, and ski back to the car more than 5000’ below.

 

Cannon’s appeal lies in it’s location. At 8638',and only a stone’s throw from the Stuart massif, I imagined the views from its top would be extraordinary. The trick was getting there. Twice before I’d grunted the nearly 5000' straight up from Lake Stuart trailhead to Cannon’s north shoulder to ski the Cannon Mtn Couloir, through blowdown and steep trees. Not the best way to savor beauty. Hence the idea to approach via Asgaard and Prussik Pass. A little longer, but also a more natural traverse through insanely beautiful terrain. I like loops in beautiful places.

 

I convinced Dave Coleman and the trail breaking machine known as "Monika" that the trip would be worthwhile. Not an easy sale- a 2:45 am seattle departure, a several hour drive, more than 8000’ of gain over somewhere between 15 and 20 miles, all in order to climb/ski something they’d probably never heard of. Dave got us to the end of Icicle creek road in about 2 hours. Thanks Dave. By 5:30 we were on our way. The road was in fast condition. We made it to the trail head in a little over an hour. The pace might have been a little too fast as we all got blisters from the Nordic action in alpine equipment. Dave got the worst of it. A couple more hours got us to Colchuck lake, and by 11:00 am we were sitting pretty on top of Asgaard Pass in BEAUTIFUL weather. The way to Asgaard was over hard snow. Dave and I switched to crampons, while Monika taught me that the ski crampons I have sitting in my closet are actually useful. She smoked us. I’m not kidding- I saw traces of her skin track in places where I was using full French Technique. Very impressive.

 

photo by Monika

 

At the col Dave revealed that his blisters were giving him serious grief. It was too beautiful, and too early, to turn around so the three of us set out for Prussik Pass, finding some good turns along the way towards Inspiration Lake.

 

photo by Monika.

Skier: Dave

 

 

 

Dave ripping above Inspiration Lake:

 

 

At Prussk Pass we got our first view of the route to Cannon. We imagined that Cannon’s summit lie hidden behind the ridge lining the horizon. We were right. We erred, though, in imaging where along the ridge we should aim our skin track. Who needs a compass when you have imagination? Answer- Dave, Monika, and me.

 

Red dot = where we went

Green dot = summit of Cannon

 

So we headed off for what we thought was a direct line to Cannon’s summit but was actually Cannon’s east shoulder. Shortly thereafter Dave decided that he needed to turn around. He was spent, and wasn’t up to facing the unknown steepness of Cannon’s north side. I thought about convincing him otherwise, but decided against it. Dave’s been thru enough adventure to make good decisions, so after making sure we were all OK with it, our party of three became a party of two.

 

The climb to the east shoulder went smoothly. We abandoned a snow couloir in favor or rocks to avoid the potential of sun slough.

 

 

When we topped out we could see where we were, and where we wanted to be. On the bright side, ridge walking always adds flavor to a trip.

 

 

Especially when you cliff out. Rather than retrace our steps—it was getting later in the day— we found a way through the rocks to the snow below. After some careful maneuvering, we were on our way again.

 

 

 

A view towards Prussik Pass. If you look closely you can see our skin track in the lower right center of the photo:

 

We topped out around 4:00 to the views I’d hoped for. I’ve seen the Stuart range a few times now, yet every time I see it in full form I’m floored. Stunning. I love Washington.

 

 

 

photo by Monika

 

I remembered Cannon’s north side from my pictures and with little trouble found the entrance into the chute I wanted to ski. The snow was variable powder, styrofoam, and wind slab. Good for linking turns, but too inconsistent to open up.

 

 

From Coney lake it was a short boot up to the ridge and more views. We thought about skiing the Cannon Mtn couloir, but the thought of additional traversing and booting turned us off. Instead, we found the gully I skied last year and enjoyed untracked perfect shin deep powder, in the sun no less, for about 2000’. Then some open corn mixed with tree and survival skiing had us popping out at the Lake Stuart trailhead. Not a foot of traversing. Better to be lucky than good.

 

 

photo by Monika

 

We skied down the road and arrived at the car a little before 6:30, 13 hours RT, with plenty of daylight to spare. Dave hadn’t returned yet, but we figured it would take him some time to get down from Colchuck lake. Dave had the keys, and we started to get chilled, so when we saw a couple heading into town we asked for a lift. We left Dave a note saying that we’d keep a seat warm for him at Gustavs. He showed up in high spirits just as we were ordering some food. Thanks to both Dave and Monika for a great day....

 

[kevino]

Shit, you beat me to it! Looks like an awesome trip. Thanks for the pictures.

[AllYouCanEat]

Damn, nice work guys. I called Phil after I got off the plane. I couldn't muster the energy to wake up that early.

[ryanl]

Yeah, I figured you'd be too worked from your trip....

[telemarker]

Excellent! I can sense your bliss! Nice work. But no photo of the cannon??

[tanstaafl]

Nice! Sounds burly; I'm glad I didn't try to horn in.

 

K

[To_The_Top]

Nice!

TTT

[David_Coleman]

Burly it was. That trip is still making me yawn for some reason.

[skykilo]

I've made a voodoo doll dressed like a precision low-energy nuclear physics experiment in your honor. First, I exported it to the other side of the world north of the 62nd parallel and now I'm killing it.

 

Nice pics.

[JayB]

What a day. Estoy muy envioso.