This tour made me realize it has been way too long since I have been back in the Middle Fork Valley. I had the opportunity to show my good buddy AV some of the extended backyard and not only opened his eyes but confirmed my love for the Central Cascades. We initially intended to climb and ski Overcoat Peak but opted to abort this objective for a few reasons (I struggled with finding the approach in fog/low clouds, we were pyschologically a little beat up from the longer than expected time slogging our skis on our backs, and the approach slopes just above the river were quite thin). So, we ditched the climbing hardware and changed our objective to Summit Chief Col. The lighter packs were quite refreshing.

We continued touring to the end of the valley, then followed the drainage southwest into the picturesque valley under Summit Chief.



Once in the valley, there was ample snow and we found stable conditions with 4" of overnight storm snow on top of more dense unconsolidated snow from the storm over a week ago.





The return trip out was very smooth. We learned from the walk/skin/walk/skin...on the way in where the strategic point was to eliminate transitions and forfeit to the skis-on-the-back trek. All in all, we travelled a solid 20 miles and 5000' in a long day. You gotta pay to play and you gotta love that valley.



A special thanks to AV for staying awake on the drive out...his co-pilot was doing his best but most words that came out of my mouth were more related to my dreams than reality.

Labels: ski touring

Our week in the Wallowas was fantastic - "powder on the north, corn on the south - feet upon feet". Well... maybe not exactly like that, but those of us from the snow-starved Cascades were pretty happy with the snow. Trev and I skied in Monday; Travis, Kelley, Donni, and Adam came in on Thursday; and Tom (AKA the Dessert Wizard) came in on Friday. We stayed at the Big Sheep Hut, about 4 miles in from the road, and didn't run into another group the entire week.



Tuesday we took a tour up the South Fork of the Big Sheep that ended in a nice powder (!) descent. Wednesday was a rest day - played cards in the sun, did some camp chores, relaxed in the sauna, and did some transceiver searches. Thursday we went up the Big Sheep Basin and had lunch on the ridge overlooking Bonney Lakes before descending through (almost) powder.



Friday was warm from the start (54 degrees at 8:30), and our party of six went up the ridge toward Mt. Nebo. The tour up was tough in places - we kept losing people in tree holes - but after a nice sunny lunch break with some topless entertainment from the guys, we had good corn on the descent. Travis and Kelley whipped up some phenomenal Thai food, followed by yummy chocolate pie courtesy of a newly arrived Tom.



Saturday brought in a very chilly wind. We followed our Tuesday tracks back up the South Fork, and had an assortment of almost-pow, bulletproof, and almost-corn conditions. Another great dinner (this time from ragin' Cajuns Adam and Donni) was followed by another great dessert (from the talented Tom). Sunday morning we cleaned up and packed out.



Good snow, great company, yummy food (who'd've thought?), and over 10,000 feet of vertical in a week. Thanks for a great trip, everyone!

Labels: ski touring