SNOW IN THE PNW 2016-17: Return of the Shred-i

[wyeaster]

envy

[NW_SKIER]

The Norseman on the Paradise yesterday.

[alto]

Kam and I put the track in Gib Chute Saturday. Climbed Gib Ledges. The other track/s are probably from Sunday. Arguably idiotic behavior skiing under that icecliff, but we justified it to ourselves by getting to check it out as you climb the Gib Ledges, the lack of runnels/evidence of recent icefall activity in the chute, and good conditions allowing quick passage through. While skiing you look over your left shoulder for rocks falling off Gibraltar, right shoulder for ice falling off the Nisqually, left, right, left, right.... The firn/corn from the bergschrund to the entrance of Nisqually Chute was of pant-shittingly high quality. Now hitting refresh on the forecasts trying to convince myself it won't all be marine layer, wet slides or lightning strikes this week.

[Norseman]

Right on. Looks like fun. Did you guys ski off the summit?

[Power_Sauce]

Saturday summary - Tee shirt weather on the summit of Rainier followed by a great decent of the upper Kautz (hero corn) to Wilson glacier headwall (fun mush). Best snow I have ever skied off the top hands down.

[alto]

@ Norseman yup. so mild up there. great snow pretty much from the top.
@ Powder sauce that last picture is gawd damn nasty

[foreal]

The weekend to be at the big hill. Glad I was able to partake as well.

Walking up the ID with Aaron on Sat as he received congrats from friends for his Thermo descent earlier in the week, reminded me of what an awesome ski community we have in the PNW.

Day one we skied the DC due to the mandatory air on the ID. Day two Tahoma via the sickle. With some minor ski carries still consistent skiing below 4400, making for the elusive 10k run. Route finding on Tahoma was mind bending. Some pics:

[Norseman]

Wow, badass, B.

I bet that was a trip, pickin thru the western cracks!

Walk out the west side rd?

[foreal]

Yeah man, out via the w-siiiide road.

[alto]

so cool! thanks for share.

[AK47bp]

Man all you guys are killin it on Rainier so far. Awesome work!

[Kire2008]

Was on Little Tahoma on Sunday. Amazing Views, almost all of the skiing was on over ripe snow. Good Fun. We started skinning about 2 miles in on the summerland trail, snow started at the parking lot but was slightly patchy.

[pipedream]

Silver didn't suck today. Thanks for the tip on the Annette Lake side turns Frisbee & co. - that corn was ultra tasty.

[NW_SKIER]

Did a sweet Tatoosh traverse Saturday with Jtgoat and Dan from Alpy (I don't think he has a forum handle). Parked at Reflection lake and skied The Pinnacle, The Castle, and Unicorn peak. Unicorn couloir was the highlight of the day. Then hoofed it back to Reflection from the Snow lake TH because no one would pick us up. Next time we'll park a car down there.

[wyeaster]

sweet pics. nwskier needs short shorts to increase his odds for hitchhiking. is jtgoat always smiling? it seems like it.

[Norseman]

yes, even when napping

[californiagrown]

I was hoping I could get some advice on a non-snow summer trip around these parts. I'm looking at the weekend of July 8-9th so I realize there will be crowds everywhere, but I was hoping to set up a little basecamp somewhere fairly remote and be able to day hike (maybe do some backcountry MTB) and fish lakes and such. Dispersed camping or an actual camp ground are equally good. The two caveats that I have are that it needs to be within 4 hours or so driving from the seattle area, and I want to bring my dog and have him off-leash.

I was thinking maybe the east side of the North Cascades (Okanogan county, methow area), but most of that is National Park, correct? and I cant have the pup off leash there. Maybe somewhere deep in the blue mountains? I have a beat up 4Runner, so 4 wheel roads are totally fine and frankly preferred if it keeps other folks away.

Any suggestions from the vast brainbank here?

[John_B]

Methow basin is all National Forest, with some WDFW, DNR or other public land on the valley floor so you'd be able to have the dog roaming around . Chewuch River has a lot of dispersed camping opportunities with some riding near by. It's not that remote and you'd have company though. Perhaps you could get off the river and have better luck on a dead end FS road. I'm in Winthrop, shoot me a PM if you have some more specific questions about the Methow and I'll pass on what I know for lakes/streams to fish at.

[AK47bp]

4 hours from Seattle is a huge amount of options.

Cle Elum river has good camping, The Teanaway valley area is nice too.

WTA.org is your friend.

[californiagrown]

Methow basin is all National Forest, with some WDFW, DNR or other public land on the valley floor so you'd be able to have the dog roaming around . Chewuch River has a lot of dispersed camping opportunities with some riding near by. It's not that remote and you'd have company though. Perhaps you could get off the river and have better luck on a dead end FS road. I'm in Winthrop, shoot me a PM if you have some more specific questions about the Methow and I'll pass on what I know for lakes/streams to fish at.

Thanks man! I think I might take you up on that offer. Ive never been up in that area and from what ive seen and heard it looks to be one of the coolest spots I hope to have the good fortune to explore quite a bit. Also it looks far enough out there that it shouldnt feel the crush of people quite like other close-by places.

4 hours from Seattle is a huge amount of options.

Cle Elum river has good camping, The Teanaway valley area is nice too.

WTA.org is your friend.

Cle Elum river and the Teanaway area are pretty popular destinations, no? I want to be able to get the heck away from folks when I go camping or backpacking (that's the main point IMO haha). In my admittedly limited experience, WTA seems to mainly list popular hikes and pretty well known places to hike and camp. Id love to be wrong on this one though...

[PNWbrit]

Beautiful day on WA pass yesterday.



Damn the snow is going quickly though.

[pipedream]

Chinook Pass scheduled to open this Fri. @ 8am. Just in time for a dip in the snow level back to 5k...
https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClic...4#.WTcICGjytaQ

[plugboots]

Beautiful day on WA pass yesterday.



Damn the snow is going quickly though.

True. It's just not getting a hard freeze at night.

[PNWbrit]

Plug... next time we come up will give you a shout.

Was a pretty good hard freeze yesterday morning. Doesn't take much of this time of year's sun to get it though.

[plugboots]

Cool. I think 6-17/18 are next for me.