Road Trip! We Head for the PNW

Post by WildSnow.com blogger Lou Dawson | June 21, 2012

Camping, American style. A few steps and you're shopping. Already been over there twice, couldn't find any ski tuning supplies.

Seems like a few weeks in the home office is all I get, then it’s off on another backcountry skiing journey. I love it, though sometimes running a small business does require things that are much easier done at a normal desk. So I jammed on that stuff since we’ve been back from the big Europe trip, worked on the camper and the house — and here we are again in the wanderlust. We heard they got some snow up there. Let’s see where we end up.

Posted by Lou Dawson on June 21, 2012 | Filed Under Trip Reports Backcountry

Comments

11 Responses to “Road Trip! We Head for the PNW”

Andy June 21st, 2012 11:51 am

Come on up, the snow here is fine 🙂 Skied a very nice tour up Vesper Peak off the Mountain Loop highway in Washington’s central Cascades yesterday. Very nice corn to be had and only 30 mins of hiking from the trailhead to reach snow line. 5000vf of corn is good for the soul.
Lou June 21st, 2012 12:41 pm

Hmmmmmm!
Andy June 21st, 2012 1:47 pm

Here’s a route map for reference: http://www.hillmap.com/m/ag1zfmhpbGxtYXAtaGRychALEghTYXZlZE1hcBic_ScM . Highly recommended. Should stay in for another couple weeks.
Chris Simmons June 21st, 2012 4:22 pm

Yep, its June in the Cascades and that means its finally Spring. I just spent five days circumnavigating Mt Baker, climbing up the Boulder-Park Glacier and dropping down the Park Glacier. Its time to tick of the big items on your Cascade list.
John J June 21st, 2012 5:59 pm

30 min to snow? 5000 vf of corn? Jeeesuusss, let me out of this hot desert that is Colorado!

Just need a sponsor for gas…

Lou, as usual, will be in the right place at the right time
Lou June 21st, 2012 7:33 pm

Andy, thanks for the GPS ready stuff! We might hit Vesper, but looks like less than ideal weather for a few days?
Andy June 22nd, 2012 2:52 am

Hey Lou,

Yeah, you’re rolling in on the tail end of our WX window. Next system will bring a fair bit of precip through Sunday. Looks like Monday should be reasonable east of the crest, while Tuesday to Thursday looks pretty good in general (at least in the latest WX model runs). While not the most user friendly thing in existence, I’ll plug our regional weather modeling page at the UW Atmospheric Sciences department (I’m a grad student there): http://www.atmos.washington.edu/mm5rt/ . Looking at the 3hr precip, along with the 850mb winds, temps, and relative humidity (~5000ft level), tends to provide a reasonable picture. The 4km run gives you a fairly high resolution guess for up to the next 84 hours, while the 12km extended run goes out to 180 hours.
Lou June 22nd, 2012 8:46 am

Thanks Andy! Yeah, looks like we’ll be waiting a few days for the kind of weather we like, really don’t prefer skiing in the drizzle, even though you guys will make fun of me for being such a wimp (grin).
Steve June 22nd, 2012 9:11 am

If the weather is still bad next week feel free to give me a call (Louie has my cell) and come over to Mazama for some skeet shooting. I’m done skiing but you might be able to milk something out of the nearby hills. Can also go sledding if interested.
Jim June 23rd, 2012 11:16 pm

Mt Adams had nice corn on 6/20 with snow level at 5200 with 3.5 mile hike. But it’s melting fast on the mountain. 2-4″ new snow on Mt Hood 6/24/12.
Lou June 24th, 2012 7:49 am

Thanks Jim! We can stick around for a while so we’ll wait for some decent weather then hit a few things. Lou

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