Aasgard - 2/12/2010. you win some, you lose some.

Lucas on one of the bridges up to colchuck lake Another bridge, as you start climbing to the lake Skinning out onto Colchuck lake, weather deteriorating Our sorry looking shelter just below dragontail in the morning Camp. Not the most comfy one I've ever experienced Looking back at the pass and Dragontail.

Lucas and I decided to try to take advantage of an apparent decent weather system and get some good weekend skiing in. We decided to try to make it into the enchantments and spend a couple days up there upwards of 7500'. Friday we left Seattle did the obligatory runs around Seattle and hwy 2 and ended up parking on icicle creek rd, right at the turnout of 8 mile creek road. adding significant distance and elevation to the normal trek into the enchantments. 4 miles and 2000 feet of gain extra to be exact, but c'est la vie. We skinned ... ended up at the trailhead ... skinned some more and ended up at Colchuck lake for lunch. When in the forest the sun could be seen trying to peer through the clouds, but by the time we arrived at the lake it was completely overcast and our "good weather window" wasn't coming into full effect. Having gone through some beautiful powder, we were nonetheless excited about the skiing prospects even higher, so we decided to carry on up to infamous aasgard pass to make base camp. Going got very slow and tired, the snow got wind loaded and scoured, and the hour got late. 500 feet or so from the pass we bonked and light was nearly gone, but we didn't want to lose the 1500 feet of gain from the lake and decided to get to the pass with the aid of our headlamps - slowly and arduously. About 50 vertical feet from the top we started hearing some serious "whooomping" making us nearly soil our pants. Trying to stay on the safest aspects possible (if it were possible), we sprinted to the pass where wind, cold, and darkness met us. We hurried to set up the shelter in the dark misery and dived for cover after our 6000' climb. The evening was not much fun sleeping on snow, have the wind blow snow through the shelter all night and more or less soaking everything in the site. Of course it was a horrible location for us to camp, but at least it was in a safe location - which is all that mattered at the time. We "slept" in, and by the time we got out of the shelter visibility was minimal, the wind howling and conditions deteriorating. We toured around the ridge very briefly and decided to make our way out - conditions were just not with us. Slowly and deliberately, we picked our way down to Colchuck lake, where we met nicer snow. We continued down through the trees where at one point Lucas punched through some snow and almost fell into a water fall which would have been treacherous. Luckily a tree had fallen tree across the stream and stopped his fall. Upon darkness, again, we arrived at the car. In the end, I guess it's apparent that you win some, you lose some. In this case we lost. But, whenever you get out, see the mountains, get some exercise and get back at the car safely, it should be considered a victory.

Lichtenberg Mountain

Lucas, Ryan, and I headed up to Lichtenburg mountain for my first ski of the year and my first excursion from my S.America trip - the cause for little activity around Seattle this winter. We skinned up to the summit soon enough and encountered some awesome fluff off the Southwest of the mountain for about a 1500 foot run. After heading up to the summit again we skied towards Lichtenwasser for some equally scrumptious snow. One more run in and we called it a day. We were in about 18 inches of nice, slightly wet powder on the top of the mountain the whole time. Some of the better conditions I've been in out here. A hell of a day - about 5500' total.

Ryan and Lucas skinning close to the summit Ryan getting his turns on Lucas on the first pitch