Wednesday, February 24, 2010

The Fins

The Fins, a scattered collection of limestone ridges located a few miles out of Arco, make for easy access to hard climbing. I mostly thrutch around like a fool and then watch others seemingly defy gravity on nonexistent holds. The two shots below show Steve on the Discovery Wall.


Mt. Shuksan, North Cascades- Washington

Although I’d seen the North Cascades many times, the first time I was really staggered by their grandeur was from the window of an Alaskan Airlines 737 on a trip to Mexico. I set my sights on the (my opinion) most impressive plumb in the range, Mount Shuksan. A year later I made it to the top in deteriorating weather that prevailed for 8 more days and stymied my attempts on two other mountains in the area.
4 tiny climbers make their way across the upper Sulphide Glacier to the summit head wall.

The summit. Although the weather was perfect on top, the thick clouds on the left side of the photo settled in for the next 8 days. I navigated my way back to high camp through thick fog, using the GPS I'd luckily brought along.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Skiing Mt. Borah's North face. 7-23-09


On July 24th, 2009 Brandon Hobbs and I climbed the standard route on the South West side of Mt. Borah. It had been a pretty average winter but I'd noticed the snow was hanging tough on the north face. Dooley and I had climbed the face in 2005 and at the time I'd not considered it as a a possible ski route, the summit couloir is steep and too narrow for any real turns, the upper face has a double fall-line and  and much of the terrain forces you to continually ski left to avoid rocky outcroppings. The other - West side of the mountain looks like much easier skiing but has a good deal double fall-line as well. In general I'd always considered a ski descent off any aspect of the mountain as "not worth the pack-weight to ski-turn ratio" but as I knocked over one 12'er after the next Borah finally got in the way. The hike up that morning on the standard rout's well beaten trail turned out to be easier than I'd hoped for and the weather was perfect.
Skis, boots, 60 meter rope, etc weighed a little more than 50 lbs so the battle was pretty much over when we made it to the top. The skiing below the chute was just what I'd expected, steep and stiff, and leaning left I could link three or four turns and then side hill to the left before making a few more. In the end, I was able to ski all the way to the old snowtell wreckage at the base of the face. The hike out of Rock Creek is always pleasant and there isn't much bushwacking if you know the way. I knew Brandon would be a while making his way down the mountain and then driving over to pick me up so I had plenty of time to realize that although the turns weren't great, the adventure meant a lot.   
Borah's North face from Double Springs Pass Road. The summit couloir, hardly visible in this long shot, splits the summit dome for the first 200' to the upper snow field. I shot this photo in 2007 and that's when the idea of a NF descent really started to hatch. 

Roped skiing down the summit couloir. The first 250’ of the North face is guarded by a couloir choked with ice and rock. In July, the skiable terrain narrows to less than 2’ in the chute and is steep enough to make it impossible, at least for me. Brandon was able to belay me for the first 160’ but after I pulled the rope, I tried to build an ice bollard for a rappel down the final 90’. The ice was too rotten and brittle for anything but a psychological anchor and I wound up burying and leaving a new snow picket instead. Once out of the couloir, I made rickety turns down the steep sun hammered face producing small "point" avalanches that turned frighteningly large by the time they squeezed between cliff bands. This trusty pair of first generation Black Diamond Verdicts has been with me on every other 12-er descent and although I worried the chute would be the end of them they held up just fine, I still ski them today.

Dooley follows up the face in 2005

Monday, February 22, 2010

Carcass Cliff

Carcass Cliff September 2009. Carcass Cliff near the head of Pass Creek narrows holds some potential for good routes and the exposure adds it’s own element, but loose blocks near the top would have to be trundled off to make it somewhat safe.
Susan pulling over the top, Pass Creek road snakes out of the canyon below.

Carcass rock isn't very Conducive to rope health. The rock is razor sharp, which makes for effective foot work, but a fall can easily damage both your rope and your hide.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Skiing Mt. Moran

The Skillet Glacier on Mount Moran in Wyoming; home to a 6,500’ ski descent that many consider to be amongst the greatest skis in the United States. The Skillet has it all - a wild, exposed summit couloir, a gorgeous 4,000 foot bowl below, incredible views of silky lakes and gnarled chutes and spires of the Teton Range.

On June 17th 2008, Brad, Jeff, Luke and I got a 4am start on this one. Luke set a fast pace on the bushwhack section of the hike but everyone kept up because he was the only one who remembered to bring bear-bells. The snow climbing was pretty straight forward and uneventful but after the sun came up it turned into the hottest day I’ve ever had in the hills.

There was a lot of avalanche debris and deep cut runnels brought on by two days of hot weather after a long cool spring. Just before we got to the moraines, I watched an oven sized chunk of ice free fall from 300’ of of a cliff band on the South flank, it started a good sized mush slide that obliterated Jeff and Luke’s tracks. We watched a few more large avalanches come down late in the morning after we’d made it back to the lake.
Moran from Jackson Lake. The descent starts from the narrow but obvious chute left of the summit. Click to enlarge

Brad and I nearing the top

Jeff, Luke and Brad admire the view from a moraine hump half way down the mountain.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Berchtesgaden (Wildhorse lookout)

Wildhorse Fire Lookout on the summit of Wildhorse peak in the White knob mountains was built as one of the "New deal" projects by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1935. It was manned until 1945.
Access to the lookout requires a 3 mile from Copper basin, a hike we made several times in 2009 while building up a stockpile of food and gear with the intention of using the building as a backcountry ski hut.


Pioneer Mts. over the lookout

Evening in the the lookout

Susan at dawn

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

BC Skiing: South Paw 2-7-10

Back Country in your own back yard. Can't get much better than that!

"It's those near and dear places that each uf us visit in our own respective backyards that really intrest me. In some ways it's easy to spot big lines on big peaks, but kicking around on the low elevation terrain when conditions are right and that spirit of adventure which always seems to tag along is just cool to me"! Dean Lords
Sunrise over the Great Basin.
Susan skinning toward South Paw 1-31-2010.
Susan at the top of Blizzard ski hill.

South Paw; So nice, you'll ski it twice.