Monday, December 28, 2009

Mount Anne, Dec. 26, 2009



I'm really stoked on this day.  This is an incredible view tour, the Baker blues did not disappoint, and the terrain is BIG and rowdy.  Since the snowpack has yet to reach "fat" status, the long approach and exit were a little gnarly with lots of creek crossings and ups and downs, but we all survived, although there were a few tense moments with exposure over big drops into waterfalls.  The north facing cirque has endless line options, although on this day we were a little limited since most of the lines were guarded by crowns or debris.  That being said, it was still an absolutely incredible day.

 Sunrise
 

Where we're headed


Crowns on almost all of the convex rollers.


Debris filled the valley


Oh yea.  I don't think that the sun touches these slopes from Nov. to March.

Mount Baker


Sunset on Shuksan...


...and the boarder peaks.
 

The ride down went smoothly and the conditions were good and stable.  A little firm underneath and some debris and crust to avoid, but safe and fun...really, really fun.


Crystal Mountain Tours, Dec. 23 & 24, 2009

On Dec. 23, Eric and I decided to tour around the Crystal Mountain, WA backcountry.  The runs trend toward the wide-open bowl variety, which is a nice change of pace from the chutes that I prefer.  Crystal's terrain, for the most part, is short and sweet, and on this day I think we did 5 runs total.  That's a lot of transitioning between skinning and riding...

Our first run down the south-facing backside of the King was surprisingly good.  A little sun affected, but creamy.


We headed through a notch on the other side of the little valley where the wind was absolutely ripping, making transitioning a pain.  Another group with ideas similar to our own arrived a couple of minutes after us, but there was plenty of room for everyone.  The top of the slope was a little slabby from all the wind, but it rode really nicely.

Tracked


We toured up the broad, shady bowl to the southwest, where we found cold snow but lots of wind-affect, and then re-traced our route back out to the parking lot.


Heading back up into the wind and out of the sun before strapping in.
 

A lonely place, the way I like it.


Rainer with a crazy cloud hat


Getting motivated for the last climb of the day.


Given the lack of recent significant snow and a rain crust, I'd say we found the goods.

The next day, we headed up from Lot C and had a discouraging skin up East Peak.  The steep trees required ski-cramponing, which sapped a lot of our motivation for getting a lot of riding in.  We spent a little while kicking cornices, and as we got bolder, managed to knock some refrigerator-sized ones down towards Cement Creek.  This was probably the funnest part of the day.

We did a quick lap down the backside, and then took the "adventurous" route back to the parking lot, which required an epic bushwack at the bottom.  Mostly dust on crust this day, but as usual, good times...

Here's a short video of some of the riding we did over the two days:

Monday, December 14, 2009

Kendall Peak, SW Bowl, Dec. 12, 2009

More low tide adventure riding in the Cascades. Snoqualmie Pass has so much rad terrain.  It hadn't really snowed in two weeks so we were happy to find decent snow.

Chris skinning up a roll low down in the slide path.


Alaska, etc.


Making an important phone call.
 

Mount Rainer.





One thing that I've realized recently is that I point a lot when I'm riding, and so do my friends. I suppose this is pretty common, but I didn't comprehend the magnitude of the point-fest that typically goes on until I started using this POV camera. Excessive and unconscious pointing, and not just at the top of a line, but during every little conversation and for no reason. And when there is a reason, it usually goes something like this:

Me: Do you want to go right (point) or left (point)?
Partner: Right (point)...........or left (point).
Me: It looks better right (point).
Partner: Yea (point). But it looks pretty good left (point), too.
Me: OK. Well, which way are you going to go?
Partner: Left (points)...Or right (points). Partner then rides away and goes straight.

We found a little bit of old powder, recycled powder, and surface hoar in the open, and the proud, big bowls that you see when driving east to the pass rode well. There was a tiny bit of suffering on the approach and exit, but it was totally worth it. It's always nice to be in a basin alone with your friends, under the sunshine and the blue sky and with the surface hoar sparkling, away from the city or the traffic or the...

Monday, December 7, 2009

Epic early season in the Cascades

One day, the hills are brown and wet, three days later, they're blanketed in deep white powder. The excitement of the first big dump of the year is tough to contain, but in order to avoid breaking board or body, it's a good idea to try to reign it in. The season is still young and there's no reason to push it when rocks, logs, and other lurking dangers are only slightly hidden. Right???

On November 7th and 8th we made our first tentative powder turns of the year at (the closed) Crystal Mountain, one of the local ski areas. The first day was full on wind and snow for the skin up, giving us a vivid reminder of what it's like to be out in a storm during winter, but thankfully the weather opened up a bit while we took a couple of short runs. Some cracking, wrinkling, and a lack of avy gear made these mellow runs a little spicy, but the snow was good and the turns were excellent.

The next day, the weather was much better which brought out the ravenous hordes. Since we were there the day before, we bee-lined it to an area that we knew would hold deep snow and also be a little bit removed from the ongoing frenzy. This was an absolutely incredible season opener, one to remember for a long time.

Season Opener, Nov. 7 & 8, 2009 from Preston Few on Vimeo.



The Mount Baker area, as usual, received about twice as much snow as the rest of the Washington Cascades during the storm cycle of early November, so on the 14th, off to the Baker backcountry we went. Since the visibility was -- as it often is in the PNW -- lacking, we took a couple of runs in the steep north facing terrain under Huntoon Point, where trees and gullies could give us a little depth perception.

Awesome, classic adventure riding: with 5 feet of unconsolidated snow, the tops of small trees poking up, and waterfalls that were not quite covered, this was definitely a "no fall" type of day. The early season coverage made this zone steeper and more technical than it would be with a fat snow pack, and the snow, which was stable with just a little bit of sluffing, rewarded us with a whole lot of time logged in the white room. Yet another day to remember...

Baker BC, Nov. 14, 2009 from Preston Few on Vimeo.



Recently we've been suffering through some dust on crust, and now we're in the midst of absolutely arctic temps, but we've still had some fun times in the mountains, although we're pretty picky and I'm anxious for the flakes to start flying again.

Some Sinners setting a track.


Looking down a chute in marginal conditions. Dust on crust and avy chunks. Yum. It was still fun.