Some excellent ski lines visible all over the North side of Jefferson
Motored up to trailhead to Jefferson Park early Saturday morning for a look around. Had never set foot on Mt. Jefferson so thought it would be good to finally romp around on it. Since it was a solo stab I kept it simple and just went for a walk around Jefferson Park and the Jefferson Park Butte.
Surprisingly a shorter commute to the trailhead than I thought it'd be. Few other rigs in the lot but poor weather over the preceeding few weeks had me wondering what I'd encounter up the trail. Started walking and only encountered significant snow on the North side of Sentinel Ridge - amazing seasonal drifts that went from dry dirt to 8 feet of snow in a few yards.
|
"Nothing to see or ski here . . . move along"
Some excellent ski lines visible all over the North side of Jefferson |
|
Finally switched out from sneakers to boots at the crossing of Whitewater Creek and started skinning. Followed foot prints in the snow and gained the Jefferson Park area pretty quickly thereafter. Lots of tracks in the snow and wands placed intermittently made routefinding a breeze - despite a dusting of new snow. Curiously no other ski tracks up there at all.
| Jefferson Park Butte (L) and the high ridge above Russell Lake as seen from Jefferson Park |
|
When I reached Jefferson Park the threatening skies settled down and started to obscure the views of the hill. Top to bottom views of Jefferson Park Butte were still visible so I decided to still give it a poke. Skinned pretty quickly to the base of it and began to follow the drainage emptying into Russell Lake. Clearly audible moving water under the snowpack in this drainage had me a little gripped so I left the route and started to climb more purposefully up toward the ridge above the Butte.
| A bit of a change of direction in the main drainage below the ridge |
|
| Beginning to emerge above the lower-level clouds in Jefferson Park - skies above Jefferson still a bit threatening |
|
Some excellent (although short) terrain off this ridge. Made the ridge top and magnificent views of Mt. Jefferson and Jefferson Park below - with blue skies beginning to make a more prominent appearance.
| rime-ice-on-the-krummholz |
|
| The bowl coming of the ridge behind Jeff Park Butte |
|
|
Looking across Jefferson Park and over the Jefferson Park Butte (below center)
to Mt. Jefferson. A neonatal lenticular beginning to spin off the summit
Weather definitely was on the way for that evening and the next day |
|
| Some cool upslope drifts leftover from the winter on the west side of the ridge |
|
| A sampling of the terrain I skiied on the way down off Jefferson Park Butte. |
|
The ski down off the Butte was a blast & steeper than I thought it'd be - kept things spicy. In no time I was back to still snow-covered Russell Lake and back to the kick & glide across the Park.
| Skintrack across Jefferson Park after skiing off the ridge |
|
Lost elevation back to Whitewater Creek and continue to milk ski transportation until the snow ran out. About the same time I caught up with a couple of other exiting climbers - they'd spent the night at about 8 grand on the Jefferson Park Glacier but got weathered out of their summit bid . . . or so they thought. As we were chatting the skies were mostly blue again - and they were clearly questioning their decision (although too far down to contemplate a return. But a pretty significant lenticular cloud was billowing off the summit. Their coin flip was probably still a good one.
| A look back at Jefferson on the egress . . . lenticular cloud becoming a bit more significant and swirly with the approach of the next weather system. |
|