Davenport moving on to CA and WA

**goldenboy** · 03-09-2007, 05:30 PM

Didn't see that anyone else had posted this, but his site says he's going for the 14er's in CA and WA.

http://www.steepskiing.com/home.htm

He'll crush it just like he did CO, and I wish him luck. Can't wait to see a TR of Liberty Ridge or the Mowich face.

**Zeedashbo** · 03-09-2007, 05:42 PM

in his solomon rental boots and decked out RV.

**Kya** · 03-09-2007, 05:44 PM

I read about that too. Was like, yeah Dav, get sum.....more. Best of luck! Great extension of the original project.

**jonski** · 03-09-2007, 05:44 PM

"....with the aim to be the first person to ski all the 14ers in the lower 48..."

thats quite a goal he's set himself - and yet it doesn't seem so inconceivable after his success in CO.

**hutash** · 03-09-2007, 05:48 PM

That shouldn't take him too long. Not too may 14's in either state, most of which are pretty easy to ski. Access may be an issue, some of the California ones take time to get to, and most are not in sledable areas. Still, good on him.

**jrbd** · 03-09-2007, 05:48 PM

I saw that in a NYTimes article from last weekend. Are all the California 14ers skiable from the summit? I thought some of them were about 5.7 climbs by the easiest route.

Of course, not all the Colorado 14ers are skiable from the summit either, Wetterhorn and Sunlight in particular, so I guess he'll just go from the highest skiable point.

**Arty50** · 03-09-2007, 05:59 PM

Originally Posted by jrbd

I saw that in a NYTimes article from last weekend. Are all the California 14ers skiable from the summit? I thought some of them were about 5.7 climbs by the easiest route.

The top portion of Whitney could be really interesting in a low snow year.

**Jumper Bones** · 03-09-2007, 06:04 PM

I'd like to see him ski the Montana 14ers. Considering they're in wilderness area, that's some severe bushwhacking. In his Salomon rental boots and decked out RV.

**Yonder_River** · 03-09-2007, 06:12 PM

No 14'ers in Montuckyland. Granite Peak is the highest at ~12k....fun 4th class climbing and up, but it hasn't been skiied from the top.

I'm new to Washington, but isn't Rainier the only peak above 14k in the entire PNW?

**tarkman1** · 03-09-2007, 06:14 PM

I hope he takes the North Bairs Creek on Mt Williamson.

**Hutch** · 03-09-2007, 06:16 PM

Originally Posted by Yonder_River

I'm new to Washington, but isn't Rainier the only peak above 14k in the entire PNW?

Yup

http://americasroof.com/fourteeners.shtml

**kidwoo** · 03-09-2007, 06:16 PM

Originally Posted by Yonder_River

I'm new to Washington, but isn't Rainier the only peak above 14k in the entire PNW?

That's what I was thinking......

**Telenater** · 03-09-2007, 06:17 PM

Originally Posted by jrbd

Are all the California 14ers skiable from the summit? I thought some of them were about 5.7 climbs by the easiest route.

Thunderbolt would be an interesting ski descent....

**Rontele** · 03-09-2007, 06:17 PM

Good luck Dav

**hairy** · 03-09-2007, 06:40 PM

Mt. Humphreys at 13,996 has a big pile of rocks on the top to make it 14,000'.......

**Lani** · 03-09-2007, 06:45 PM

Plus Cali is having a really shitty year.

**Bullet** · 03-09-2007, 06:52 PM

Originally Posted by hutash

That shouldn't take him too long. Not too may 14's in either state, most of which are pretty easy to ski. Access may be an issue, some of the California ones take time to get to, and most are not in sledable areas. Still, good on him.

I'm curious to how he's going to lay claim to it though.

Middle Palisade is not skiable from the summit. Neither is Mount Muir. He will also have trouble with North Palisade without a 100' rappel on any one of the 3 routes of it's top. Starlight is equally impossible to ski from the summit and so is Thunderbolt.

And if he's going to try it this year, he's got low to little snow on the peaks in question. Right now Langley barely has enough snow to link turns.

Just some things to make you go hmmmmm.

Starlight Peak's Summit -

Mount Muir's West face.

Muir's East face

Thunderbolt's west face

Summit of Thunderbolt

Middle Palisade during the deepest snow year on record -still not skiable from the summit.

Summit of Middle Pal from the west

Middle pal from the east

East side of Polemonium, North Pal, and Starlight. - shows the V-Notch Right and left, U-Notch and Clyde Coulior

Good luck with it. I just hope he doesn't try to claim that he skied from the "summit" of all the 14ers. That would be misleading.

With Bishop Pass having only 37" of snow at 11,200', one won't be skiing much. More like boulder dodging.

Big Pine creek only has 9.3" at 9,800'. A long walk with no skiing for all the Palisade East faces.

And Langley approach at 10,700' has only 25.5" of snow.

It's not a good year to be slaying Southern Sierra peaks.

Here's a shot of Langley from a couple weeks ago.

**Bullet** · 03-09-2007, 06:55 PM

Originally Posted by tarkman1

I hope he takes the North Bairs Creek on Mt Williamson.

How could you forget George Creek?

**Rontele** · 03-09-2007, 06:58 PM

Bullet,

those pictures are pretty rad. Are there any ski lines reasonably close to the summit?

**Bullet** · 03-09-2007, 07:14 PM

Originally Posted by Rontele

Bullet,

those pictures are pretty rad. Are there any ski lines reasonably close to the summit?

I've been scouting to find some. I haven't yet. These are just some of the photos I've been using to look for clues.

Here's my report so far:

South to North

Mt. Muir - non that I can find. There is a slim possibility on a North East Couloir. But it still stops close to 300' below the summit based on my rough estimate. No route on the west side, non on the south. I guess one could ski from Trail Crest and claim it, but a lot of people have skied that.

Mt. Russel - see next post.

Middle Pal - non. The top 200' of the climb is an exposed stair case. Little ledges, but not a contiguous slope that holds snow. The West side is almost overhanging off the summit. Vertigo city.

North Pal - none- the summit block (below) after you climb up out of the U-notch is a block of rock. There, might, just might be a line on the west side. But it's real remote in terms of possibility as well as access - it still only goes to the foot of the summit block, and I think there's probably a 100'+ rappel involved about mid way. I was scouting it this summer and it didn't look promising.
[oops pic too big to post]

Starlight - I don't see any route. Maybe the Clyde Couloir is the closest, but that has two major breaks in it. When I was there the lower 3rd was blue ice. The west side, may have a route, but not coniguous. The route has at least one chock-stone to get around.

Thunderbolt - The North Coulior is probably the best bet. During a heavy snow year, the East Coulior reaches right up to the base of the summit monolith. But when I was there, it was a scary exposed climb - and that was a deep snow year.

**Bullet** · 03-09-2007, 07:20 PM

I always forget Mt. Russell. The North face is probably the only possible way, but it needs way more snow than we have right now. And to get to it, would be a very long day. The South side:

I guess you could ski the slanting coulior, but that doesn't come close to the summit.

The north-west side

**Jumper Bones** · 03-09-2007, 07:27 PM

Originally Posted by Yonder_River

No 14'ers in Montuckyland. Granite Peak is the highest at ~12k....fun 4th class climbing and up, but it hasn't been skiied from the top.

Shiit, I thought Glacier, and a couple others near it in the Absaroka/Beartooths, were 14ers...glacier's only 12? damn.

**Yonder_River** · 03-09-2007, 07:39 PM

Originally Posted by Jumper Bones

Shiit, I thought Glacier, and a couple others near it in the Absaroka/Beartooths, were 14ers...glacier's only 12? damn.

Ya, you'd think they were since the vertical relief is quite big for some of them.

Fun Fact: The Beartooths are home to the largest contiguous land area in the U.S. of over 10,000 feet.

**Zeedashbo** · 03-09-2007, 07:41 PM

yeeeeeeaaaaahhhh booooiiiiiiiii!

**Lani** · 03-09-2007, 07:42 PM

Interesting aside: If we use the same 300' prominence standard applied to derive 54 Colorado fourteeners, then actually Liberty Cap and Columbia Crest should count as two separate fourteeners on Mt Rainier.