Month: February 2011

Since yesterday's skijor went pretty well I thought I'd try it again on slightly trickier terrain at the Pilchuck Tree Farm.  The forecast called for warming (read: melting) temperatures and rain later in the afternoon; I was motivated to get going.  And Jodee seemed excited when I got out my pack and her harness and jurry-rigged leashes so I guess yesterday at Northern State went well for both of us.  The tree farm terrain is only trickier than Northern State in that the tree farm is roads and trails with some elevation gain, while Northern State is more or less a flat field with an upper field.  I decided not to think about the eventual descent down the tree farm roads.

This morning was decidedly warmer than yesterday so I was glad to see the temperature at our house when I left was still 34F.  That gave me hope that the temperature would be around freezing at the tree farm.  No such luck but for a while I was optimistic.  The snow had definitely settled and was still settling even though there had been some accumulation between this morning and the last time I was there.  Also evident were vehicle tracks, probably anauthorized vehicle since a very sturdy gate blocks the way for other motorized users.  I hoped that the vehicle meant that some of the blow-down had been cleared.  Well, no such luck again but the vehicle did carve a path around an entire tree that crossed the road.  At one point the vehicle tracks stopped and snowshoe tracks began.  It was nice to follow a path even though I was still breaking trail through rather heavy, wet snow.

Jodee seemed mostly content going forward in a straight line but would occasionally veer off to investigate an interesting smell for at least as far as her two-leash lengths would allow.  At one point the snowshoe track went right at a fork.  I wasn't entirely sure about that route plus it was downhill and I wasn't ready to deal with downhill on skinny skis attached to a strong dog.  So we went left on an unbroken trail through the forest that I was more familiar with.  The snow was heavy and deeper, which slowed Jodee down although she will pull if she feels any resistance.  Eventually I learned to capitalize on that trait and was even glad that I've never successfully taught her to heel properly.

We came back out the forest road and joined the snowshoe track further ahead.  This track confirmed where I suspected the snowshoe track would come out when it went right and we went left.  Up the road, the forest canopy opens where a swath had been logged some years ago.  The snow was very heavy and sticky and glommed on to the bottom of my skis.  Jodee was tiring and I developed a strange gait where I'd lift my ski and whack it with the opposite pole every few strides.  It was noisy and tiring.  My goal was now reduced to getting to the three-way junction just ahead instead of going all the way to the monument.  Although, thinking back, the canopy closes after that junction and the snow might've been skiable again.  Wish I would've thought about that then.  Oh well, we'd been out for nearly two hours by then.

At the junction both Jodee and I had a snack then turned around.  Well, I turned around.  It took a long time to convince Jodee that we were going back the way we came.  Maybe I should've listened to her.  Sometimes her opinions make sense.  I did get her turned around and whee what fun it was to ski back in our track!  She really got into the spirit of it and pulled in front just like she was trained to do it.  I can't think of much for fun a dog and her person can have together than swooshing down a trail like that.

Eventually we got to the obstacles where I needed her to slow down.  Ha!  I figured out I could hold her back and actually brace against her by putting my poles in my right hand and holding the leash with my left.  Then I'd tell her to go forward and off she'd go again.  At least until she found something interesting to sniff.  Then I'd shout and wave my poles to get her going again before I collided with her.  For the most part we got it figured out and had a great time.  The ski back was about half the length of time going up, not surprising.  Here are a few pictures.

Yesterday I was feeling quite a bit better from my sore throat so opted for an easy, local ski than one of our usual, all-day tours in the mountains.  Initially my plan was to go back to the Pilchuck Tree Farm but then a flash of inspiration appeared from an unlikely place: Facebook.  I keep track of a page of a local guidebook author, who had recently posted pictures of cross country skiing at Northern State, an infamous mental institution prior to Reagonomics.  I knew  that the bulk of the property had been turned into a recreation area but had never bothered to hike the trails since Sedro Woolley is just inconvenient enough from where I live and work to just go somewhere else.

Yesterday it seemed worth it to take the skinny skis and dog to an open, flat place for some exercise.  Jodee and I have never tried skijoring before but a friend loaned me a harness that fits Jodee just fine.  Jodee is a fine puller but easily distracted by critters under the snow and sniffy things on the way.  Sometimes there was a lot of shouting on my part, mostly if we'd get the leash caught between my legs (twice), which is very inconvenient on skis.  And once when she pounced rather vigorously in a direction for which I was unprepared and knocked me on my bum.  Then once I accidently kicked her with one of my skis, which made her yelp.  So I think we're even.  Jodee (1): Corrina (1).  It was fun enough that I may take her to the tree farm today.  Here are the pictures from yesterday.

Today I am home from work with a sore throat.  Yesterday I got to ski through Narnia (as my friend Roz described one of the photos) before work.  Indeed it felt like it but fortunately I did not run into any wicked witches, lions, or ice princesses out there.  Getting to the trailhead was a bit of a challenge between unconfident drivers on plowed and sanded roads and deep snow where I ordinarily park.  After a warm spell, La Nina is back and has blanketed the lowlands in cold fluffy snow.  It's not often that areas near sea level are ski-able.  I wish they were because I'd get my exercise every day on skinny skis before work.  However, most residents of this area would rather have regular rain because it's a lot easier.  I don't disagree.  Anyway, I had time to ski for an hour at the Pilchuck Tree Farm before I needed to get to work.   Enough snow covered the logging roads but probably not the trails.

The sun is up early enough this time of year that there's no need to start in the dark.  Snow depth was variable but for the most part I was breaking trail though about a foot of fluffy stuff.  And crossing blow-down over the road.  Only once did I have to take off my skis and bushwhack through downed limbs and over logs.  The morning was so pretty and calm that I wished I had more time.  The temperature was cold but very comfortable for skiing.  There was no wind, no sound except for the swishing of skis, the occasional crack of a branch, and my own steady breathing.  I could've gone on.  Maybe tomorrow if this sore throat goes away.  Here are a few more pictures.

Saturday promised to be a sunny day with recent fresh powder.  Two nights before we had been to the memorial service of Monika Johnson, a strong avid skier and uber cheerful person.  While we were in Revelstoke, Monika had had an accident while skiing Red Mountain in the Snoqualmie Pass area.  Neither of us knew Monika well but her joy was infectious the few times we saw her and she was a local legend in the backcountry ski community.  Plus she had given us some beta on the Rogers Pass area prior to our leaving for Revelstoke.  Several of our friends had been close to her so we went to the memorial to pay our respects and support our friends.

One thing that Monika's brother shared at the memorial was that Monika became a fast skier "when it was fun".  That statement was an important reminder to me of why I go out week after week in the cold, why I work so hard to learn to ski, why I exercise in the gym.  Frankly I needed the reminder.  Last year my attitude was sour for a number of reasons, including some health-related setbacks that have since been resolved.  This year I get a fresh start.  And I began the new year by skiing in the extreme cold (for this area) with my best partner Randy, and another reliable, fun friend Wade.  Then I began taking a series of mid-week ski lessons with Ski Masters.  What a hoot these lessons are!  And I'm learning a lot too.

Being outdoors at any time of year is fun.  There is pure joy in moving your own body in an efficient way and a sense of satisfaction when you master a skill, whether it's a kick turn or skiing through trees without damaging your person.  That is why at 0530 on Saturday morning, after a long work week and strong desire to sleep more, we turned off the alarm and got up.  That is why after driving all the way up to the pass and seeing low snow cover near the top that we kept going.

The temperature was colder on the east side of the pass and at the parking area there were a few cars ahead of us.  A well-trod trail through the snow took us up Smith Brook Road then we found an old skin track through the trees toward Rainy Saddle.  Eventually we ended up skiers right of the saddle but got a nice short downhill run on the way.  After chatting with some split-boarders whose objective was Jove Peak, we continued north-ish on the ridge to Union Peak.  We had considered Jove Peak but hadn't thought out the route down and out on the north side.  With the sun on the open south face, we decided that a ski descent down that route would be difficult based on the snow quality on a similar aspect.

The ridge traverse from Rainy Saddle to Union takes a couple hours, especially when the snow slides out underneath because of the warm sun.  The surface layer was only about 4 inches deep but the layer underneath was icy and I didn't have ski crampons with me.  That short section went particularly slow.  A few sections of the ridge are narrow.  We were more conscious than ever about the possibility of collapsing cornices.  And finally we made the long ascent to Union Peak and had a short lunch.  Too cold to linger but fortunately we had been taking in the view of Rock Mountain and Mount Howard along the way.  Glacier Peak is unobstructed from the summit of Union Peak.  So much terrain to explore out yonder.

The powder down the north aspect of Union Peak was deep and light.  And there were plenty of fresh lines.  However, we had taken so much time touring that we didn't have time for another lap.  Instead we had to worry about climbing back over the right saddle to make our exit as expiditious as possible.  Going all the way down to the lake basin would've been fun but wrong turns could've been disastrous if we hadn't been paying attention.

We eventually came across an old skin track back up to the saddle and used it instead of breaking our own trail.  Then we traversed along Union Peak in the trees to another saddle that we had forgotten about.  The skins went back on the skis and up we went.  All the basins and saddles look the same in that area.  We had both skied more or less the same tour the year before and I remembered then being surprised that there were two saddles to climb.  That final saddle is Union Gap.  The descent comes out on the ski track on the road.  Unfortunately the aspect was clearly sun impacted so turning was very difficult.  We both made survival turns down to the road.  And the road had been packed down by snowmobiles.  We had thought that snowmobiles weren't allowed on that side but didn't see any signs forbidding them.  We will call the forest service to find out for sure before we harass anyone.

The ski out the road back to the highway is not our favorite part but once a couple short pitches are gained, it's a slow downhill descent with a little poling for good measure.  Skis are faster than snowshoes and it was satisfying to pass several parties on the way out.  Our total time for the day was almost 8 hours.  The elevation gain wasn't impressive, maybe around 3000 feet or so with all the ups and downs we skied but it felt like quite a long tour.  Statistics are interesting to some but for us, the tour was just fun.

Here are the pictures.

Once a year for the last several years I sign up to volunteer for Nordic Patrol at Mt. Rainier National Park.  On my first trip in 2007 I met Pam and we try to coordinate volunteer weekends so we can hang out together.  This time there were five volunteers and the group leader.  Pam knew the other three volunteers but neither of us had met the leader before.

The leader, Phil, had arrived at the house first and was enjoying a glass of wine when we came in.  The house is used for seasonal housing in the summer but is dedicated to the volunteer nordic patrol in the winter.  It is bunk style with three bedrooms, a loft, and two bathrooms.  Phil took the upstairs while Pam and I settled in one of the downstairs bedrooms.

After Pam and I tucked into a bottle of wine Marcia, Beth and Eivind arrived.  We stayed up until 11:00 p.m. getting acquainted and making a plan for the next day.  Phil had volunteered several times this season so had an idea what might be expected of us by the ranger in the morning.

I slept like a rock that night and woke up just before the alarm went off at 7:00.  That allowed for a fairly leisurely morning of coffee, breakfast, lunch prep, pack repacking then waiting for Ranger Dan.  Our duty for the day was to patrol the marked snowshoe-ski routes at Narada Falls and Paradise, make observations on begging foxes, make visitor contact and help where needed.

The snow conditions were crust on yucky snow.  Pam wisely opted to leave her skis behind and instead snowshoed.  I hadn't even brought my snowshoes so had to manage with skis and skins.  We reset trail poles from Narada Falls up to the saddle above Reflection Lakes, attempted a few wobbly turns in heavy crud then had lunch at Reflection Lakes.  The black fox spotted us and trotted purposely in our direction.  We shooed it off then continued our patrol back down to Inspiration Point and over to the junction that goes up a gully to Paradise.

Once we were at Paradise, a ranger asked us to reset some poles in the Nisqually Loop because so much melt had occurred, which made the existing trail too close to the edge of the river.  We took some time to reroute the trail and came across a young man who had taken the wrong route to meet up with friends to camp for the night in Dead Horse Basin.  We directed him to the right path and advised him to return to his car if he didn't reach his friends in the next half mile or so.

Then as we returned to the parking area we spotted two ladies with a dog on one of the snow trails walk right past a "No Pets" sign.  Phil pursued them and asked them to return to pavement where dogs are allowed.  They complied.

Then we began the descent along Paradise Valley road back to Narada Falls.  The anticipated storm blew in making visibility awful.  I went first and reached a junction where I thought we should regroup.  Phil continued to the vehicle so that he could pick us up at an easy meeting point while I waited for the snowshoers to catch up.  And waited.  I started back up the road to stay warm and caught up with them coming down.  We made the turn together then came to a confusing junction where we were all tempted to turn left.  The map told us to turn right and after a lot of doubt we went that way and learned it was indeed the correct direction.  Yay for maps in wild storms!

We returned to the house later than usual but it was a great day of exercise since we estimated we toured approximately 6-7 miles total.  We had a wonderful potluck dinner of chili, cornbread, massaged kale salad, and wine.  Some were able to make room for Pam's Dark and Stormy Pear Crisp but Beth and I opted to wait to eat it for breakfast.  We all were tired from the cold and exersion so turned in shortly after 9:00 p.m.

This morning we woke up to clear skies but the gate to Paradise was closed until 11:00 so the majority of us packed up, cleaned the house and left for home.  If it had snowed more than 7" waiting for the gate to open might've been worthwhile.  But skiing on 7" of fresh over hard crust didn't sound appealing.  It was a nice drive home and I had a splendid nap this afternoon.

Here are the pictures.

The idea for a ski trip together came up during a walk Jenny and I took one late fall day.  The original idea was to go to Mazama to cross country ski and send the men-folk up into the backcountry.  The four of us (Jenny, Chris, Randy, and I) met for wine and pizza in one of the fine downtown Mt. Vernon establishments and brought forward our idea.  The idea was nixed almost immediately because the backcountry isn't very accessible in Mazama without a snowmobile.  Jenny and I hadn't thought of that.  We put forward a lot of ideas where we thought we could all have fun and eventually settled on Revelstoke, even though Whistler, Big White, Big Mountain, Silver Star, Sun Peaks, and other resorts were mentioned.  We also settled on a week in early February then watched the weather.

By January we needed to make a final decision.  Apparently our best decisions are made over pizza.  With more pizza, beer, and a computer we finally made our decision based on the dates that lodging was available.  We reserved a condo with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen in downtown Revelstoke for the last weekend in January and first week in February.

Then the weather forecast immediately did exactly what we did not want it to do: we had along warm spell, followed by a dry pattern.  Since we did not know what the conditions would be like we didn't follow through with hiring a guide for the backcountry.  It turned out just fine but I wouldn't recommend that approach.

Departure day arrived.  Randy and I packed the night before and prepared for an earlier-than usual departure.  Even still, we arrived at Chris and Jenny's about 10 minutes late.  It took a good 15 minutes to load all their stuff on top of our stuff then we were off to the border crossing in Sumas.  Easy, except our apples from the grocery store were confiscated.

Our next stop was the Kamloops Costco to buy 2-day discounted ski passes for Revelstoke Mountain Resort.  The pass is a lot like an Advantage Pass for Stevens Pass here locally.  So if you go, it is well worth it to stop at the Costco.  However, make sure you have a Mastercard or enough cash or an American Express because debit cards with the Visa symbol don't work in that Costco.  Also, make sure that you call your bank to let them know you will be in Canada otherwise the bank will place a hold on your card.  Big Brother is out there!  After a little confusion, a delay in the check out line and a mad dash back to the truck to get my American Express card, Randy and I had our passes.  Chris fortunately had brought enough cash to cover his and Jenny's passes.

Another 3 hours or so up the TransCanada Highway, we arrived, although a little too early because the cleaning lady was still working on our unit.  She invited us to camp out in the adjacent unit.  Randy and Chris did that while Jenny and I walked around town.  We stopped at the RMR visitors center for some information then continued walking on icy sidewalks.  When we got back Chris and Randy had transferred all our stuff into our unit and loaded up the fridge from our stockpile of beer, our extra large stockpile of beer.  We also found an illicit apple that had made it through the border.  No worries, though, the apple never made it back out of Canada.

For dinner we went to the Village Idiot for pints and food.  It's a fun place with a couple local brews on tap and some interesting variations on food and pizza.  I had a vegan salad of chickpeas, which I'd recommend.  Not sure that the others would recommend their meals.

The next day we went up to the mountain to ski.  It's about an 8-minute drive from town so there's no need to get an alpine start.  Of course we heard that the day to ski was yesterday because a weather system had dumped a bunch of powder on Friday night.  It was quite cold and sunny.  I learned that when I buckled my boots all the way down my feet froze.  We also learned that our wimpy Washington face protecting gear was inadequate so eventually we all got these sort of hinged balaclavas with breathing holes.  Maybe Chris didn't but the rest of us did.

The conditions were fast but still quite good and a little powder could be found here and there.  Revelstoke has 4 chairs.  The first is a gondola from the bottom, which connects to another gondola at "mid mountain", which actually may only be the bottom third of the total elevation.  At the top of the second gondola a short ski is required to get to the Stoker Chair.  There's another chair called "The Ripper" that is off to skiers right.  Naturally we got separated immediately.  Jenny and I ended up going left while Randy and Chris went right.  Somehow Jenny and I got to the Ripper Chair and had to figure out how to get back.  Eventually, maybe around lunch time, we all ran into each other again and skied together for the rest of the afternoon.

The mountain has about 5600' of vertcal if one is inclined to ski from top to bottom.  Our strategy was to generally ski the top third or the top two thirds.  Eventually we all found our favorite runs.  Mine was an ungroomed  blue run just right of the Stoker Chair called Snow Rodeo.  Jenny seemed to favor an ungroomed bowl across the groomed run to the left of the Stoker Chair.  Randy and Chris went into the North Bowl but also seemed to enjoy the run way right of the Stoker Chair.  It was easy to find something to like.  I'd never seen a groomed black diamond run before but Revelstoke has one called "Pitch Black".  It is very steep and very fast.

Monday proved to be quite cold so we opted to not ski the resort.  Instead we spent a lot of time wondering about Rogers Pass and finally took a drive up there since we were't getting much helpful information in town.  The advice to Randy and I before we even left for the trip was to hire a guide but we procrastinated because no one was sure whether it would be worth it given the sunny and dry condtions.  However, once we got up to Rogers Pass we found the amount of terrain overwhelming and further advice from the park service to hire a guide.  After we got back to Revelstoke we went down the list the Canadian Avalanche Association office gave us and looked up names and numbers in the phone book.  Randy and Chris made phone calls while Jenny and I stretched our legs on the groomed crosscountry track on the golf course.  The track was very crunchy and we couldn't really get a good rhythm going because the sides of the track kept catching our boots and bindings.  Still, it was a good leg stretcher.

Eventually we got a call back from a guide service who had time to take us on a tour on Thursday.  We were to meet Wednesday evening to go over avalanche beacon searching and signing the forms.  Our guide was Bob Shafto from Revelstoke Ski Touring and HeliCanada.  He was actually the owner of the company so it was surprising that he was going to be our guide for a tour.

After skiing inbounds in the sunshine on Tuesday and Wednesday, Jenny and I opted to take a lesson in the afternoon of Wednesday.  We wanted to hone our skills skiing in the trees since that is likely what we'd be doing for our backcountry tour.  Neither Jenny or I are confident skiers in the trees and the lesson definitely helped.  The reason we thought we'd ski the trees for our tour is because a storm was forecasted for Thursday.  It's a lot nicer to ski in the shelter of trees than in the open in the storm.  The avalanche conditions were stable because of the recent avalanche cycle followed by several days of cold and sun.  Still, we weren't sure if there were buried layers that were a concern so it was comforting to have a guide.

Plus our guide turned out to be a lot of fun.  Bob is a lively fellow with many years of experience in Revelstoke and quite of bit of international experience as well.  He says that ski touring is his favorite thing although he did encourage us many times to try heliskiing.  I'm not ready for that yet though it would be fun to get dropped off by a helicopter to a backcountry hut.  Some day…

All our avalanche safety training served us well during our beacon search test the evening before our tour.  We found all four beacons in a fairly systematic way.  Also, we got to meet "Big Ed" the retired one-eyed avalanche search dog.  He didn't go on the tour with us but I'll bet he wanted to.

We met Bob at 7:10 the next morning, finished signing waivers, then loaded up to drive up to Rogers Pass to get our necessary passes.  Our tour started at Bostoc Creek up a summer trail.  We made a long traverse above a drainage then started switchbacking up the slope to find an open path that hopefully had untracked powder.  Along the way Bob shared his wisdom about breaking trail, staying cool and dry, eating, drinking fluids, and so on.  The trail breaking wasn't easy because the snowpack was low in the forest so there were plenty of obstacles to go over and around.  At a clearing we could see a lot of ski tracks across the drainage so Bob took us to another powder stash near the top of the ridge.  We ripped our skins (hides, as Bob says) and started skiing down at over 6000'.  The car was parked at just below 4000'.

Jenny and I paired up while Randy and Chris made the other pair.  Bob practically yodelled all the way down the chute.  We skied as far left as we could so that we could avoid most of the slippery track we had come up.  Most of the skiing was in the open but some was in the trees.  Jenny and I didn't ski real pretty but we got down in our own style.  The uptrack was a bit of a luge but 7 cm of new snow helped slow us down and made the ski out fun.  At the end of the day Bob came up to our condo and had a beer with us.  It was great fun and I'd definitely try to hire him again on a future visit.

Revelstoke had received quite a bit of new snow so on Friday we skied inbounds again.  The lines were much longer.  It was like the whole town had come out, which may be true.  Someone on the gondola said that everyone would be gone by 1:00 since they probably had to go back to work.  What a nice life!  Our favorite runs were different with a whole lot of fresh snow and it was like skiing new runs all over again.  After lunch I asked Randy to go with me on a tree run.  Jenny had hurt her knee on an earlier tree run attempt so she and Chris skied other runs.  The tree run was fun with lots of fresh lines and widely spaced trees.  I was happy with one long run through the trees then another run down the open runs.  Randy had enough energy to take another run from the top while I dawdled my way down.  By the time I got down Randy finished his extra run and met me as I was taking off my skis at the bottom.  We were a half hour late meeting Jenny and Chris.  Thankfully they had a warm bar in which to hang out.

We all agreed that we had had enough skiing for the week and were ready to go home.  I was really tired and cranky although I made my best attempt to keep it to myself.  Not entirely sure I was successful but I buried myself in a good book.  We'd had 5 days of fairly strenuous skiing plus Jenny and I had the one day of crunchy cross country skiing.  Our condo was right across the street from a lively night club with booming woofers.  Plus our condo inexplicably did not have any blinds in the windows so light streamed into our bedrooms.  Generally our condo was really nice except we had to buy our own toilet paper and hand soap.  There was only one lamp in each bedroom and only overhead lighting in the living room.  That was startling but in the end lodging had only cost each of us about $75 per night.  So it's hard to complain but I could've used much better sleep.  Ear plugs reduced the noise significantly but the light was hard for me to sleep in.  I doubt I was the only one affected but I am truly unpleasant when sleep deprived.

Our last night in town was my worst night of sleep yet.  Still I got a few hours of good sleep and was able to sleep in as long as I wanted.  That helped and felt distinctly cheerier the following day.  We were coffeed, breakfasted, packed and loaded before 9:00 a.m.  We left the snowy streets of Revelstoke and onto the TransCanada Highway.  Randy took the first shift of driving through low visibility and frozen wipers.  Hot coffee from Chris' thermos unfroze the wiper sprayers so visibility through the windshield improved, inspite of fog and road spray.  I took over driving south of Kamloops.  The going was a lot easier but mud and spray on the side mirrors and windows did not help visibility.  Fortunately traffic is fairly polite in Canada, which is surprising because I don't find Canadians typically polite drivers here in Washington.

The border crossing in Sumas went smoothly although a couple oranges that had come from the US were not allowed back in the US.  Oh well, maybe the crossing guards will have a snack on us.  Within an hour we were back at Chris and Jenny's.  Unload, hugs, and on our way home.  But first dinner and a beer since we knew that there was no food at home.  We detoured to Diamond Knot on Camano Island and had a burger.  Home and unloaded (but not unpacked) by 5:30.  It was some kind of fun and I'd love to do it again!  Here are the few pictures I took.