Tuesday February 23rd to Thursday February 25th 2021
A cooler-than-cool backcountry ski hut adventure in the Sawtooth Range in central Idaho.
Shredding ice-cold powder by sunshine, and melting red-hot wilderness sauna snow angels by the full moon!
A last minute hut trip opening because the Dave, the mastermind organizer broke his hand! Dave's reservation was related in part to the Covid closure of the local hut system in the Sierra, leading instead to the discovery of a sheer-luck cancellation spot in a top 10 national geographic backcountry ski hut (where we learned reservations are fully booked for the next two years)! I jumped at the chance to head back to the rugged jagged peaks of the Sawtooth wilderness with a curated crew consisting of mostly Tahoe locals with strong backcountry touring abilities.
It was just a jaunt from the Bay Area to South Lake Tahoe then a slog across the great basin of Nevada to roll northwards to the land of potatoes! On Tuesday morning we arrived in the parking lot at the Stanley Ranger Station, across the valley from the range which was still a bit socked-in with clouds from the previous day's storm, just beginning to clear. We sure lucked out with our weather window, two days of clear calm mid-winter February days after a steady stream of new snow for the previous several weeks.
It's been a dicey winter for Avalanche conditions so far, with a publicized number of accidents and deaths in the backcountry. Continental snowpack is no joke, and it's known for touchy and unstable snow. I knew it would be of key importance to do some research and keep it safe heading into uncertain terrain.
Uncertainties
On this trip I had the trifecta of uncertainties! When trip planning for backcountry skiing it's important to analyze and balance the risk categories related to snowpack, terrain, and partners.
Snowpack: Coming from a season riding mostly in Lassen NP and the Sierra, I was super familiar with the history and status of the maritime snow closer to the Pacific Ocean. The Sawtooth range in central Idaho is part of the Rocky Mountains, far from the ocean and a completely different continental snowpack. Not only am I mostly unfamiliar with this colder, drier, lighter snow type, but I didn't know most of the season's snowfall history aside from the recent posts on the Sawtooth Avalanche Center Website.
Terrain: Nobody in the group had been to the Hut, or the Williams Peak zone, or for that matter, even skied the Sawtooth Range before! A quick call to Sawtooth Mountain Guides, the hut proprietor, and I got the geographic coordinates of the hut. They wouldn't however give me the locations of the best safe and fun ski routes around the hut. That would be up to us to decide and decipher based on the topo of the terrain. The Saturday before the trip, I spent a few hours over my morning coffee brainstorming and planning some routes on Caltopo to find fun looking, low-angle terrain.
Group Partners: I hadn't skied with anyone in this group before, let alone met anyone in person before! Therefore, I was unsure of group member ski abilities, risk tolerance, or safety/first-aid experience. The group initially seemed to be highly confident and willing to take risks. I observed this by not being willing to hire a guide, with a "rather guide myself" mentality. Stories of previous trips indicated some risk taking tendencies...
Even with the uncertainty, I was confident I could manage the trip with training from my recent AIARE 2 course. As long as the group firmly agreed to "ride safely" - with consensus based decision making, voicing all concerns, challenging assumptions, and respect of any veto. I still planned to be vigilant and pay close attention to the avalanche forecast to help manage danger and concerns.
Anticipate the Hazard. Avalanche Advisory and Weather Forecast.
Current and Forecast Weather factors: Overnight 4-6" new snow, strong gusty winds, so strong to unexpectedly affect even sheltered weather stations (100mph gusts!).
Identify the Avalanche Problem and location:
Bottom line = Strong Winds, New Snow, Buried Weak layers mean DANGEROUS snowpack
Upper/Middle elevations = Considerable, with middle elevations upgraded from Moderate yesterday. This is due to sensitive Wind Slabs formed overnight at all aspects (N-E-S-W) even in some protected areas. These wind slabs add stress to weak layers in the snowpack.
Key Message = Expect to find slabs both near ridge lines and adjacent mid-slope features.
Weak Layers:
1. Upper 2-4' worst on slopes that face sun, with crust that formed.
2. Depth Hoar that formed 4-6' deep, near the ground.
Plan to Manage Avalanche Terrain
Stick to slopes that are sheltered from wind effects. Pay attention since wind slabs are extending beyond ridge lines to some ribs and gullies lower down.
Keep it simple! Close out "prime time" avy terrain such as wind-affected, steeper than 35 degree slopes.
Day 1 was a 5 mile haul with our fully-loaded packs up about 1,500ft from the valley floor up into the flanks of the Williams Peak zone. We were required to have a Sawtooth Mountain Guide show us to the hut for an initiation, and it wound up being a great resource for information on the area. We learned about gnarly ski lines that dotted the tip tops of the distant peaks as we trudged our way up and along the trail.
After our completing our initiation we said goodbye to our SMG guide. Luckily we still had some daylight and energy to head up to the skiers summit above the hut. Taking things easy and cautious, we were able to get to know each other's riding styles and got a solid run down the ridge line while seeing the sunset glow, getting back just before dark to light a warm and cozy fire inside.
Day 2, Wednesday, was an adventure to the next ridge line over, to Marshall lake and the terrain above! At this point Kelly had suggested splitting up into riding buddies to mitigate the large group of 6 of us. A great suggestion for riding down with just groups of two, to rendezvous at the base of the descent. We got to Marshall Lake with a wonderful view of the terrain above, and gained the treed slopes of the lower drainage. Climbing onwards and upwards we began to gain the upper ridge above Upper Marshall Lake.
As we gained the ridge, we found hoof prints and some animal droppings and speculated it could have been a Bighorn Sheep not too far ahead, death-defying footsteps treading just at the edge of the cliff. My anxiety of being that close began to rise and I noticed my body becoming more tense, which helped me to become wary of the danger of the slopes in this higher elevation mentioned in the Avalanche Advisory.
"It's not just about the turns, but the real connection to the spirit of the place and the growth with each other as we learned and explored what it had to teach us." The night before the trip, watching the 2021 Winter Wildlands Backcountry Film Festival crammed into our motel room at Inn America, Boise we couldn't help but joke about every film trying to come up with a deep philosophical meaning. Can't we just have a fun time without trying to insert a cheesy contemplative conclusion!?
Well if our trip needs a theme it could be that the place showed us what wild and free jagged peaks can do to a landscape. Sharp pointed buttresses hanging high in the sky above carved notches in the rock that house vanishing alpine glaciers. Ridges and old growth tree laden slopes shedding snow, leading to bowl-like drainages to carry the run-off, pulling down, down past plentiful pristine lakes, almost magnetically to the headwaters in the valley floor below. Soon to be powerfully carried away by the rushing ice-berg filled waters, all coursing and pulsing over rounded rocks and sandy river beds.
What a grand peek into sublime wilderness! Real raw natural beauty in a protected valley below rugged jagged peaks, with far less human impact than the California area I am used to! This region of the world houses some of the most majestic and un-adulterated landscapes I have seen yet, wildlife just casually strolling or soaring by along river banks that line the banks of a pure and powerful watercourse.
That watercourse of course is the main stem of the Salmon River, the longest connected un-dammed river flow in the U.S. ! Producing a large percentage of steelhead and sockeye salmon for the greater Columbia River Basin. Despite abundant, excellent salmon habitat in the Salmon River basin, chinook, steelhead, and sockeye salmon populations have not significantly recovered, despite listings under the federal Endangered Species Act since the mid-1990s. Populations remain at risk in large part because of the negative effects of four federal dams and reservoirs on the lower Snake river, through which both juvenile salmon and returning adults must pass. Many Northwest salmon advocates, commercial & sportfishermen call for removal of the Lower Granite, Little Goose, Lower Monumental, and Ice Harbor dams to address survival problems. As of November 2015, controversy continues in NW Politics, public discourse, and in federal court, where federal salmon recovery plans are under legal challenge.
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