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I haven’t been posting much lately, so here is what has been going on the past month and a half.

Enjoy.

Not a week after getting my first taste of the Cascade Pass area it was time to head back and tackle the gnar.

Our objective was the north face of Mt. Buckner.


After a little climb up to Shark fin Col


We went exploring on the Boston Glacier


After a great night of sleeping in a wind storm we were climbing the north face of Buckner


2 days of work for 5 minutes of riding. What a payout!


Objective Slayed.


That weekend it was off to Mt Baker for the Mt Baker Splitboard festival.

Never had I seen so many splitboarders in one spot.


Visibility was good. That is for Mt Baker standards.


And the riding was okay once again for Mt Baker standards


Then back to Crystal for a solid week of pow.


Within that week I managed to lap the King 14 times in one day, tying the current record. (held by a skier)


Knowing that my days riding powder around Crystal were limited I went on a Splitboard style traverse. Managing to tag the north facing slopes of 3 Way Peak, Joes Bad Ass shoulder, Gunn barrel Peak, Dog Legged Peak, Pickhandle Peak, Bullions Peak and East Peak all in one day.


With conditions stabilizing, it was time to head out and tackle some more Gnar. This time it was out to the Chiwaukums between Stevens Pass and Leavenworth for a Circumnavigation.


Mainly to grab this line


The scenery was okay


the options were limited.


And the terrain was boring.


But at least we got to ride the now famous Swath all the way down to the car.


Soon enough it was closing day at Crystal and my last chance to ride with a old friend at the Crystal Mountain ski school.


After one lap off brain damage I was done and before you know it the resort season was over.

Goodbye Greenwater and Hello West Seattle.

It was time for something new so I was off to the Stevens Pass area to
check out the Monte Cristos and Kyes Peak.

Right down the gut of the Pride Glacier Headwall.


The gnar was in short supply


And the climbing wasn’t that exposed.


Nor steep


and all this work for 2500 feet of Dust on Crust


No need to come back to this area



With bad weather forecasted on the west side of the Cascades, Scott and I went over Stevens Pass. Our plans were to climb Cannon Mountain and to slay a north facing colouir.

The climbing was easy with a abundant snowpack.


And a forest service road to take advantage of


Before long we were looking up our objective


And climbing bulletproof avi debris.


And opting to ride 4000 vert of trees instead


And with a quick and easy log crossing we were back at the car.


A few days later Scott and I tested my weather forecasting skills in the north cascades only to get stopped by 70 mph winds at Cascade Pass


Followed by a white out on Washington Pass .
4500 vert of fail.


With the snow level hovering around 4000 feet and my proximity to Stevens Pass Scott and I did a circumnavigation of all the Stevens Pass Backcountry.

Including Heather Ridge x2, Lichtenburg, Union and Jove..


Yeah it is definitely spring in the Cascades.


And we are deep into corn season


It turns out that other then Happy face the terrain around Stevens is boring.


With white outs becoming the norm and Cayuse Pass opening Drew, the Hummel twins and I travesed from Cayuse Pass out to Crystal tagging Naches, Yakima, Deadwook, Smoka, Sourdough and Dog legged Peaks along the way.

Cayuse on the left and Crystal on the right


Visibility was great


But then it got worse


And all the work for 7800 feet of north facing pow and 400 feet of sandpaper.


As you can tell I have been rather lazy this season.

Oh and did I mention I have a blog.

Great stuff Kyle and Jason!!!

Congratulations on getting the North Face of Mt. Buckner. Big and committing trip, nice work .

"And with a quick and easy log crossing we were back at the car."

OK, that was hilarious!!! what a month!

Nice work Kyle! I dig the mix of successful and not so successful. It can't be epic everyday.