Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
BrokenTop Splitboarding
We rallied for what we were thinking might be the last backcountry trip of the year on Sunday. As it turns out, we have and are getting snow this week so the season might extend a little longer.
The objective for the day was BrokenTop. I had skinned out to Moon Mountain last year and remembered the long boring slog in and back out. This year however was different...we had a sled in the arsenal so instead of a long boring skin it, it would be a quick ride to the wilderness boundary where we would unload and then skin up into the cirque.
John showed Trevor and I the beta for getting access to the area, and then led us in on the tour.
The views were outstanding! It was amazing as we crossed our way through rollers into the cirque as we slowly gained elevation. The weather was cooperating in that the skies were amazingly clear with views to the next state.
There was even a little bit of recent precip as mother nature treated us to about an inch of fresh snow.
We worked our way into the cirque and started to pick out the line for the day. With an aspect in mind, we continued our ascent which quickly steepened into some legit step cutting that required caution. We had 2 sets of crampons between the 3 of us...I was not fully prepared or aware that we would require crampons for the ascent. John handed me one of his crampons so we each had one crampon as we made our way up the sketch slope. It was slow going....a step had to be cut for every non-cramponed step...the wind was howling and blowing the fresh snow all over the place.
After a while, we hit the saddle and sat just below the cornice as we took the views in and tried to transition on a steep, slippery slope...a mis-step would have been a bit of a mood killer as the snow below the 1 inch of fresh was hard and slick...it would be a long slide back down into the cirque!
We all transitioned without incident and took turns heading down. The views just kept impressing as you looked in every direction. To the north, you could see Sisters, Washington, Jefferson, Hood, etc...to the South you could see all the way down to Thielsen, Diamond, and of course Bachelor.
My backside edge chattered into the hard snow below the fresh and it took a couple of turns to realize the best course of action was to be aggressive and focus on shallow S turns as opposed to deep S turns. In no time, we were back down in the cirque and once again taking in the views. It made the sketchy ascent on one crampon and ice ax worth it...ohh yeah, did I mention that it was the first time I had used crampons or an ice ax? I can only imagine how dreamy it will be with a crampon on each foot!
Round 1 of pictures:
The objective for the day was BrokenTop. I had skinned out to Moon Mountain last year and remembered the long boring slog in and back out. This year however was different...we had a sled in the arsenal so instead of a long boring skin it, it would be a quick ride to the wilderness boundary where we would unload and then skin up into the cirque.
John showed Trevor and I the beta for getting access to the area, and then led us in on the tour.
The views were outstanding! It was amazing as we crossed our way through rollers into the cirque as we slowly gained elevation. The weather was cooperating in that the skies were amazingly clear with views to the next state.
There was even a little bit of recent precip as mother nature treated us to about an inch of fresh snow.
We worked our way into the cirque and started to pick out the line for the day. With an aspect in mind, we continued our ascent which quickly steepened into some legit step cutting that required caution. We had 2 sets of crampons between the 3 of us...I was not fully prepared or aware that we would require crampons for the ascent. John handed me one of his crampons so we each had one crampon as we made our way up the sketch slope. It was slow going....a step had to be cut for every non-cramponed step...the wind was howling and blowing the fresh snow all over the place.
After a while, we hit the saddle and sat just below the cornice as we took the views in and tried to transition on a steep, slippery slope...a mis-step would have been a bit of a mood killer as the snow below the 1 inch of fresh was hard and slick...it would be a long slide back down into the cirque!
We all transitioned without incident and took turns heading down. The views just kept impressing as you looked in every direction. To the north, you could see Sisters, Washington, Jefferson, Hood, etc...to the South you could see all the way down to Thielsen, Diamond, and of course Bachelor.
My backside edge chattered into the hard snow below the fresh and it took a couple of turns to realize the best course of action was to be aggressive and focus on shallow S turns as opposed to deep S turns. In no time, we were back down in the cirque and once again taking in the views. It made the sketchy ascent on one crampon and ice ax worth it...ohh yeah, did I mention that it was the first time I had used crampons or an ice ax? I can only imagine how dreamy it will be with a crampon on each foot!
Round 1 of pictures:
Monday, April 21, 2014
MTB Peterson Ridge
The weekend rolled around pretty quickly and the original plan was to attempt a trip down to Oakridge for some riding but it looked like the weather was going to be less than ideal. I teamed up with Trevor to go hit Peterson Ridge over in Sisters.
It was fun to ride some different trail and we even found where the trail system tied into Metolius Windigo and rode that for a couple of miles before it became un-rideable. The trail conditions were great and the weather was also pretty much ideal.
We got some great views of the Cascades on the return and it planted the seed to head back and ride the trail from Peterson to Metolius Windigo into Bend. Truth be told, it has been a bee in my bonnet for a couple of yrs now and the crux will be timing. Given the length and altitude changes of the trail, it will be in varying levels of trail conditions. When the upper elevations open up to ride, the lower conditions will most likely be loose. There probably is no 'optimal' time to hit the trail that connects from Bend to Sisters (or vice versa) but it is definitely on the hit list.
It was nice to ride some trails that still had some rocky features to them. Everything in Bend seems to have been nuked down to resemble dirt bike paths lately. It is frustrating to those of us who like a little tek in our trail....there is absolutely no reason to have to remove every technical feature from a trail in order to reduce it to the easiest common denominator...after all, it is 'mountain' biking right?
As more rules get imposed locally, it does make it a little less of a soulful experience but I suppose that is what happens when trails get popular enough to have to create these sorts of things. As always, it is still good for the soul to get out and ride the dirt.
Saturday's fun:
It was fun to ride some different trail and we even found where the trail system tied into Metolius Windigo and rode that for a couple of miles before it became un-rideable. The trail conditions were great and the weather was also pretty much ideal.
We got some great views of the Cascades on the return and it planted the seed to head back and ride the trail from Peterson to Metolius Windigo into Bend. Truth be told, it has been a bee in my bonnet for a couple of yrs now and the crux will be timing. Given the length and altitude changes of the trail, it will be in varying levels of trail conditions. When the upper elevations open up to ride, the lower conditions will most likely be loose. There probably is no 'optimal' time to hit the trail that connects from Bend to Sisters (or vice versa) but it is definitely on the hit list.
It was nice to ride some trails that still had some rocky features to them. Everything in Bend seems to have been nuked down to resemble dirt bike paths lately. It is frustrating to those of us who like a little tek in our trail....there is absolutely no reason to have to remove every technical feature from a trail in order to reduce it to the easiest common denominator...after all, it is 'mountain' biking right?
As more rules get imposed locally, it does make it a little less of a soulful experience but I suppose that is what happens when trails get popular enough to have to create these sorts of things. As always, it is still good for the soul to get out and ride the dirt.
Saturday's fun:
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
Cat Snowboarding - Mt Bailey
As Trevor was trying to fill spots on the cat for Mt Bailey, he reached out and extended an invite. I figured what the heck...it was something new and worth checking out.
Mt Bailey is down by Diamond Lake so it would only be about a 2 hour drive to the cabins where we would check in and rest up for a day of backcountry fun on Saturday.
I have mixed emotions about the day. It was great to check out new terrain and get into a new adventure. We scoped out some great opportunities for further exploration and it just indicated how much backcountry access there is in this state. It is pretty incredible.
We were treated to decent weather. The area had been consistently getting snow and we were able to get fresh tracks from the recent snowfall(s). The snow was a little on the heavy side but still big fun.
In a way, the cat lift seemed a bit like cheating as we did not have to sweat our way up and earn our turns. We piled into the cat and my biggest challenge was fighting off the nausea at the top of each run as we hit white out conditions thanks to the wind and snow. It always took several minutes to get below the whiteout to start seeing a little more clearly and for the nausea to start to dissipate.
All in all - thumbs up...it is definitely a very different experience than a true backcountry experience as a little bit of the soul was missing but still good fun none-the-less.
It would have been awesome if it was clear since it would have helped in getting a better lay of the land but alas mother nature was storming and we were along for the ride.
We managed to get 6 runs in and each seemed to get a little better. My favorite runs were the last two where we got an amazing tree run that seemed to go on forever (but not long enough) and then a nice steep chute with amazing lines and fresh luvvin'
some pix:
Nathan doing his praise the lord booty dance...
from inside the cat:
getting ready for tree bliss:
yum!
Mt Bailey is down by Diamond Lake so it would only be about a 2 hour drive to the cabins where we would check in and rest up for a day of backcountry fun on Saturday.
I have mixed emotions about the day. It was great to check out new terrain and get into a new adventure. We scoped out some great opportunities for further exploration and it just indicated how much backcountry access there is in this state. It is pretty incredible.
We were treated to decent weather. The area had been consistently getting snow and we were able to get fresh tracks from the recent snowfall(s). The snow was a little on the heavy side but still big fun.
In a way, the cat lift seemed a bit like cheating as we did not have to sweat our way up and earn our turns. We piled into the cat and my biggest challenge was fighting off the nausea at the top of each run as we hit white out conditions thanks to the wind and snow. It always took several minutes to get below the whiteout to start seeing a little more clearly and for the nausea to start to dissipate.
All in all - thumbs up...it is definitely a very different experience than a true backcountry experience as a little bit of the soul was missing but still good fun none-the-less.
It would have been awesome if it was clear since it would have helped in getting a better lay of the land but alas mother nature was storming and we were along for the ride.
We managed to get 6 runs in and each seemed to get a little better. My favorite runs were the last two where we got an amazing tree run that seemed to go on forever (but not long enough) and then a nice steep chute with amazing lines and fresh luvvin'
some pix:
Nathan doing his praise the lord booty dance...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)