Latest Backcountry Trip Reports by rob
South Face of Mount Catherine
Mar 8th, 2009 | By rob
After a long night at the Backcountry Ball at Alpental and a pit stop at the Family Pancake House for breakfast, Trevor and I geared up and made the trek out to Mount Catherine. Breaking trail wasn't too painful with the low density snow, and at the top we ran into a couple groups who had come up a...
Full backcountry trip reportNorth Shoulder of Chair Peak
Feb 28th, 2009 | By rob
Blue skies and high quality snow were my hopes for the day, and although clouds rolled in while skinning up Chair Peak, the snow didn't disappoint. Reaching the notch on the shoulder of Chair Peak, we were buffeted by high winds and encountered a couple groups of climbers opting not to attempt the...
Full backcountry trip reportHumpback Mountain
Feb 16th, 2009 | By rob
I meet Tim up at Hyak and we rolled down to Exit 47 and were moving on the snow covered road around 8:30am. Lack of snowpack made skinning through the trees tricky, but we reached the Iron Horse Trail and the snowshed without incident.
The ascent up Humpback was straightforward, although...
Kendall Couloir 1
Feb 14th, 2009 | By rob
Tim was at the Pass but not able to ski, and was nice enough to film my descent from Hyak (and also make sure I arrived safely back at my car). I left from Yellowstone Road, and other than trying to find a suitable crossing for Coal Creek, it was a pretty easy skin to the top.
With a...
Gold Creek Snuff
Jan 10th, 2009 | By rob
Tim and I headed up Gold Creek and began the climb towards the flying pie in hopes of finding some decent turns up high. Once we ventured into the forest around 4,000ft, we quickly found that the trees had dropped all their snow during the rain event and it had frozen in clumps on the ground....
Full backcountry trip reportHyak Pow Fest
Dec 25th, 2008 | By rob
Coverage was limited, but the snow ample as we lapped Dinosaur three times, getting deep pow on almost every turn. I was surprised by the limited number of ski tourers, as an early season pow day at Hyak usually results in hordes of people.
Tim's son Trevor, hailing from the snowy city...
Kendall Lakes
Dec 13th, 2008 | By rob
Desperate to go ski touring around the Pass, Trevor and I ventured out from Hyak and took the forest service road up towards Kendall Lakes. We knew there would be very little, if any skiing, but I was itching to get out and didn't feel like a long drive down to Rainier or up North.
The...
Muir Snowfield Powder Day
Nov 22nd, 2008 | By rob
With recent new snow at higher elevations, we set the alarm clocks extra early and arrived at Paradise parking lot shortly after 7am, apparently not seeing that the road was still closed. We were excited to see snow in the parking lot, and were able to skin from the beginning. There was barely six...
Full backcountry trip reportHalloween on Paradise
Oct 31st, 2008 | By rob
Last day of October and I had to get my ski in, even though the forecast was calling for rain. TNT and I hiked up through the rain and finally above 7,000ft got into the snow. We were wet, cold and tired, but got our first powder turns of the year, in our Halloween costumes. If you can call 3" of...
Full backcountry trip reportSunny Day on Paradise Glacier
Oct 14th, 2008 | By rob
An early start allowed us to catch the alpenglow on Mount Rainier on the drive up, although by the time we reached Reflection Lake, the sun had risen. We quickly hiked up from the Paradise parking lot and made our way off the trail and onto Paradise Glacier above Pebble Creek. Stopping below Moon...
Full backcountry trip report