dmTabke Posted May 19, 2009 Posted May 19, 2009 Trip: Hozomeen Mountain north peak - northeast face ski descent Date: 5/17/2009 Trip Report: Made the long drive from Seattle to Vancouver (to pick up Sky) to Ross Lake via Hope and the Silver Skagit Road, the goal to attempt a ski descent on Hozomeen Mountain. We were hiking up the Skyline II trail by around 430PM. Switched smoothly to skis at ~5,500' and continued up the Hozomeen Ridge trail into the night. At 11PM we took our "alpine stop" and set up our bivouacs at a large col at 5,700' about .5 miles north of the US/Canada border. We were joined by Andy at around 3 or 4 AM (!!). He rode a 30km mountain bike race near Squamish in the morning, but insisted on trying to find us anyway (!!). Left bivy at about 6AM and we could have been a lot earlier. The ridge linked effortlessly into the climb, a great route! As Sky said, May is the time of "Slurpy Death," and we cowered in the shadows of the climber's left side of the face as the early rays cleaned the loose snow off the rocks and snow to the right. Climbing crux was about 20 feet of low angle ice and rock. Water was percolating, and luckily we had a a thermos of strong coffee to soothe the resulting cravings. Skied from summit and were able to easily and safely (??) trigger wetslides off the afore mentioned sun slopes, which took out a lot of snow and left the route's two exposed spots looking a bit safer. We made quick work of the down climb and were soon decompressing back at camp after our stressful grapple with the Slurpy Death. Packed up and ran home, cars by 645PM. Sky scoping from the international boundary. Crux. Sky. Note debris. After skiing, we gain the ridge to the left (Hozomeen Ridge trail) which is followed over several high points until linking up with Skyline II and descending the most clearly distinguished gully near the top left of photo. Scenic trail! Gear Notes: 24oz Tecate Can x2 Quote
Alpinfox Posted May 19, 2009 Posted May 19, 2009 I wonder what Kerouac would think of this. Hozomeen, Hozomeen, most beautiful mountain I ever seen ... but what a horror when I first saw that void the first night of my staying on Desolation Peak waking up from deep fogs of 20 hours to a starlit night suddenly loomed by Hozomeen with his two sharp points, right in my window black... Over 70 days I had to stare at it. -JK LINK Quote
skykilo Posted May 19, 2009 Posted May 19, 2009 Nice photos and accurate account, dmT. Post-control work shows Hozone pollution. Andy enjoys the best turns of the day while finishing the approach on the ridge. Alternate view of the crux DmT skis quickly through the supreme slurpy-death zone, or as Andy might have said, "Holy fuck! Get me the fuck out of here." Quote
ivan Posted May 19, 2009 Posted May 19, 2009 I wonder what Kerouac would think of this. Hozomeen, Hozomeen, most beautiful mountain I ever seen ... but what a horror when I first saw that void the first night of my staying on Desolation Peak waking up from deep fogs of 20 hours to a starlit night suddenly loomed by Hozomeen with his two sharp points, right in my window black... Over 70 days I had to stare at it. -JK LINK i doubt he'd be sober enough to think anything sensible of it at all! sky n' company's antics impress me far more than proto-hippie-hedonism Quote
jordop Posted May 19, 2009 Posted May 19, 2009 Tres rad. Too bad the hourglass wasn't more filled in. There's some good potential for taking the grand tour on that face - nicely done. Quote
John Frieh Posted May 19, 2009 Posted May 19, 2009 Excellent first post/TR! So is the silver-skagit road gated anywhere? Or can you drive to the end? Quote
Tom_Sjolseth Posted May 19, 2009 Posted May 19, 2009 Road is open as of tomorrow past the border (according to Marblemount RS). Quote
JoshK Posted May 19, 2009 Posted May 19, 2009 Very cool! Indeed that May time slurpee snow can be downright scary and a nasty thing to have to deal with. Quote
powderhound Posted May 19, 2009 Posted May 19, 2009 (edited) Looks like you guys had a great time, nice work. Is this the first ski descent of Hozo? Any shots of the zorro face? Edited May 19, 2009 by powderhound Quote
wayne Posted May 20, 2009 Posted May 20, 2009 Cant wait to get back in there myself, Thanks for the stoke guys.. Quote
LostCamKenny Posted May 20, 2009 Posted May 20, 2009 I wonder what Kerouac would think of this. Hozomeen, Hozomeen, most beautiful mountain I ever seen ... but what a horror when I first saw that void the first night of my staying on Desolation Peak waking up from deep fogs of 20 hours to a starlit night suddenly loomed by Hozomeen with his two sharp points, right in my window black... Over 70 days I had to stare at it. -JK LINK i doubt he'd be sober enough to think anything sensible of it at all! sky n' company's antics impress me far more than proto-hippie-hedonism Kerouac and Hemmingway are drunk right now, contemplating the nature of an adventurous lifestyle. Jaffy is the one who would really appreciate it! Quote
moira armen Posted May 23, 2009 Posted May 23, 2009 You guys inspire me to get out and with awe...all your TRs are so rad! Quote
Atraslin Posted May 27, 2009 Posted May 27, 2009 Great trip report.Happy I found you guys.Another trip I didn't even Know about 2.5 hours from North Vancouver.Next time hopefully we want be in the line of fire and danger zone for so long. Quote
olyclimber Posted May 27, 2009 Posted May 27, 2009 Jaffy is the one who would really appreciate it! Quote
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