Yesterday was my last day of the season, so i figured I should attempt something big. The Powerhouse Chutes definitely provide that, with a 4000ft. elevation gain over just 2 miles.
The weather wasn't as nice as the previous few days, with cooler temperatures, some clouds, and a ton of wind. We got to the power plant around 10:45 and we were hiking by 11.
The first part was a fairly easy skin (I've never skinned before), but once it got a bit steeper, I had to boot it. The snow down low was already very soft and it made for a tiring bootpack. Once we got above the lower chute, the snow got a bit firmer and I could skin again. This is the easiest section of the climb, but the gully we were in acted as a wind tunnel, and there were points where the wind was too strong to move forward. However, it was also at this point that we got our first look at the actual chute, and that was definitely encouraging.
We continued up the gully until it finally flatted out. From here, we could get a perfect view of the entire Powerhouse area. The two diagonal chutes on the right looked tough. The one on the far right is doable, but the top looks bad. The smaller one ends in a 60 foot cliff.
We chose to go up the center chute, which has been skied a few times, but not really recently. Since there was only one track heading down to the road, it appears as if a solo skier lapped the top chute 3 times in one day
. Our bootpack started in the center and then split off to the right, as this looked easiest. This is about 1000 feet of 45-50º climbing, and without any sort of crampon, whippet or ice axe, it was pretty terrifying.
When we finally reached the Dana Plateau about 4 hours after we started, the wind was ridiculous. At least 75 MPH sustained. I had a really hard time just holding onto my skis.
We decided to ski down the looker's left side of the chute, as there were no tracks there and it was in the sun. This turned out to be an excellent decision, as we were rewarded with perfect corn. Unfortunately, some of the glue from my old CSD skins stuck to my bases, so the skiing was a bit interesting. Due to the high wind, I wasn't willing to take out my camera, so the pictures of the descent are all screenshots from the GoPro video.
Nearly the entire descent was high-quality corn. The bottom was a little sticky, but I think it was mostly the skin glue on my skis that was causing me problems. Does anyone know what I can do about that in the future?
Despite that issue, it was certainly a good introduction to touring, and definitely the best line I've ever skied!
The weather wasn't as nice as the previous few days, with cooler temperatures, some clouds, and a ton of wind. We got to the power plant around 10:45 and we were hiking by 11.
The first part was a fairly easy skin (I've never skinned before), but once it got a bit steeper, I had to boot it. The snow down low was already very soft and it made for a tiring bootpack. Once we got above the lower chute, the snow got a bit firmer and I could skin again. This is the easiest section of the climb, but the gully we were in acted as a wind tunnel, and there were points where the wind was too strong to move forward. However, it was also at this point that we got our first look at the actual chute, and that was definitely encouraging.
We continued up the gully until it finally flatted out. From here, we could get a perfect view of the entire Powerhouse area. The two diagonal chutes on the right looked tough. The one on the far right is doable, but the top looks bad. The smaller one ends in a 60 foot cliff.
We chose to go up the center chute, which has been skied a few times, but not really recently. Since there was only one track heading down to the road, it appears as if a solo skier lapped the top chute 3 times in one day
. Our bootpack started in the center and then split off to the right, as this looked easiest. This is about 1000 feet of 45-50º climbing, and without any sort of crampon, whippet or ice axe, it was pretty terrifying.
When we finally reached the Dana Plateau about 4 hours after we started, the wind was ridiculous. At least 75 MPH sustained. I had a really hard time just holding onto my skis.
We decided to ski down the looker's left side of the chute, as there were no tracks there and it was in the sun. This turned out to be an excellent decision, as we were rewarded with perfect corn. Unfortunately, some of the glue from my old CSD skins stuck to my bases, so the skiing was a bit interesting. Due to the high wind, I wasn't willing to take out my camera, so the pictures of the descent are all screenshots from the GoPro video.
Nearly the entire descent was high-quality corn. The bottom was a little sticky, but I think it was mostly the skin glue on my skis that was causing me problems. Does anyone know what I can do about that in the future?
Despite that issue, it was certainly a good introduction to touring, and definitely the best line I've ever skied!