Posts Tagged ski tour
Not many people know how extroadinary the Washington Cascades are. Heck, before I moved here I had no idea just how diverse and immense the Cascades were. Thankfully, I have a much better idea now… This was one of those perfect days of backcountry skiing, when everything aligns just right: deep snow, cold cloudless skies [...]
Winter has officially arrived here in the Pacific NW. Besides a few breaks here and there, it’s pretty much been snowing for the past two weeks. This is great for the snow pack, but unfortunately the backcountry is hard to reach and scary to be in at the moment. We’re not alone. The other day [...]
This is not the weekend to go backcountry skiing, at least here in the Northwest. Interestingly, the reason for what could be a truly hazadarous weekend for any sort of ski touring, has less to do with the Pacific Northwest and more to do with the Rockies. “This is the weakest snowpack I have seen [...]
Snow is finally starting to fall here in the Pacific Northwest and soon enough we should all be enjoying some backcountry ski tours. For now I’ll take what I can get, even if it’s a couple ski photos from past trips. This shot was snapped on a three-day ski tour to the Snow Peak hut [...]
It’s that bad. Dec 7th, 2008, and still no snow in the Washington Cascades. So what’s a backcountry skier to do? How about go for a trail run up Mt Si? Sounds like fun right? We’re getting desperate, but at least the 4,000 ft climb up Mount Si was under clear blue skies and afforded [...]
Time is running out on holiday shopping. Which is kind of scary, because with Christmas only a couple weeks away, there still is barely any snow in them hills! I woke up this morning, as I do every day, looked out the window and the Olympic Mountains are bare bare bare. It will come they [...]
There a lot of folks here in the PNW who actually ski year-round. I’m not one of them. But I do love backcountry skiing and there really is nothing like that first ski tour of the year. Despite a pretty abysmal start to the winter, we were lucky to hit Mt Rainier on a very [...]
One of the many benefits to backcountry skiing in the Pacific Northwest (besides tons of snow and huge amounts of terrain) is we don’t have to worry AS MUCH about hoar frost. Which is why, while living in Whitefish, Montana, last winter, I was always a bit nervous ski touring. Although I wouldn’t say Whitefish [...]
Yesterday I posted the video “A Dozen More Turns“, which was played at Saturdays Northwest Avalanche Summit here in Seattle. The avalanche video, showing the real-life story of a group of friends enjoying some epic hut skiing was, and is, a reminder that no matter how much avalanche experience you have, things can go wrong. [...]
It’s raining. Yup, it’s that time of the year. Actually, this time two years ago was when the NW received copious amounts of rain. Just check out some of these photos from Mt Rainier – http://mountrainierclimbing.blogspot.com/2006/11/mt-rainier-storm-flood-damage-photos.html. Believe it or not, there are sections of the park that are just now opening from that storm. But [...]
