TR: The Gache 2.26.06

Summer is too long and winter isn't coming fast enough. All the winter stoke pics people are posting are helping me through a very hot day. I found some pics from this winter that hadn't been posted yet so here is part one of two: The Gache.

http://www.telemarktips.com/Photopos...m/IMG_1395.jpg

The Gache is the shaded couloir to the left of the pic. I had been eyeing it for a long time but somehow it had never come together. Finally Phattypowpow and I decided to give a shot. The borrowed sled that would make the 5 mile approach a little faster fell through so we just started skinning. PPP, I should point out, gets photo credit for all of these (except for the ones of him, duh).

When we left the groomed road the snow was deep and soft but the sun was heating it up quickly.
http://www.telemarktips.com/Photopos...m/IMG_1339.jpg

As we approached our goal the clouds moved in and the wind picked up. The Gache itself looked like it might be windloading so we skinned around the peak and approached from the east side.

Here's the goal. We skinned around the left of the pic.
http://www.telemarktips.com/Photopos...m/IMG_1358.jpg

The views from the top were great even with increasing clouds. Here's a sweet pan shot.
http://www.telemarktips.com/Photopos...um/GrosPan.jpg
and the obligatory ski tip shot (this wasn't actually the chute).
http://www.telemarktips.com/Photopos...m/IMG_1373.jpg

After a few ski cuts we decided the snow was stable and dropped in.
http://www.telemarktips.com/Photopos...I_1383_130.jpg

The chute was a bit variable but solid. Here's PPP near the bottom.
http://www.telemarktips.com/Photopos...dium/der11.jpg

The trees below the actual chute held some nice pow.
http://www.telemarktips.com/Photopos...I_1384_583.jpg

Looking back up.
http://www.telemarktips.com/Photopos...m/IMG_1389.jpg

The sun came back out on our way out causing two interesting creek crossings, a small wet slough and a nasty slog out the road. However, it was a great day. Good enough to bring us back the next weekend with a sled, a snowboarder a large elk that would not leave us alone...

Looks sweet! :yourock:

But why not post bigger pics!?! 6x8 yo! :)

Ah, that was a good day. I miss winter. We were hiking around there on July 4th. Not much snow left:

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e1...urquoise78.jpg

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e1...urquoise82.jpg

very nice sar, loving all these maggots with the fresh winter porn stashes. Thanks

Thanks Pulver. Your avatar always reminds me of my old job. I used to work for TGT and was there when we created that sticker. We made it on caps and mugs too but they didn't take off as much as we had hoped.

Sorry about the small pics. I promise more girth next week:the_finge