Timberline Sidecountry

[boar2m]

Emilio’s enthusiasm is too contagious …that and break in the weather finally pushed my lazy butt off the couch and I found myself at T-Line this past Monday.

 

 

[boar2m]

Apparently Bill and Chuck had the same idea!

 

[boar2m]

Thin soft layer appeared early on the palmer snowfield, which made lapping palmer fun and oh so forgiving from the get go …but spring skiing at Timberline is all about harvesting corns off its sidecountry and they are yummy!

 

[boar2m]

If you don’t mind traversing farther out and willing to do some hiking, you can definitely find some interesting terrains to ski.

 

 

 

[boar2m]

 

 

[boar2m]

Having AT gear would definitely make hiking lot easier, and of course I didn’t have them and it took me an hour to ascend about 300 feet.  After little work out, beer tastes so much better …and the view never gets tiring.

 

 

[boar2m]

Folks, if you can, you should definitely join Emilio on his sidecountry outing this coming Saturday.  The weather forecast looks promising and Hood (& Emilio) awaits you with open arms.

 

[Kenny Brundidge]

Sure, Rub it in George. Now if you can come up with an apparatus to immobilize and protect my left arm, maybe I could join you guys up there next week. On second thought, I think I better hold out till next year. Enjoy it while you can! 

[Emilio Trampuz]

Thanks for the endorsement, George!

 

You lucky dog!  You had good weather and corn snow on Monday.  Meanwhile, the 5 of us who came last Saturday could just watch Palmer in the distance, as both Palmer and the Magic Mile lifts were closed due to high winds.

 

I see that you went a bit farther out than usual, even requiring a 300 foot climb!  This brings to mind one of my own adventures about 2 years ago.  I skied into Zig Zag canyon and went farther in than ever before.  I made sure I could exit the canyon before tree-line, and everything seemed just fine.  In fact, check out the enclosed picture, where I am obviously AT A LOWER ELEVATION than Missisippi Head, though I am already out of the canyon, standing on the rocky ridge on its eastern edge.

 

The problem came a bit later, when I traversed east, back toward the lifts, and was faced with a hard obstacle – the cornices that stretch for maybe a mile or more all along the western edge of the Little Zig Zag canyon.   I found myself on top of this corniced wall, which was visibly melting and crumbling under the strong sun.  The cornices went stretched down as far as I could see, and it was a long climb up to get to the upper entrance to Little Zig Zag where I could bypass the cornices.  

 

I stood there for a LOOONG time gathering my courage to let myself go over the cornice and into Little Zig Zag canyon.  It’s not a great height, but I was mainly afraid that I might start a mini avalanche and get buried under the crumbling cornice.  Fortunately, nothing bad happened.  I simply jumped in and skied out of there – with my heart in my pants!

 

[Emilio Trampuz]

Here’s a photo of Little Zig Zag canyon, just to illustrate what I said in the previous message. The photo was taken from above, looking down toward Skibowl.

 

Notice that the west (skiers’ right) wall of the canyon is all corniced.  How would you feel standing on top of the cornice, contemplating to jump in?  But, once you are in the canyon, the exit is really easy.  Notice how the left (east) side of the canyon is gentle, providing an easy exit.  Good thing the prevailing winds come from the west.  If the east side of the canyon was corniced, it would be almost impossible to exit on that side to get back to the lifts.

 

But, a word to any intermediate skier who might be reading this and thinking: “No way, this is not for me!”   Keep in mind that our past mistakes teach us where the best place to go is.  That one time I skied a bit too far down.  But, I now know how to get into Little Zig Zag the easy and safe way, from the gentle entrance at the top, and my intention is to steer people to the easy side.  No worries, folks, everyone can do it!

 

Unless, of course, the only people that show up are the likes of Kenny and George, ...  looking for challenge and excitement.

 

Emilio