East Dennis Recon Mission

Headed up to Palouse Divide on Christmas to see for myself what the conditions were like. Frankly it was bleak. No new snow had fallen since the road closed to vehicles so the roads are severely ruted. The snow on the West Dennis trail didn't start for about a 1/4 of a mile and had interspersed bare patches for the next mile or so.  

A little thin.

The skinning was a little tricky because I grabbed my telemark skins instead of mt AT skins. They basically looked like thongs and I had to keep the angle just right while skinning in deep ruts. At least the views of St. Joe Baldy and Latour Baldy was really good. That zone is high up on the to do list.

Latour Baldy/Pearson Peak/St. Joe Baldy

I skinned up to the saddle between East and West Dennis before turning around due to fading light and a snowstorm rolling through. The skiing on the shoulder of the road was actually really good. Very bouncy and I was glad to have the AT skis. Its snowing tonight so hopefully the ruts will get covered and the XC skiing can proceed.

Weird melted out pinwheel.

Be sure to support the Palouse Divide Nordic Club because even if the snow isn't that great there going to have to really get after it once it does snow. You can find a link to there page in the right margin. This new snow will certainly raise the avalanche danger to high at least through the weekend so be extra careful if you get out. Also, be sure to send any avalanche, weather, or snow condition information you might think is helpful for the public to palousebackcountry@gmail.com and Ill publish them here on this blog.

Thanks for reading and if you get out this week be safe and have fun!

Freezeout Area and Poor Blister Management

Left early for a trip up to Mark's Butte/Freezeout Ridge outside of Clarkia, Idaho yesterday. With a dusting of snow in Moscow my hopes were high for some fresh snow in the mountains.  After a short talk with some loggers about truck traffic and road condition in Clarkia they advised me to park closer to Clarkia that I usually do. This ended up adding about six extra miles to the round trip. The road is pretty easily drivable to the real start on Forest Service road 301. The fog was thick and I was unsure about the conditions up high. I was in the fog most of the morning until I started to break out of the clouds.


Mountain Springs

My feet were hurting pretty bad as it was the first time I had been out on the telemark gear this year. Its wierd because my Garmont Excursion are usually my most comfortable boot set up. Either way the boots were not packed out enough for all day comfort. I started out with moleskin but devolved to layers of duct tape. I wasn't going to let some blisters deter me but I was moving slowly while my one o'clock turn around time was approaching quickly.


Powder on Freezeout

After a few short runs from the buildings/boxes about 3/4 of a mile from Mark's Butte I was hosed! 


Looking back towards Point 5880


After a quick lunch it was time to head back. My feet were hurting so bad that I was sure there would be some blood so I decided to just be tough (stupid) and let them be till I got back down. 



Self

 As always the ski down was quick.  It took just over an hour to ski all the way out to the pickup. It was just me up there all day. A real blessing. I've never been up Freezeout in the winter without at least a few sled. Powder, on Solstice, in the sun and by myself. I just couldn't get over it and snapped this photo in case it never happens again.



Only my tracks. My own private Idaho

 After I got to the truck I was very curious as to the condition of my feet. Here is the before I removed to moleskin and tape.


Ouch!

And after! (WARNING GROSS SKIER FEET AND BLISTERS)




Blisters with a side of bruising

The snow was great and the coverage even better. At least 3 feet in most areas and as much as 50 inches in some spots. Snow was generally stable as the recent load was small. Next chance of snow looks like early next week and could be rain/heavy snow that could push the snowpack past its breaking point.

The total trip was in the area of 21 miles of skiing and about 4000 feet of elevation gain/loss. All in all a very good day trip!

Be sure to read the latest advisory from the Idaho Panhandle Avalanche Center and remember you can submit condition reports or quest trip report to palousebackcountry@gmail.com and I will gladly publish them on this blog.

Thanks for reading and if you get out this week be safe and have fun!

Moscow Mountain Powder

      I headed up to Moscow Mountain on Saturday. When I got to the parking lot it was full of cars. The bottom gates are closed but the road is plowed as far as the Hatter Creek Road/Tamarack Rd. intersection. After a mile long warm up hike I was able to start skinning up the road. A few of the side gates are nearly covered with snow. The Stotel site was reading like 17 inches of snow but it was quite a bit deeper farther north of the Snotel site. Usually the track leads up to East Moscow Mountain but instead the all went out towards the Cedars. I headed up to East Moscow Mountain. A few guys with snowboard were out doing laps with a snowmobile and I was actually pretty glad to see them flattening out the irregularities in the roads surface.  After a break in the sun it was time to get going.
 

View looking east from Moscow Mountain

It was cool to see the Seven Devils after all these weeks of haze. You've might have to click the photo to enlarge it and then look really close!


Seven Devils in the distance!

Also, its going to be a little while before you can ski off the rocks straight to the trailhead.

Still a little boney

After heading back to the main road I decided to try a run down through the trees. The skiing was actually really fun. The snow was fully supportive and actually powder even though it had not snowed for a few days. All I had to do was avoid the obstacles.

It was way better than it looks here!

After a quick skin back up to the road and a chat about how great the snow was with the snowmobilers/snowboarder and a hiker with his kids  I headed down again. This run was really good. I found that the stump free zones weren't hiding hidden stumps and opened up the skis a little. 

Shortly after some hoots and hollers!

A cool down and and beautiful hike down to the parking lot. A successful reconnaissance trip in the bag.

Be sure to read the latest advisory from the Idaho Panhandle Avalanche Center and remember you can submit condition reports or quest trip report to palousebackcountry@gmail.com and I will gladly publish them on this blog.

Thanks for reading and if you get out this week be safe and have fun!

Lookout Pass Backcountry

In and out of the clouds.

Went up to Lookout Pass yesterday. Hardly anyone up there and really good conditions in bounds. After a few warm up runs I headed south from the ski area boundaries on Runt Mt. towards St. Regis Pass. The skiing was really good and I was stoked.


Self portrait w/ camera timer.

After reaching St. Regis Pass I headed east into Montana and St. Regis basin.  After reaching the valley floor I started heading up into the basin. I was shocked to find almost every square inch of powder tracked up by snowmobiles. I decided to play it safe and just tour up to the lakes.

The snow is facets to the ground in some spots. There is a crust in some places but not others. I would not be surprised if there are huge avalanches up there this year. My camera's batteries crapped out just below the lake so no pictures but the cloud layer started at about 5500 feet so there wasn't much to see. The ski back down was quick and fun. It took about 30 minutes to ski down what took about two hours to climb up. I Love skiing.


Trying to give slide paths a wide berth!

 After a late lunch back at the pick-up I took a few more runs in bounds. The alpenglow was spectacular and I skied till the last lift. All in all a great day of Slackcountry fun!

 P.S.  Thanks to the University of Idaho Ski Team for showing the ski movie Solitaire and Follett's Mountain Sports for donating the free tune up I won during the raffle. I never win anything. (Unless it's the surliest Montana state employee of the year award) They did a great job and my skis were flying like magic carpets.

Crazy Avalanche Self Rescue Video!

I think there is a lot to learn from other peoples avalanche survival stories. This one comes from Southeast Wyoming and is probably the most vivid one out there. This video contains graphic language and images. The reality of self rescue after an avalanche is no joke. These guys were only a couple of miles from the car. PLEASE WATCH THIS VIDEO IF YOU SPEND ANYTIME IN AVALANCHE TERRAIN!

Backcountry ski film Solitaire showing this week at the Borah Theater

This Thursday at the Borah Theater in Moscow the UI ski team will be showing a rad backcountry ski film. Check out the trailer.

There will be two shows. One at 7pm and at 9pm. Tickets will be $5 pre-sale, and $6 dollars at the door. A pre-sale ticket booth will be set up outside of the Idaho Commons the week of the movie premier.  Be sure to come by and support your local ski team.

Persistant Weak Layers

This seasons snowpack may be shaping up as a dangerous snowpack capable of large to the ground avalanches. The snow that fell first was followed by a cold clear conditions which lead to a layer of surface hoar that has been covered by the last set of storms. I'm really concerned that the last few day may cause a sun crust to form which may make it very unlikely that future storms cycles will be able to effect the weak layer which is closest to the ground. Last week I headed up to Lookout Pass and Freezeout Ridge. Snowpack conditions were similar at both locations with a weak layer of facets near the ground with anywhere from 10-20 inches of denser snow on top.



St. Regis Basin 12-1-11

Up at Freezeout, surface hoar crystals were already forming.

Surface Hoar Crystals Freezeout Ridge 11-29-11



Please feel free to send observation in and be careful out there folks!