Shuksan NF Fail

By: Sam
May 26, 2011 3:04 pm | Category: Quick Update, Skiing | 3 Comments | Permalink

On the 19th, I had the day off the the sun was shining. I’ve wanted to ski the North Face of Shuksan for some time, and it seemed like it would be as good a day as any to go ski it. Sadly, I didn’t have a partner, so I left my SLR behind and relied on my cell phone to capture the action for the day.


The first good view.

I got an intentionally late start, not leaving the white salmon lodge until after 9. My thought was that the North face was, well, north facing, and could use some time in the sun before I got on it. While the ski down into the valley from the ski resort was corny and uneventful, the destruction higher up in the valley was jaw dropping.
Big avalanches.

As I made my way though the valley, I was traveling on frozen corn, what I wanted and expected. If the North Face was frozen, the avalanche danger would be low, there would be less of a danger of rockfall, and I’d be moving fast as I cramponed up the face. I planned to sit at the top and wait until the slope was soft and then ski down.

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All was going according to plan until right after I switched to crampons and swung around onto the base of the North Face. First, as I was traversing a patch of frozen snow, the heel lever of my crampon broke and the crampon fell off my foot leading to an exciting moment and a hasty repair. Confident in my repair, I pressed on, but soon found that the North face had received a lot more sun and hot air that I had expected it to. The entire face seemed to consist of knee deep rotten snow. Hoping for the best, I pressed a few hundred yards further, but conditions didn’t improve, and given the exposure under the north face, I didn’t want to press my luck.


Ruth is looking good now.


Ready to go.

So, I turned around, skied a bit of nice corn, and headed back to my house. Not much of an adventure, but an interesting learning experience nonetheless.

In retrospect, in discussion with Allen, we concluded that because the line is more NNE than purely north (as I thought it was), it gets more morning sun than I was expecting it to get. Further, the valley may have been staying colder than one would have expected because of the cold air spilling off the hanging glacier. Oh well.


TR: Baker + Wind = :/

By: Sam
May 26, 2011 1:21 pm | Category: Full Trip Report, Skiing | Permalink

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I had a very big day on Baker last week with Joel Bettner, Drew Tabkey and his friend Will. Though we got shutdown on the line we were looking at, we still managed to have a lot of fun (and not get blown off the mountain). Click the photo for the full TR.


Ain’t Nothing Gonna Break My Stride

May 20, 2011 11:42 am | Category: Quick Update, Skiing | 7 Comments | Permalink

The snow’s always light in the Wasatch.  We never get the quagmire that Tahoe calls snow.  Definitely not.

At least that’s what we thought.  40 inches of snow and 5 inches of water later, we’re neck deep in the quick snow. The kind of stuff, if you even think of breaking your stride, you’ll be stuck wallowing in it.

With that in mind, Dwyer and I set out. Hot and light, cold and heavy?!??!  Either way we kept the feet shuffling and the skis planed up.

Approaching the schussing it looked like we were preparing to destroy the ring in Mordor.

That wasn’t the case however.

D put it into overdrive and slogged his way above the clouds.

The higher up we got, the more the snow was turning into slush.  Good thing Dwyer brought his 11-12 BD waterskis.

Dwyer planed up and made a wake for the rest of us to follow.

Ain’t nothing going to break my stride

Nobody’s going to slow me down!  OH NO

I’ve got to keep on moving!

_____________________________________________________

JORTSKI BONUS MATERIAL:

Caution.  This isn’t for the faint of heart, or of schuss.  This is for died in the wool skiers, those who can see a lot of thigh, and not get that queezy feeling in the stomach.

Three really good looking gentlemen.  (Porter, Lionel, & Dwyer)

L_H getting the trim!

Jortski going full blast.

Ben putting the SKI into JORTSKI!

All JORTSKI POV footage courtesy of Perry Hall >>> ENJOI!


Also, in case you were wondering this post was powered by CABOT CHEESE.


More Snow in the Wasatch (!)

By: Ben
May 18, 2011 1:47 am | Category: Quick Update, Skiing | 4 Comments | Permalink

Another week, another snowstorm.

After a beautiful sunny weekend featuring 60 degree temps and an oddly high concentration of skiers in Jorts at Snowbird, it was really starting to seem like spring was here to stay. We convinced Lionel to enter into some high level talks with Ullr though, and all of a sudden we’re in the midst of another snow storm!

By this evening the Collins plot data was showing almost a foot of new snow, so my co-worker John, Kate, and I decided to head up to investigate. We started seeing fresh snow in the trees around 6500′ and by the time we got to the Alta parking lot, there was a foot of fresh snow coating the landscape and the sky even showed signs of clearing up. We were pretty stoked as we started heading up the deserted mountain, with dreams of sunset light on west-facing powder dancing in our heads.

Ullr had other plans however. Halfway up the skin, the weather started to close in, and by the top we were in a full blizzard. It’s hard to complain much in mid May though!

John is loving the new snow

We hurriedly switched over in the pelting snow and wind at the top, then started skiing down. The snow was surprisingly good, a foot of heavyish powder on top of a good supportive surface. There was a bit of a density inversion with lighter snow below a couple heavier inches at the top, and although we didn’t see any major signs of instability, we stuck to the trees for the most part.

Kate enjoying a coveted mid-May faceshot

I think she's having fun!

Overall, the skiing was even better than we thought it would be, with full-on faceshots and blizzard conditions that made it feel downright wintery. Spring is a pretty special time of year when you can drive between seasons and be mountain biking on bone dry dirt one day, then skiing fresh powder the next.

Thanks for stopping by!


Famous Internet Skiing Slideshow

By: Greg
May 12, 2011 12:09 pm | Category: Site News, Skiing, WebiGNARs | 6 Comments | Permalink

Remember back in March when I posted about the Stowe Supershoot? Well, here’s the slideshow that took home the bacon from the contest.alternatetext The shots are 100% east coast. Enjoy!

If you’re a little confused about some of the shot selections (and the oddly brightly colored clothes on the telemark skier), know that the format for the east coast supershoot is such that half the photos are permitted to be from the photographer’s prior portfolio, and the other half must have been shot during the 2 days of shooting allowed before the slideshow presentations. This rule forces photographers to use photos from two days that may not be top notch because you are force to shoot in conditions that may not be ideal.


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