Loving Life on Larrabee

By:  Sam
January 30, 2011


I’d wanted to ski one of the lines on the south face of Larrabee since I first saw the mountain last summer. All three of the main chutes drop directly fall line from the summit to the bowl at the bottom of the south face and looked to be rather steep from across the valley. Based on what we could see, the chute furthest to the right looked to be the most skiable as it didn’t have a large ice encrusted cliff in the middle of it.
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Our ascent route (and the previous groups descent route) is shown here in blue, and the line we hoped to ski is red.

So, with a pretty good idea of what we wanted to ski, and a close eye on the weather, Allen and I headed out towards Larabee under clearing skies.
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As we followed the ascent route that the other group had used the other day, we were able to make quick progress up the mountain.


Allen nears the end of the skin track….


… and switches his gear over to begin boot-packing to the summit.


Looking down, Allen and I could see that the rest of the rest of the group was still following us up the mountain.

At some points the boot-pack that had been established the previous day had been completely scoured away by high winds during the night.

Allen, setting the bootpack near the summit of Larrabee.

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Read about the author:   Sam
Enjoy this TR? Read another: TR: Give Us an Inch, and We’ll Schuss a Foot

Related Stuff:

  1. TR: Loving Life on Larrabee
  2. The High Life
  3. TR teaser: South Face of Larrabee
  4. Video: Larrabee South Face

10 Comments

  1. Chris
    wrote on January 30th, 2011 at 4:55 pm  
    1

    Amazing shots Sam, nice work. Those mountains are unreal. Glad to see you guys are getting after what you moved out there for. Great trip report, thanks for sharing.

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  2. Ben
    wrote on January 30th, 2011 at 8:51 pm  
    2

    awesome stuff!!! that looks like a great adventure, exactly what I imagine ski mountaineering in WA to be! I can’t wait to get out there this spring some time!

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  3. K_C
    wrote on January 31st, 2011 at 10:16 am  
    3

    Nice story and photos! The skiing wasn’t bad either…

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  4. Alex
    wrote on January 31st, 2011 at 1:00 pm  
    4

    Spectacular! That is what they call a TR. Nice tribute to those who came before you, too.

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  5. Anonymous
    wrote on January 31st, 2011 at 2:56 pm  
    5

    awesome trip! thanks for sharing!

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  6. christian
    wrote on January 31st, 2011 at 7:51 pm  
    6

    woof! way to snag first tracks ahead of the pack :) nothin’ like an overnighter for sloppy 6ths in some of the most remote mountains in the country. :P
    seriously though, awesome TR.

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  7. savantskis
    wrote on February 1st, 2011 at 1:50 pm  
    7

    sweet…thanks for writing this great inspiration

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  8. savantskis
    wrote on February 1st, 2011 at 1:51 pm  
    8

    sweeeeeet…thanks for writing this great inspiration

    Respond to this comment/comment thread
  9. Nick
    wrote on February 1st, 2011 at 1:58 pm  
    9

    Wow, what an awesome trip! Glad you got to ski your line!

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  10. Eduardo Blanchard
    wrote on February 4th, 2011 at 6:16 pm  
    10

    Hey guys, fun meeting you up there- cool vid and pics too! You did well to ski out when you did- when we left, maybe an hour later, the top of the gully below the hut had frozen solid!

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