Stairs Gulch

I have been wanting to ski Stairs Gulch before too much of the bottom melted out so I asked some friends if they wanted to do it this weekend.  Aaron Kennard was able to come and brought his friend Jentry.  Since Jentry was on megawatt's he suggested we go ahead and do a lap once we got to Bonkers.  The snow on Bonkers was still good and a lot of fun. We were back up to the summit above Stairs around 10.  I thought I'd be home early but didn't know I was in for the longest descent of my life!  We had great snow up high and then hit something called the icefall - a 60 degree ice chute - that apparently some people just ski down and quickly stop at the bottom.  The problem was there was a ton of avalanche debris at the bottom of this and really icy above.  Seeing Jentry struggle as he neared the icefall I tried to go down a different chute but the edges of the chute to get to the apron were just faceted snow on top of slippery slabs of rock so I was unable to safely go that way.  I booted back up and found the handline I had seen in pictures and eventually made my way over to that.  Jentry was down below the small cliff bands and said it looked like the rope didn't go long enough.  I figured it would because I had seen a picture of it being used but couldn't remember the direction they had gone with the rope. Rather than test it I booted back up around to the original route Jentry took that now seemed like the best option and down climbed a tree/evergreen bush type thing that I was very grateful for.  Basically this one section took us 45 minutes or more.  Lower down the couloir there were soccer sized avalanche debris that proved unskiable so we walked over that and finally had some great corn skiing down below.  Since I was now late rather than early Aaron and I ran down the trail once the snow ended to drive up to his car at Broads where we started.  It's always fun watching peoples' faces when you come back to a road with skis on your back and whippets in hand when other people are going on summer hikes and wondering where the heck you just came from.

Bonkers (all the good pictures of me are from Aaron's dslr)

The view at the top of Stairs

  

Looking back at the Twins and the NW couloir.  It looked a lot more intimidating to me yesterday and I had to remind myself I had already skied it.

More views on top

Aaron dropping in

The snow in the upper section was great

Jentry really enjoying his heavy Megawatt skis now

Aaron with the valley in the background

The 45 minute section with tree bush down climb

Happy to be past that section

Walking down the very large avy debris

Final corn skiing section

Aaron crossing a narrow rock bridge trying not to fall in the hole on the side

Looking back

Hypodermic Needle, Coalpit Headwall, Y couloir

I think yesterday was my best day skiing of the season so far.  I have had a ton of amazing days, but the overall experience of this one was pretty indescribable.  Aaron Kennard and I started off in the dark through the short  bushwhack to the entrance of the Y.  When I skied the Y the first time with Josh we booted up the whole thing, but this time we skinned most of the way.  I had never skinned up anything that steep and learned the hard way it magnifies poor technique.  Thankfully Aaron taught me what the Dorais brothers taught him and now I know how to do a proper kick turn.  We ran into the Dorais brothers, Tom Goth and Lars and before we knew it they were out of sight.  It is cool to watch how fast they were.  They had already skied down the Coalpit headwall and skinned back up to the ridge before we even reached the summit of North Thunder.  I look forward to the day when Aaron and I can go that fast and put in a huge day and still be back home by noon.  Coalpit Gulch and the area around North Thunder Mountain was such an incredible area.  The views of amazing snow covered mountains I'd never been to before along the with awesome skiing possibilities all around produced some pretty indescribable feelings.  After getting to the summit of North Thunder we headed over to the Hypodermic Needle and looked down what would be our first ever 50 degree slope.  We quickly learned 50 degrees is way steeper than 40!  There are some rocks in the top section so rather than try to make it through those without a potential fall, we just side stepped very slowly and carefully down below the rocks with our skis and whippets.  The skiing was so steep and so incredible.  It was crazy just how steep it was! We skinned back up to the ridge and as soon as we got back to the summit of North Thunder a thick fog rolled in and we could only see 20 feet or so.  Luckily Aaron still knew where we were somehow and picked the right spot for us to drop into the line we had scoped out earlier.  The snow was great! We made our way out of Coalpit and back up to the Y for over 3,000 feet more of great skiing before finishing our day.  An amazing day!  Thanks Kristen for giving me the day to play!

Aaron crossing the river.  He decided to crawl across after I almost slipped on the snow covered log.

Andy and Jason Dorais, Tom Goth and Lars showing us how it's done.  I think 3 of the 4 have been on the US ski mountaineering team.

Climbing up the Y

Looking across at Lisa Falls Couloir, this year or next?

That big snow covered mountain in the background is North Thunder, and this side of the mountain is called the Coalpit Headwall.  It was cool knowing we'd be skiing down one of those chutes in a couple hours.

I love that fixed rope!

Coalpit Gulch

Booting up to North Thunder

Aaron headed over to the top of the needle.

The views were breathtaking.

Looking down the Hypodermic Needle

Too steep to worry about getting in focus but shows why we didn't try to ski the top section.

Me skiing down my first 50 degree slope.  

I forgot to take my headlamp off all day.

What the Needle looks like from across the canyon according to Google.

What the visibility was like when we got back up to North Thunder.

Somehow Aaron knew where to go.

It would have been nice to have the visibility for this line, but at the same time it was kind of cool to ski down our first time in the fog. 

Coming down the Y couloir, over 3,000 feet more to ski down great snow.

After the Needle and Coalpit, this 42 degree slope felt pretty mellow.

North Lake Peak and NE Red Baldy Chute

A couple new fun lines. Trying to find some dry snow in the heat.  It was so hot! I'm glad there is some more snow forecast in a few days.

Great views on Lake Peak

 NE Red Baldy Chute

Emma's, Jaws, Findaway, and cliffs!

It's been awhile since we had a nice powder day. The wind during the last storm and the amount of new snow meant it wasn't a good day for anything big but just finding some good powder turns on less technical terrain.  It was crazy how to think about how much I've grown as a skier since the last time I skied the Emma's.  It just didn't do it for me like it used to, but still an exciting day.  After a lap down Emma 4, I headed back up Emma 2.  I wasn't sure if I would be able to get my new line in for the day but then remembered I had wanted to go down the chute called Jaws at some point.  Since I was now right above Jaws I decided to check it out.  After a couple ski cuts I enjoyed my first powder skiing down a chute.  The apron below was incredible!  I love the feeling of floating through untouched powder.  Once I had skinned back up to the ridge and I ran into both Aaron Rice and Aaron Kennard (I had been trying to meet up with them all afternoon but it's pretty hard to do when both parties keep skiing in between communications).  Aaron Kennard had to go home but Aaron Rice was taking a couple more laps so he showed me Findaway which was a cool area, but we ran into some wind slab.  On the way out Emma 2, Aaron was filming me with the GoPro I'm borrowing from Dr. Stagg and I inadvertently went off about a ten foot cliff that wasn't visible until it was too late.  Fortunately, I was able to stay calm, land below the cliff, and rode for 5-10 feet before tipping backwards.  Overall, a very exciting power day.

Jaws

Looking back up

Wind slab

Unintentional cliff