May 20, 2006
Red Lake to Stevens Peak to a DRY Hope Valley
Joe, Todd, Ollie
Ollie - "Come on, Let's go. The good skiing's down there!" - 5/20/06.
Still trying to keep the local skiing scene alive, Todd and I set up the usual car shuttle with the intent to ski Red Lake and Stevens Peaks on a Saturday morning. Fortunately the weather was a mix of puffy fast moving clouds and steady winds. Although Carson Pass did not see a solid freeze the previous night, the cooler conditions kept the corn ripe for our turns until we were through at 1:00 PM. I was also pleasantly surprised to find mainly skinnable ascent routes up both Red Lake and Stevens. Both peaks also dealt us a fine and smooth serving of corn for our many turns down to the greening meadows of Hope Valley. But then appropriately, the bushwhack out of Stevens to our car was a solid reminder that there's a price to pay for good skiing in late May.
Red Lake's Southwest slopes are still mostly skinnable, albeit not for much longer:
Top of Red Lake Peak with our ski to Crater Lake directly below us. Stevens Peak to the left, Freel / Jobs Sister / Jobs in the distance, Hope Valley at their feet:
Todd and Ollie off the top:
The fun steepish section down to Crater Lake:
After spending some time discussing just how long the snow will hang around Crater Lake Bowl for Summer skiing (I'm saying well into July), we pressed our soaked skins back onto our abused bases for the skin up to Stevens. Upon reaching the shoulder we strapped the skis to the packs and booted the rest of the way to the summit. It was hot, it was cold, it was really nice out there. We only saw one other person hiking Stevens (without skis!?!) the entire day.
Views from Stevens (not the clearest of pictures, but you get the jist):
We decided to ski Steven's comma couloir. It was a little bony in the middle, but was fun and briefly steep. The slough was very heavy, slow and loud - as if someone left the slurpy machine on all night long.
Apologies for the pictures below, as they are blemished with an annoying smudge.
Todd in the ,
Watch that hat:
A quick skin back up (Todd's 2 1/2 year old bases are capable of climbing without skins!), and we started the long fun ridge riding run down towards the dry land below:
The dude in the yellow jacket and Ollie-wood:
Many steps of muddy bushwhacking was the next course served. I've skied near this Crater Lake Creek many times, and have never seen this cool little steep canyon. The Spring runoff is raging!
Good job Ollie!
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