Just wow.
Partner: Sam Lien
Mileage: 23
Gain: 13300'
Elapsed Time: 14:30
Start time: 1;30 AM
Approach/deproach: Just a little hiking trail to get to snow on the way up Eldorado. Some serious bushwhacking and then about 2 miles of trail at the end.
Ski Gear: Full race gear
Technical Gear: One Petzl Gully, Petzl Irvis hybrid crampons , glacier and rappelling gear
Rope: Yes, 30M RAD
Pack: Pretty light, but a stove, extra food, warm clothes, and an ultralight bivy kit in case we didn't make it in a day.
Start: Cascade River Road, as far up as you can get, hopefully Eldorado Trailhead
Finish: Pyramid Lake Trail Parking, Highway 20
Dryland: Enough to want shoes
Partner: Sam Lien
Mileage: 23
Gain: 13300'
Elapsed Time: 14:30
Start time: 1;30 AM
Approach/deproach: Just a little hiking trail to get to snow on the way up Eldorado. Some serious bushwhacking and then about 2 miles of trail at the end.
Ski Gear: Full race gear
Technical Gear: One Petzl Gully, Petzl Irvis hybrid crampons , glacier and rappelling gear
Rope: Yes, 30M RAD
Pack: Pretty light, but a stove, extra food, warm clothes, and an ultralight bivy kit in case we didn't make it in a day.
Start: Cascade River Road, as far up as you can get, hopefully Eldorado Trailhead
Finish: Pyramid Lake Trail Parking, Highway 20
Dryland: Enough to want shoes
Where to begin. Honestly I'm writing this about 3 years after the fact and the memories from this trip are still quite vivid. I think this was one of my and Sam's earlier outings. We had met through some skimo friends and he seemed motivated, fit, and dialed. Most importantly he is a good communicator (returns calls or texts promptly) and he always shows up on time. There are some lessons in there for finding good partners and making yourself a good partner. I had been looking for people to go fast and light on big traverses with me, frankly there aren't many people with the fitness, gear, technical skill, and motivation to do this. He is also one of probably 100 people in the state who owns a race suit, that really narrows down the options.
Feel free to laugh if you are reading this in 2031 and this gets done all the time now and this trip is considered a slow time on heavy gear.
We dropped his car off and headed up Cascade River Road in my trusty Volvo Wagon. I recently sold the wagon and was sad to see it go. It's no sprinter van, but the back was big enough for two adults to sleep in comfortably. Sam and I spent the "night" (10 PM to 1 AM) in the car then the alarm went off, probably at 1 AM. Ugh the first hour or so is always a total drag.
Feel free to laugh if you are reading this in 2031 and this gets done all the time now and this trip is considered a slow time on heavy gear.
We dropped his car off and headed up Cascade River Road in my trusty Volvo Wagon. I recently sold the wagon and was sad to see it go. It's no sprinter van, but the back was big enough for two adults to sleep in comfortably. Sam and I spent the "night" (10 PM to 1 AM) in the car then the alarm went off, probably at 1 AM. Ugh the first hour or so is always a total drag.
We had the route description from Volken's guidebook and had read some TR's. I think that Sam had done a bunch of research too. The freezing levels looked good and we had a great consolidation in the snowpack. We were mainly worried about the avalanche chute coming off of Pyramid Peak, figuring that we could wait until evening if it was wet sliding too much when we got there.
Things were chilly on the glacier by Eldorado, turns out race suits aren't that warm... who would have guessed?
Yet again the 30M rad line is just the right length. The rappel route worked just great for us, but some friends who came a week later had to do some rock scrambling to get to it. Not super fun in ski boots with a heavy pack. There is a variation in the Volken book that skips the rappel. It's the only time we used the rope.
Alpenglow on the way to the backbone traverse
Dropping into the backbone traverse. I love seeing it now driving up 20 and knowing that I skied right across that giant snowfield. We hard perfect hard and fast snow, nothing like covering ground quickly.
Dropping into the Ice-elation couloir
I seem to remember encountering fantastic snow. It's been a while though and these things tend to get better with age.
Getting over the midday slump on the way to Isolation peak.
We caught a couple of guys at the Snowfield Peak Col They took our photo
The guys we caught, Peter Lillesve and partner
You might notice Peter popping up in trip reports from 2020, it's good to make friends. The people you meet in the middle of nowhere are generally pretty cool. We also met at the end of the Patrol Race and at the top of Whitehorse Mtn... Couldn't deny it any longer, we just needed to start skiing together.
Long skate across the Snowfield peak glacier
The crux wasn't an issue for us. We watched the avi chute for a few minutes and nothing was moving. Then we hauled ass across, there is some serious terrain below so it's worth giving plenty of thought to.
The photo above is one of my favorite photos ever. The look on Sam's face is pure agony. He was probably bonking at that point and we were in the middle of the endless bush-wacky descent from Pyramid peak to the Pyramid Lake trail. Me, coming from a forestry/arboriculture background, bushwhacking comes naturally. Sadly Sam skipped the bushwhacking elective at med school, it's really showing.
The day really just clicked. We greatly appreciated the skintrack and booter Peter and his partner left us. The weather was perfect, cool at the ridges and warm in the valleys. The snow was fast and we nailed the route finding. What an awesome day!
The day really just clicked. We greatly appreciated the skintrack and booter Peter and his partner left us. The weather was perfect, cool at the ridges and warm in the valleys. The snow was fast and we nailed the route finding. What an awesome day!