Hurry-Up and our Plan B
Plan "B"
 

March 12-13, 2005

Sam and I went and climbed a nice couloir on Hurry-Up. Our original goal was Spider, but poor conditions led us to reconsider. Here are some pictures and a few words. For more check out Sam's Alipine Slider TR (his website is gone now).

Making our way to Cache Col.
You can see Cache col in the center of this photo.
Sam with Sahale on the right.
CJ Couloir and all 3400-ft. .
 

Looking down from Cache Col.

We climbed over Cache col before descending down to camp. Later in the day we climbed up to Art's Knoll. From there we saw what we were afraid of. ICE. We skied back down to camp expecting a long night of rest. By morning our motivation would be refueled.
Formidable on the left and the mass of peaks beyond stretched to the left.
Sam skiing down to Kool-Aid Lakes. Sam with Johannesburg on the left and Magic Peak Between.
Enjoying the view. Skiing back down to camp for the night.
Camp. Another shot with a lower f-stop.

All of our effort demanded we try and climb Spider's North Couloir. It can be seen directly above Sam's head.

When morning came, we forwent breakfast. The day looked better than expected and the wind had finally died down. Feeling behind schedule, we rushed to get back up to Art's Knoll. Our thought was that maybe there would be less ice. Yeah right!

Deciding that Spider's North Col was for another day. Continuing to make our way down the glacier.
The good mixed with the bad. Here we find some good. Discovering water, we fill up and take a break.
On the otherside of the valley we discover redemption. Here we are nearing the top of Hurry-Up.
Halfway up the glacier, below the North Face, I stopped. While waiting for Sam, I stared across the valley. "Well that sure looks like a nice looking couloir," I thought to myself. So far I felt content with my weekend in the mountains, but I would feel so much more content if we skied that couloir. I pushed Sam along with the promise of just rewards. He complied and so we made due with the time we had left and raced to catch our couloir. Our PLAN "B" Couloir!
Taking a picture from the summit of Hurry-Up. In the picture you can see Spider in the background and the summit ridge of Hurry-Up in the foreground.
Sam and the mellow summit ridge above the couloir. Several turns down into the couloir.
This is serious stoke!
Left. Right.

This summit was one of the best I've been on. In all directions was a slough of possibilities. Clipping my skis in on the true summit and turning down an exposed ridge felt so great.

The ski down was as wonderful as it looks. Corn snow, a pair of skis and some vert. What am I to do? I think these pictures of Sam give you a pretty good idea of what we came up with.

After a nice night in the mountains, a bid on the North Face of Spider and a great couloir on Hurry Up, we were satisfied. As a glutton for punishment I wore my boots to the car instead of shoes. After nearly 13k of climbing, I didn't much care. With no schwacking or route difficulties, this actually felt like a pretty easy trip. I'll have to get to Cascade Pass more often! Except next time I won't stop at Spider. I want the full meal deal and that's something only a big fat ptarmigan can offer.

John Scurlock flew by our route a few days later. He was nice enough to send us this fantastic photo, which just excites me too much. He took a few others, but I'm afraid you'll just have to go to his site to see those.

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Home Our route is the obvious line - Photo: John Scurlock