Raspberry
Ridge II –
February 10, 2007
Mountain height:
2350 m
Elevation gain:
646 m
Ascent time:
3:30
Descent time:
2:20
AT practice with Mark.
Several years ago, Keri, Mark, and I enjoyed a terrific trip up Raspberry Ridge, which included a speedy and exhilarating Crazy Carpet ride down. The objective of this return trip was to see if we could recreate that descent, but on skis instead of Crazy Carpets. There was not as much snow in the area as expected, but there was enough to keep the skis on our feet instead of our backpacks through most of the trip.
Skinning up the main slope was easy but tiring, as we were forced to dodge areas where all the snow had melted. Only a short section before the ridge proved to be problematic. A snow-covered rockband was definitely too steep to skin up, so I tried to get up the band carrying my skis. This too was next to impossible and in the end I had to abandon my skis and ascend the step without them. I then threw a short length of rope down to Mark, who tied it to the skis and I pulled them up – not exactly an orthodox technique, but that’s never been our style anyway!
The weather was surprisingly decent throughout although heavy cloud persisted to the west. On the ridge, we left our skis and hiked up to the lookout. The cornice scenery was not as spectacular as on our previous trip, but beautiful nonetheless. After a brief walk to another point north of the summit, we retuned to the lookout and then back to the skis for the big test of the day – could we ski down the main slope as efficiently as we had Crazy Carpeted down?
Who am I kidding? All of our ski descents to date have ranged from pathetic to disastrous and everything in between – this was no exception, but we did have a great deal of fun skiing across the slope, making one turn and then wiping out. In fairness, the less than ideal snow conditions (not enough of it) was a definitely a contributing factor and when all was said and done, it was a fun, if not expedient descent. With better snow conditions, any competent skier would have taken about 30 seconds to descend the entire slope- it took us about 30 minutes. In retrospect it couldn’t have been all that bad as before we reached the car, we had already decided to return and try again when theirs is more snow.
Mark heads for the ascent slope
Typical snow conditions of the ascent
Stopping to check out the trees
Nearing the ridge
A small cloud above a tree
The crux step where I abandoned my skis
Mark carries his skis below the step
Here's something you don't see too often!
On the ridge
A snow-covered tree on the ridge
Mark tests a cornice
More trees
My turn to find out where the cornice starts; summit at the right
The view to the west; the beauty of Scrimger and Holcroft and the tragedy of clear-cutting
Heading to the lower point north of the summit
Deep snow on the ridge
Mark approaches the lower end of the ridge
Another cornice
Starting the ski descent; this photo pretty much sums up my skiing technique
Mark demonstrates a more refined technique
Looking up the slope we skied (?) down; more snow on the right side would have been nice
The setting sun lights up a cloud behind snow-covered tees