[Hoosierdaddy]

On Saturday I went to HR with the Mountaineers & my fellow Winter Travel Course students for a field trip. About 9 of us arrived at 9AM to find fog, high winds and snow! (God, I love winter!) We donned our snowshoes and struck out to a nearby basin just West of the visitors center and practiced traversing, kick stepping, up & downhill travel, etc. My MSR Denali Ascent shoes absolutely ROCKED! With the televator bar, I could easily motor up steep slopes without tiring my calfs. We glissaded a little, practicing self arrest with ice axes. FUN!! The wind was increasing and snow too. Wind was prolly 45 - 50 MPH on the unprotected ridges. (They don't call it HR for nothing!) We dug a 12 ' deep trench in the drifts to analyze the snowpack, learning it was pretty stable and not avalanche prone in that area. We then played find the avalanche victim. The instructor hid a transmitting avalanche beacon somewhere down the road to, South toward Hurricane Hill and we students using beacons set on receive, had to locate it and dig it up. We trapesed off down the "road" which was hard to find cause they don't keep it plowed using the beacons. After a short search I was able to be the one who found the "body" of the buried avalanche victim. Fun stuff!! We returned to the lodge to eat lunch. I had brought along my spiffy new Pepsi can stove wanting to see if it worked at altitude and cold temps. It didn't. I couldn't keep it lit, prolly due more to the damn wind than the cold temps! I used a windscreen and an Ensolite pad under it for insulation, too. Maybe a higher windscreen would have worked? We left at about 3:30PM. Oh, yeah, I noticed that the gated entrance for Heart of the Hills Campground was closed. What's up with that? While driving through Discovery Bay, guess what we found open???? FAT SMITTY'S!!!!!!! Oh, yeah......I had one!

[Newt]

That sounds like fun. Glad you had a good? time. Wish I could get out. Maybe next year. N

[sarbar]

Hey fellow PNWH Possee! I did get up there today! And it was the complete oppisite It was gorgeous freezing cold blue skies with luscious (yet very icy) snow. I could have done without the black ice on Hwy 101 outside of Elwha.....that got my heart pumping

Mts-1

[sarbar]

Oh yeah, I saw 2 very fat bobcats at the ridge today Made my day!