March 2011

So wade and I decided last minute to try davenport.  Im glad we did. 

We met up at 530 at the usual place and got to hiking around 6:10.  It was MUCH colder than i was expecting (about 10) so i put on my beacon in the car and wore my puffy.  Of course, I quickly got too hot in that.  It slowly warmed up, but not until the sun started showing its head around 7:15.

 Here is wade going up the last slog, a little more wind scoured and slide prone.
Check out those Clouds over Maybird and Coalpit.  What a morning!
Just another day in paradise folks.

So we got to the top around 730, one of our faster hikes up Emma Ridge.  The top was wind scoured and cold so we took a few pictures and got moving.

 Here is a shot that could go on Wades wall.  I wish i would have had a big fast flash, but oh well.

And here is one for mine!  Wade took a few picture for me.  Thanks Wade!
 So long mountain, it was great!

Check out my MyTracks data here

Davenport goodness part 2

Posted on

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

We had a pretty decent dawn patrol this morning, the snow wasn't great but ill get to that later.

Coby, Petro, Wade and I were joined by Richard and his Friend visiting from BC.  We met up at about 615 and got out hiking around 640.  We went to Scotties because it was north facing and wind sheltered (mostly) and we were hoping that the super warm spring sun didn't totally bake that face.  When we got there we noticed that it was far more skied out that we had previously thought.  There is an out of bounds gate at snowbird that allows you to access scotties, its only open on moderate or low avy danger days which, it turns out, was yesterday.  Oh well, We thought we would give it a shot anyway.  As soon as we started up the climb Petro started having problems with his gear.  His bindings kept popping off and he couldn't find purchase on his edges.  After a few more vain attempts, He reluctantly turned around and went on a cruise....seriously.  Some consolation prize. 

Anyway.  About the snow.  so it was so icey that none of us was having an easy time getting up the hill, Coby least of all, due to skins that were too wide for his skis and trekker ski adapters instead of real touring bindings.  Trekkers are great and all, they really are, but they kind of suck at side hilling or any actually difficult climbing.

Richard, who was leading our merry band, was only going to go up for an hour to save his legs for a half marathon he is running tomorrow, but like the addict he freely admits to being, he kept going just as long as the rest of us.  The trouble was that since it took us so long to gain elevation we didn't actually get that high.  Check the MAP to see for yourself. 


So the Snow wasn't that great and the hiking was tough, so what big woop wanna fight about it?










Did we have a good time?  yes we did.  Was it worth it?  always.  Honestly, the snow in bounds would have been called pretty good...not great, maybe a 6 or 7 out of 10.  There was enough good stuff to make it work, even if it was a 3 or 4 of 10 on the tour scale.

Hopefully there are a few pictures coming soon, in the meantime, enjoy the movie above.  Its HD.  Yup. 

Scotties bowl.

Posted on

Friday, March 18, 2011

Looks like tomorrows DP will be a joint effort between A friend of mine,
Richard, and Our crew of attendees. We will meet tomorrow morning at
the LCC park and ride at 6 and be hiking up Scotties bowl. Let me know
[email me] if you are planning to attend. spokemaster82@gmail.com

DP

Posted on

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Yeah, its really just Tom's ridge, but its called Toms ridge because it was the first place that Wades brother Tom went BC skiing.  And today marked the first time Petro went out into the BC!  But lets start at the beginning.  When Petro Slept in.  Because we got a late start i knew we would have to either seriously hurry, or be late; Turns out it was better to do both. 

We got to hiking about 7:15 and reached the lower ridge at about 8:05.  


The lower ridge, like before, was a bastion of sheltered north facing goodness.  How good you ask?  Well, about 3 feet of 10% with no crust good.  It was actually deep enough that the slope wasn't quite enough to get the necessary speed. 

when we got to the bottom of the short run, we knew we would have to go again.

 

So we did.  
Petro, with Mt. Superior in the background.  It looks like he is enjoying himself.

  Take a look at the way the sun is hitting that ridge...isn't it heaven?

on round 2 we all went a little higher.  Petro went to a higher milder slope with a longer run and coby and I, in search of steeps, kept heading uphill into the trees.
Here is Coby being happy about that decision.  

I took a few pictures of Coby decending, but he forgot that you need goggles to withstand faceshots and was caught trying to put them on.

Coby and I traded Cameraman duties and he went off down the hill to take pictures of Petro and I.  No one ever gets pics of Pat.  He decided to go off a little jump, land forward and eat it.  Petro sailed on down the hill as Coby struggled to right himself from the crater he dug and My pictures were tainted with water.
Oh, well.  As a side note, we had one GoPro but the batteries ran dead right before the first run, and I had the HMC-40 but decided that after yesterdays disappointing snow it would't be worth it to bring....dang.

For a detailed report of time, speed and elevation, check out coby's "myTracks" report. HERE

Petro Ridge

Posted on

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Coby and I decided to try Superior Apron this morning. The video is
linked above. Not much to say other than that Zipper crust was brutal.
Oh well, a good time either way.

New video

Posted on

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

I went up today to do a dawn patrol with a friends dad, Richard and his Friend Scott.  We left at 530 in the morning and were hiking by 610 or so.  It was a nice morning, it was right in-between two storm fronts.  The first front had deposited 16 or so inches and the second was on its way in later in the day to deposit 24 more inches.
 
The Sun started to poke is head through the clouds around 645

Here is Richard Following the unstoppable Scott plowing away.

At the top, the winds picked up, and the clouds moved in.   The next storm is supposed to drop 24 inches by tomorrow night.  Today's rating was Considerable on North, South, and east terrain which is usually higher than i like to go out in.  The hiking was difficult because of it.  There was a sun crust on the south fast that the new snow was sitting on, every side step we took moved the snow downhill and it was tricky to get purchase.  There was about 14 average inches on top of this crust which means that it was basically a loose soft slab.  Fun sluffing.  

 
We are standing on top of Emma ridge looking down into silver fork.  To our right (east) is Honeycomb canyon and to our left (West) is Days fork. 

This is Scott decending, I tried to get pics of Richard too, but the camera wouldn't focus.  I think it got a touch wet.  

It was a ton of fun and great snow.   I charged hard until my legs gave out.  Thanks for the good times guys. 

Emma Ridge

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Monday, March 7, 2011

Here is the brief on the Thursday morning DP.  It was Coby and I, Petro was planning on coming but REI didn't rent the gear they said they did.  We were planning on doing Superior apron, but it didn't snow as planned so we went back to toms ridge.  We were much faster this time.  Here is Coby and I up top.

 

Here is looking down the mild 28 degree slope

 

We founds some great turns here, but they were few. 
Check out the video to see how brief.  Anyway, we had a good time.

Thursday morning DP

Posted on

Friday, March 4, 2011