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04-23-2015, 10:55 AM #1Registered User
- Join Date
- Mar 2008
- Location
- Bellingham WA
- Posts
- 4
19 April 2015 Goode Mtn NW couloir
Don't post here much (jong!?), but appreciate the info sometimes available, and seems some of you guys might be interested in this line. Also, good BSing with BigSteve in the parking lot before we launched on this--hope you enjoyed the stellar weekend.
Here in the Pac NW, the relatively early opening of SR20 has yielded a surprisingly good late ski season this year. The lower elevations generally suffer from below-avg snowpack; but the slightly above-mean precip totals for the Rainy Pass Snotel encouraged a look at Goode, which sports a lot of high N-facing relief to slake the ski-mountaineering thirst. I was hopeful that NW-facing aspects would hold acceptable snow on a weekend fraught with warming concerns. A view of Goode and Storm King as we crested the col SE of Black Peak:
And a picture of the upper half of the face, courtesy of John Scurlock. We skied the NW couloir, which drops down from the high (8700’) NW col immediately right of the summit block--maybe half of the business district is visible:
The NW col is a special place to collect your wits. A tall drink of cool water, the line below sports quite steep skiing for 1500+’, then another ~4000’ to our bivy in the hole of Bridge Creek. Recommended. And, with this week’s low-ish snow levels, sometime soon you folks might like to have a look at this and/or the line (east face/gully) Lani and teleross established to the east of the summit, back in our previous “worst ski year” of 2005.
EZ-E joined me for this 3-day mission and adventure. Together we made a lot of good decisions, and a couple minor bad ones, and had a blast in a spectacular setting. We scored a supersweet bivy on an aberrant patch of dry ground next to a big tree right on the N Fork Bridge Creek. As hinted above, we approached by passing Black Peak and dropping down to Woody then Grizzly then finally Bridge creek. A short portage of skis required at around 3400’. We returned—and here EZ gets credit for a great idea—via Grizzly-->Falls Creek, Last Chance Pass, and Maple Creek-->Pass.
This tour is an instant classic through inspiring terrain.
We enjoyed settled powder for the majority of the steep and sustained upper section, owing to its high, relatively sheltered, and NW aspect. A thrilling ski! The sun does get on the line in parts lower down, but there are a couple route options to mitigate exposure to sun effects. And still lower we enjoyed hippie corn skiing.
EZ taking a route option lower down:
Here’s EZ following some encouraging powdery booting:
Last climbing shots. Here’s an EZ pic of me working up steep snow near the col:
And EZ finishing.
A shot looking south through the col at Spider and others:
Time to ski. The upper conditions were variably smooth and textured pow, with copious sluffing running far and fast—management required. EZ sends some down from the top:
EZ apparently stoked for the lower turns to come:
Out of the business district, briefly weave through a couple avy paths (a big slab ripped out to immediately east of our line), then tons o’ corn. Our line trends up and left from EZ (you can see the crown to the left of our route):
Memorable ski, topped with celebratory comestibles and combustibles--simple gentlemanly pleasures including good food, cigar and music by the creek, soaking in the day and the magnificence of peaks around us. Adventure fix accomplished.
Skinning the scenic Falls Creek portion of our Monday return, we could look back at our line and other sources of inspiration:
Get it while (and if) it lasts!
More pics here.
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04-23-2015, 10:58 AM #2
Excellent! You pulled it off. Nice to meet ya
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04-23-2015, 11:30 AM #3
Dyshe.
Thanks for sharing.They think I do not know a buttload of crap about the Gospel, but I do.
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04-23-2015, 11:37 AM #4
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04-23-2015, 11:47 AM #5
Oh man, thanks! Good to see there's still good skiing being done.
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04-23-2015, 11:58 AM #6
so damn goode. well done!
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04-23-2015, 12:27 PM #7
woooo rad looking line and area.
Ich bitte dich nur, weck mich nicht.
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04-23-2015, 05:36 PM #8
Strong work. Thanks.
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04-23-2015, 06:04 PM #9
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04-24-2015, 09:31 AM #10
Wow! Thanks for the tr.
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04-25-2015, 11:19 AM #11
That is sick! I feel like a pussy now.
"The skis just popped me up out of the snow and I went screaming down the hill on a high better than any heroin junkie." She Ra
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04-25-2015, 11:26 AM #12
Wow, great trip - excellent to see some cascades stokage
Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Natures peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of Autumn. - John Muir
"How long can it last? For fuck sake this isn't heroin -
suck it up princess" - XXX on getting off mj
“This is infinity here,” he said. “It could be infinity. We don’t really don’t know. But it could be. It has to be something — but it could be infinity, right?” - Trump, on the vastness of space, man
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04-25-2015, 11:46 AM #13
Skied that thing on ski blades in 2011. Didn't feel the need to brag about it...
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05-02-2015, 06:50 AM #14
Wow - great TR! Beautiful pictures and that looks like an unbelievable area.
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05-02-2015, 07:55 AM #15
Awesome terrain. Great TR!
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05-04-2015, 03:20 PM #16Registered User
- Join Date
- Sep 2010
- Location
- SW CO
- Posts
- 5,588
Saw this on skisickness a few days ago; glad it's posted here so I can comment! Thanks for the excellent words and beautiful photos. Really amazing line.
Guys like E_$ and ryanl are my heroes."Alpine rock and steep, deep powder are what I seek, and I will always find solace there." - Bean Bowers
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