Smith Rock May 1-5

With work and school finally behind us, Dani and I headed down to Smith Rock for a sweet spring road trip. We left on Sunday may 1st and headed down the 1-5 to Portland to check out my new town. We found a trendy street with a commercial meets 4th kinda feel and checked out some stores before heading to see my new school. Western states has a cool campus but its really small and sandwiched in between highway 84 and a suburb reminiscent of surrey (shudder). Though the highway is really noisy it does give a quick escape to central Oregon! On the way to Smith we stopped at gov't camp by Mt Hood for some old fashion huckleberry shakes that are still $5 and taste exactly the same as when we ski raced (very exciting).

We got to the campsite right before dark and set up camp while checking out the sunset over the smith rock group. The campsite btw is so pro. They have showers and a bathroom and its only $5 a night! There is a sweet fake bouldering rock, slack line and lots of room to cook and hang out.

The nights were cold and usually windy but the days were hot and we got sweet calf burns to prove it. The gorge that skirts the cliffs is pretty outstanding and there are so many birds and other animals all around. 

The rock is so different from the granite in squamish and it took alittle while to get used to. On the 2nd day we went to Bend to check it out before stopping at the massive walmart for some $2 bottles of wine and a stick clip to make our lives easier. 

We rocked most of the 5.6 -5.9's in the frontside area and I even lead a couple of 5.10's! I have a huge ticklist of climbs I want to do next time I go back, but this trip was awesome to get a good feel for things. The coolest part of the trip was doing Dani's first multipitch in the dihedrals. We started off with a short 5.9 called Ancylostoma and then the longer second pitch of bunny face (5.7). She handled the exposure like a pro. My favorite climb was probably 5 gal buckets (the route on the left in the pic on the right). It wasn't hard just lots of awesome hand holds. On the last night we went to the Terrebonne depot for some food and had a really good Ahi Poke and some monkey face porter beer. I also have taken a liking to the Deschutes brewery from Bend, and with six packs from six bucks you cant go wrong!

 

Dani wants to send chain reaction!

morning glory wall

walking back to the campsite

smith rock group with hood peeking through :)

checking out moonlight dihedral... next time

beating the heat at the dihedrals

cool picture... not us!

getting ready to climb the cinnamon slab

last look before heading home

On the drive home Dani got some cool shots of the beautiful weather before we headed into the rainstorm of the PNW. It was a miserable drive home in the rain but we broke it up with an awesome REI exploration somewhere near seattle, which was fun. Now that we're home I wish we didn't leave since its raining here and squamish is still wet!! Oh well it was an awesome trip, and there are more adventures to come soon... next stop Phyllis Engine.

Cerise Creek March 21-23

Eric and I went to Keith's Hut in the Cerise Creek area for two nights. The weather started off snowy and overcast but quickly cleared up for an unbelievable two days of skiing.

Keith's Hut where we stayed

The hut is usually very busy, but we had it all to our selves on Monday night. After arriving at 5 we skied till dark and went back to the hut for some dinner and relaxing. It was snowing overnight so we were amped for more fresh powder.

We headed out in the morning at 7:30 and worked our way up the cabin ridge. Our plan was to get some turns on the way to an avy path called Cheques in the mail on the other side of the valley.

Coming out of the trees on Vantage ridge

After skinning through the trees for a good 3 hours we came out near the top of Vantage ridge, where we were pleasantly surprised at all the fresh tracks to be had. Cheques in the mail is a 700 m vertical run with open skiing leading into sparse trees half way down. The view from the top was so awesome! We could see the Duffey lake on one side, and the anniversary glacier on the other.

View from the top of Vantage ridge

The Duffey Lake

Eric skiing Cheques in the Mail

Eric starring at a socked in Anniversary Glacier

After Cheques in the Mail we went back to the hut to refill our water bottles before doing another lap of the cabin bowl. On the way back to the hut we planned our route for Tuesday up the anniversary glacier to Mount Matier. By the time we got back to the hut it was 5 pm and we had skied about 1700 m of vertical in 9 and a half hours... and the cabin was now full of people getting ready for the incoming high pressure system.

Mt Matier (Left), Joffre Peak (Right)

After a warm night in a packed cabin we woke up to a blue bird day. We made a quick breakfast and talked to some people in the hut before heading up the cabin ridge for a 4th time. We left at 8 am with a solo girl from Quebec named Jess and an eager american couple close behind. Our plan was to skin up as high as we could on Mt. Matier and then ski down its flanks onto the Anniversary glacier.

Heading up cabin ridge with our tracks from the day before in the Cabin bowl

Joffre looming over us

Working our way off the ridge onto the Glacier with Eric in the lead

Almost at the top of the glacier!!

Skinning up the side of Mt Matier

Some bad ass guys getting ready to ski the face of mt matier

Our American friends parting ways (check out cascadecrusades.org)

Our highpoint - 2600 m

After just over two hours we reached our high point in a col about a hundred meters shy of the peak of Mt. Matier at 2600m. The view from the top was amazing. We could see the Matier glacier on the other side of the Matier-Joffre col which stretched to the Matier ice fall. Big crevasses were visible as well. Some guys got dropped off in a chopper and started boot packing there way up the aussie colouir on Joffre peak.

There was cool rock formations all around and sprawling mountain ranges as far as we could see. The american couple were looking to ski some steep faces and possibly the aussie colouir so they took off around the side of Matier. They were really inspiring as they were both super stoked to ski the big stuff as they steamed past us.I seriously didn't want to leave, but the massive ski down the glacier was beckoning so we got ready to go. 

Skiing down the Flank of Mt Matier

The ultimate glacier run

sooooo awemsalghaegmgeeome

 

Our Tracks down the Glacier

Finishing off the Glacier at 1600 m

We skied the entire glacier to 1600 m with a vertical drop of 1 km!!!!! It was one of the coolest things I have ever done. Working so hard to get to the top and then carving fresh tracks the whole way down. On our way down we counted about ten people heading up the glacier, but they were too late to be first down it... early bird gets the worm! We then headed back to the hut around 12 to pack up our bags and grab some water and food. Some clouds started to move in but it was still ridiculously hot and sunny.
Despite all the 45 I used I was still burnt.

Last view from the Hut

Our tracks on the glacier

I did not want to go home!

Eric skiing down the cabin bowl... still getting first tracks!

Last look up the side of Joffre before leaving

Now we had to ski out with all our gear after a solid two and a half days of skiing. We got another 1650 m of vertical in on Wednesday for around 3500 m in total since we got there Monday night. This is a really awesome place and I will have to go back soon with Dani!

Slalok from Eric's Car, If you look close on BBQer's right there are ski tracks.

Red Heather

Did a quick solo hike up to red heather today. It was super cool with lots of fresh snow. Need to go back soon!

Musical Bumps

Headed out to singing pass from whistler last thursday. The temperature was around -20 for the majority with it getting to -30 at times. We had some cold hands that's for sure. The snow was pretty windblown but there was decent skiing in the oboe trees.

Climbing in February

The weather dried out this week and we were able to do some climbing in Squamish! It was pretty cold but there was no complaining. Now that I got my climbing fix, hopefully it will start snowing again.