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kyle miller
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kyle miller
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PostThu May 28, 2009 7:24 pm 
Amar Andalkar and I went on a volcano hopping trip to see these amazing peaks for ourselves and possibly do a little bit of skiing here and there. I was a little bit hesitant at first but Amar promised me there were Starbucks on top of the Volcano’s and when we were up there he would buy me as much coffee as I wanted. O.K. I’m a sucker 5/15/09 Our first volcano on the trip was Mt Shasta which summits around 14,162 and is near the town aptly named the town of Mt Shasta. After getting some sleep under the stars in the Bunny flats parking lot we climbed to the summit via the Avalanche Gulch then rode down the Konwakiton Glacier after meeting up with our friends Jason and Christy. It was a long day of hiking (around 11 hours) but it just made the Mexican food at the end of the day that much better.
5/16/09 Shastina is the little Sister of Mt Shasta she is beautiful but relatively ignored and hiding in the shadows of her brother. So after getting a great night sleep with the other 50 people in the parking lot Amar and I took a nice side trip over to see what she was all about. She didn’t disappoint giving us breath taking views in every direction and looking down on the town of Weed, (I didn’t name it) but as they say what goes up most come down so we let gravity do its part and skied back to my beloved home The bunny flats parking lot. While I enjoyed the scenery it was getting old so we packed up our bags and headed south, but not without stopping by McDonalds along the way. Some people run from calories I embrace them.
5/17/09 That night we made a nice little stroll out to the land of Sulfur Gas AKA Lassen National Park and enjoyed a nice quite night in another parking lot (Quiet other then the Colorado kids screaming about how cool they were). The next morning we were greeted by the early morning rays of sun and the peaceful sound of Car motors. After some nice quality Instant Oat meal we made our way up the peak to check out the super cool weather station on top, man that weather station was super cool. I told Amar I dropped my cell phone down the Northeast face of the peak and we would have to ski down so I could grab it (what a sucker). Our car was on the South side of the mountain and we were on the North West side and rumor had it there were no shuttles running that day (or any other day) so we hiked back to the ridge we originally climbed. I told Amar I didn’t get a chance to see the message board on the summit and I felt like I missed out so after some persuading we went back to the summit a second time. Earlier in the day Amar told me about some old Lava flows on the west side from the 1918 eruption and after some begging and pleading I was able to persuade him to ski the west face. It was getting late in the day and I was missing over hearing the super cool Colorado guys so we went back to the parking lot to sadly find out they had left a hour earlier. Without there super cool conversations there were no reasons to stay in the parking lot so we decided to drive to a parking lot with a better view.
5/18/09 After a night of eating a five star gourmet meals (subway 5 dollar foot longs) we found ourselves at the Crater Lake National Park parking lot (same old concrete but different views). The next morning Amar and I woke up around 5 A.M. I told him it was to watch the sunrise but in all actuality it was so I could get as many hours as I could to let him know it was my birthday. Amar told me he had a present for me but while I was sleeping he snuck off and left it on top of a peak called watchmen. Well I love opening presents (even if they aren’t mine) so I practically ran to the top of the peak and to my horrified surprise there was no present. Amar looked at his map for a few seconds and realized it was the next peak north AKA Hillman so after apologizing saying “My bad it was dark” we ran over to Hillman. Once on the summit I ran around for a few seconds and demanded “where is my present” in which Amar replied “it’s the view” (dammit now I’m the sucker). After around 30 minutes of pouting Amar had enough and skied down the peak leaving me alone to bask in my misery. By this point I had enough of the snow so I took advantage of the thing that reminded me so much of home, the concrete road. That night we had a night of luxury in the Klamath Falls motel 6 (they must have known it was my birthday because they left a present it was soap but it’s the thought that counts). 5/19/09 I had come accustomed to the pleasantness of sleeping on concrete so the bed was a little bit to uncomfortable for my taste so I tossed and turned all the way till 10 A.M. Being a Scandinavian I get teased a lot for being pale and having squinty eyes I’ve even had people ask if I’m a Eskimo (its true) so I had enough. “ I need to get a tan lets head east to Yamsey mountain” I had been told that there was a road that lead all the way to the summit and that was good enough for me. Once again the snow ruined my plans, as the road was snowed in 4 miles down but being undeterred we decided to skin up to the summit. Well I am a wimp when it comes to heat so once we reached the top I needed shade so we hid in the North facing bowl of Yamsey until I got to cold. By this time we were to far from the road so we went in a different direction all together. I was thirsty so we decided to follow a creek down until there was no more snow. Then I would get my water and we would run around lost in the woods. It seems my plans never seem to work out how I want them too because I managed to fall into the creek and we didn’t get lost because of Amar’s GPS.
5/20/09 That night we decided that we wanted to act like mountain men so we found the windiest place we could. Luckily for me it turned out to be the Diamond lake parking lot. After dining on boxed macaroni and cheese and mashed potatoes (the dinner of champions) I comfortably fell asleep in 40 mph winds. The next morning I awoke to another over rated sunrise and enjoyed some quality oat meal. I started to realize that maybe I should go back to Crater Lake and check out the view one more time. So we drove to the East side of Mt Scott (which is the highest point in the park) and started skinning up. The views stated to open up a few hundred feet below the summit and Amar was stoked on the views of Mt McLoughlin, the Three sister and Mt Bachelor while I was stoked on the wildfire that was somewhat close to our car ( I love random chaos). Once on the summit we checked out the lookout tower, to my surprise there was a sign that said NO MOLESTING THIS LOOKOUT TOWER, secretly my plans were ruined. So after being bummed about not being able to molest the lookout tower we skied a few runs then made it back to the car to look for another parking lot to sleep in.
5/21/09 Sadly for some weird reason all the parking lots we drove by had cars in them so we camped at a campground instead. The only concrete around was a road and I didn’t feel like getting ran over in the middle of the night so I slept on a picnic table. The next morning while getting ready I noticed our camping neighbors had a nice tent that reminded me of Jason’s tent and the girl had a coat like Christy’s so after a few weird gestures towards each other it was official, it was Jason and Christy. We celebrated over French toast and unlimited coffee in the town of Sister, then said our goodbyes. I am a fan of suffer fests so Amar and I decided to load up our backpacks with over night gear and head into the three sisters wilderness. After 5 miles of scenic views of thick trees we made it to base lake camp which was frozen over and didn’t even look like a lake at all. I felt as if I could use some more suffering so we decided to climb to the summit of Middle sister and on the way get our gear soaked. Well it worked by the time we made it back to camp my boots were soaked so feeling like I accomplished my goals for the day I ate dinner and enjoyed the views of my tents walls.
5/22/09 The next morning I awoke to the blazing heat of sleeping in a 0 degree bag when its 50 degrees out. So I slipped on my wet boots and ate some more instant oatmeal. After that we had a great time watching the snow melt in our stoves (now that’s real entertainment) and made our way up the South sister. After about three hours of climbing we made it up to the summit and to my surprise there were animal tracks. I was stoked that some random cat climbed the volcano (now that is badass) but a few seconds later I saw human tracks next to it and realized it was someone’s dog. I had enough and I was missing the comfort of sleeping in a parking lot so we rode back to camp, packed up and had a nice little 5 mile hike through dense forest back to the car. The whole time I was camping all I could think about was how I wanted a milkshake so we went to McDonalds. To my horror they were charging 3.50 for a milkshake, I may be beaten up and tired but I am not stupid so I settled for a 1.00 sundae instead. That night we decided to sleep at the Santiam pass parking lot so I could get my fix on concrete before heading home to Seattle.
5/24/09 We arrived home in Seattle around noon and by that night I was already missing the suffer fests of earlier in the week so we decided to do the mother of suffer fests Mt Rainier. I am not a fan of sleeping so to bypass it we decided to start hiking at 2:30 in the morning and keep on going until we summated. The views in the dark were amazing you could see nothing to the left and nothing to the right. After a few hours we were up at the Muir shelter and I made my way up to Muir rocks to check out another over rated sunrise. We ate some food and rested for a few minutes before climbing the last 4’500 feet to the summit. My goal for the day was not to summit Rainier it was to pee in the bergshund but sadly when I finally made it to the shrund I didn’t have to go (Mission failed). I looked for the Starbucks and McDonalds I was told was on the summit for an hour (someone lied). Then we checked out the view of some stupid mountains covered in that damn snow I hate so much and skied down back to the car where I slept in the car the whole way home.
Out of the whole trip I only have one regret. I really wish I peed in that bergshrund. If you want to check out a more detailed version of the trip check out this super duper cool website. http://www.team-cascadia.com/08-09_Season.php

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Layback
Cascades Expatriate



Joined: 16 Mar 2007
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Layback
Cascades Expatriate
PostThu May 28, 2009 7:29 pm 
2009 Tour de' Suffer Fest. eek.gif Nice job. I like what you did with the screen shots (from Google Earth I presume). up.gif It looks like you skied the Fuhrer Finger? And please be honest, you molested that tower anyway didn't you? smackbum.gif

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Dayhike Mike
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Dayhike Mike
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PostThu May 28, 2009 7:30 pm 
Nice! Quite the tour of the volcanoes...thanks for posting a TR!

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke "Ignorance is natural. Stupidity takes commitment." -Solomon Short
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wamtngal
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PostThu May 28, 2009 8:45 pm 
Most excellent!! up.gif up.gif

Opinions expressed here are my own.
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Ingunn
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Joined: 01 Feb 2008
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Ingunn
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PostThu May 28, 2009 9:05 pm 
eek.gif Yeah, I'll stop being proud of Mount St. Helens now. lol.gif Excellent job guys, that's quite a week! I hope you got some Starbucks on the way home.

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ADrewzki
Snow angels are hot



Joined: 27 Apr 2007
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ADrewzki
Snow angels are hot
PostThu May 28, 2009 9:32 pm 
Nice TR and great pictures! I actually feel tired from reading all the hiking you did. How do you get to weed? Take the Weed Blvd.
Mt Shasta
Mt Shasta
Weed Blvd
Weed Blvd

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NWtrax
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PostThu May 28, 2009 10:00 pm 
Holy $hit! Looks awesome, thanks for sharing your recent adventures here. Can I ask what you are riding now? I had been researching boards last fall and was leaning towards the Prior Backcountry. Looks like there is a lot of new stuff out now.

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kyle miller
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kyle miller
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PostThu May 28, 2009 10:33 pm 
At this moment Im riding a Prior Backcountry which I love Be proud of Saint Helens it spanked me rather hard a few years ago. Those Google maps are actually from my Sunnto X10 watch (thanks Sunnto) its rather sweet I record it on my watch plug the watch into my computer and press 3 buttons. Its so easy a snowboarder can do it. biggrin.gif and Nope it wasn't the Fuhrer Finger it was actually the thumb. and that lookout tower was asking for it.

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Magellan
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Magellan
Brutally Handsome
PostThu May 28, 2009 11:03 pm 
Kyle you are amazing. Not only was that a helluva week, but you never came down the route you went up. You are also a good (funny) writer. Here is hoping you adventure again soon. up.gif x10

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Jason Hummel
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PostThu May 28, 2009 11:04 pm 
Wow, I like seeing your TR's here Kyle. So much easier to read with the pics smaller. Thanks for posting. BTW, it was great skiing with you on Shasta and meeting you by chance after skiing middle sister. Hopefully this weekend goes as well!!! A few more pics from our day on shasta.
mount shasta under clouds
mount shasta under clouds
camp
camp
Christy taking a moment on the summit...for the moment smiling.
Christy taking a moment on the summit...for the moment smiling.
Kyle skiing off the summit.
Kyle skiing off the summit.
Kyle ain't board!
Kyle ain't board!
Kyles happy face
Kyles happy face
A great day!
A great day!
Oh...funny ass TR! I got a kick out of it.
Good skiing at the sisters for us, too!!! TR to come ;-)
Good skiing at the sisters for us, too!!! TR to come ;-)

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Tazz
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PostFri May 29, 2009 1:50 am 
So glad you posted here kyle! thanks! fun stuff! so i see that you are riding your burton. So sorry for your other split. frown.gif Hey i was wondering what you thought of the voile Mo Jo thats what i have. I am so new to riding in the BC with a split. Also, did you ever ski before boarding? How is it to skin traverse for a split vs skiing for you? Sucks for me...frown.gif I know, i am full of questions... rolleyes.gif 2 more. what light weight binding would you recommend? then, do you use snowboard boots or mountaineering boots? I can skin with my plastics but it is different riding in them than my snowboard boots. My snowboard boots are not shaped or have vibrum for climbing plus they kill my feet when skinning! What do you use? sorry soooo many questions! embarassedlaugh.gif biggrin.gif awesome report as usual dude!

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Jim Dockery
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PostFri May 29, 2009 7:13 am 
Great TR Kyle, you guys really got the goods. Keep posting here - I love seeing all the pics (too bad TAY has a limit).

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Grizzy
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Grizzy
Yellow Cedar Hugger
PostFri May 29, 2009 7:52 am 
I think this is "Bill and Ted's" excellent adventure? Great TR! Really great choices for the photos too, nice framing....Keep posting Kyle! up.gif up.gif up.gif up.gif up.gif

All the birds have flown up and gone; A lonely cloud floats leisurely by. We never tire of looking at each other - Only the mountain and I. ~Li Po~
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kyle miller
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kyle miller
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PostFri May 29, 2009 8:44 am 
Jason you eyes for photography are amazing and ispiring as always oh and all your tele trips aren't so bad either wink.gif
tazz wrote:
so i see that you are riding your burton. So sorry for your other split.
Im actually borrowing a board from a random stranger or as I like to call it karma points
tazz wrote:
Hey i was wondering what you thought of the voile Mo Jo thats what i have.
I havent rode on a Voile but I know of quite a few AMAZING riders who swear by them and put thereselfs in, you fall you die situations so they must be good boards.
tazz wrote:
did you ever ski before boarding?
Nope but I am interested in learning
tazz wrote:
How is it to traverse for a split vs a split?
I think you mean a split vs skis but long story short its alot more work
tazz wrote:
2 more. what light weight binding would you recommend?
I use the Burton C60's both for resort and Touring they are the lightest bindings burton makes and the only pair I own
tazz wrote:
then, do you use snowboard boots or mountaineering boots?
I use snowboard boots specifically burton Driver X's which seems to be the choice of the majority they are still stiff but they are great for riding
tazz wrote:
sorry soooo many questions!
Feel free to fire away anytime I was a newbie to skinning at one time and I could have saved alot of time/energy if I had someone to ask questions to

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Tazz
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PostFri May 29, 2009 9:04 am 
tazz wrote:
Quote:
How is it to traverse for a split vs a split?
Kyle miller wrote:
Quote:
I think you mean a split vs skis
lol.gif embarassedlaugh.gif thats what i get for posting at 2am after beer! hockeygrin.gif Thanks kyle, I need all the help I can get after last weekends beating at Wa pass. I split that board and I am an idiot on any little down hill and the traversing steep stuff is scary, really hard to keep my edge. I feel I need to learn how to ski so i can ride my board in fun places... huh.gif ! I am trying to figure out how to lighten my gear for next season and not end up with 6x6 bruises on the back of my legs from the skinning huh.gif . I will look into those bindings. I guess what I am looking for in a boot is a boot I can put crampons on, kick steps, but still be able to ride comfortable. I want it all don't I? lol.gif biggrin.gif

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