6/6/01
8 inches of new fell yesterday up at Timberline - in addition to the 10 inches + they got over the weekend (isn't this supposed to be June?!). So when I got up at 3ish (had to go early - had a class at 1pm) I was REALLY on the fence about going. It doesn't take long for June sunshine to turn that stuff into 'taters.
Finally decided and rolled from the house at 3:15 - arrived Timberline at 4:30 - some early light already and I could see a cloud deck at 7000 feet. Crap. I got back in the car. Obsess - obsess - obsess - obsess - obsess. What the hell - I had done the drive and had seen this kind of cloud deck dissolve before (or at least be one where you could potentially punch through at 9K or so).
Got rollin. Skinned maybe for 15 min and looked up and the cloud deck was already dissipating - Summit in view. The snow down low was a mess. The new stuff had obviously been warmed at some point and a nice breakable crust was on top of it all. Nice. I kept going since I knew the descent from 8500 ft down to the lot at 6000 was all going to be groomers courtesy of Timberline. By about 7500 feet the freshies were becoming evident. Some windworked but still unconsolidated powder snow on top - sort of that styrofoam stuff.
| Shadow of the mountain on the dissolving cloud deck |
|
Passed a group of 5 who obviously had summit aspirations and had started WAY before me. By the 9000 foot level they were knee deep in powder snow with each step while I just continued to motor along right on top of the stuff with the skins and skis.
| Party of five in the distance just above the top of the Palmer lift |
|
Had to put down switchbacks up the steep slope below Crater Rock, but I was doing slope angle checks and was in the 25 degree range - a little puckered as the 8 inches of new down low was now a conservative 18 of new up here - but still pretty wind-hardened. Did a hasty pit and found the bond with the old snow was bomber - the old snow had all kinds of pits and rime on it and was holding the new like a vise.
| Looking down and West towards Illumination Rock |
|
By the time I reached 10K, the snow was becoming more and more light powder and had lost a lot of the styrofoam quality . . . . more puckering . . . . . Slope angle checks - 28, 28, 28, 29, 32. DONE. The time was about 8am or a little after I guess. I found some harder snow that I thought might be walkable so I took my skis off, parked 'em and started to posthole to where I thought the harder snow was - thought I could find a line of rime that might take me up to the Hogsback and then possibly upward from there . . . it was still so early and there was so much time! The "rime" line was paper thin so after taking 10-15 steps uphill on the slope up to the Hogsback (with the Devil's Kitchen right below me waiting to swallow me up) I retreated to the skis. Solo postholing the last 1000 feet to the summit on steep, unconsolidated powder snow was starting to not look so much like "good, safe fun."
| Sulfur stink and steam from the Devil's Kitchen |
|
Too bad. Even though I just came up to make some late-season powder turns and condition for Shasta next week, the skies were clearing and I actually thought I might punch on up there. Watched the 5 dudes still working to get up the hill - maybe 1000 feet below me. This powder was going to be nice . . . at least for the top 1000 feet and maybe more.
| Looking down into the upper White River Glacier. Top of Palmer lift can be seen to the upper right. |
|
After 2 turns I was dialed in the stuff. I skied fall-line all the way down to level with the other climbers, who were taking a break. Total velveteen powder snow - on June 6th!!!!!! Nutty. Traversed over to them & told 'em that they would be getting into some deeper snow - but thought that since there were 5 they'd have an easier time trading off punching holes/building steps on their way up.
| Feeling the freshness below Crater Rock |
|
The snow quality remained exceptional and I kept skiing the powder on the Zigzag Glacier to 500 feet below the level of the top of the groomed Palmer. Traversed skiers left to the groomers at about 8000 feet and enjoyed some exceptional courderoy skiing for the remaining 2 grand to the lot.
| A look back from the top of the Mile |
|
Powder turns in June. Sweet.