Chute to Thrill Tour
Larry Miller, Larry Goldie and Scooby- March 7, 2008
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| Well, with no new snow in over a week and good
stability, it seemed an ideal time to ski some of the more committing
lines of the area. Joined by partners Larry Miller and Scooby,
Larry Goldie proposed an ambitious linkup of three of the area's
classic couliors. |
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| Here Larry Miller (LFM) and Scooby climb
up toward the top of Hidden bowl where they would drop
in to begin the linkup. Copper peak is the big wall in
the background. |
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| While not as deep as the rest of the
season, the skiing was fun, soft and carvy. Here LFM rips
down on the first run. |
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| The first goal was to ski the Maple leaf
coulior on Copper Peak. Here Larry and Scooby tour up
toward the face and the coulior seen in the upper part
of the photo. |
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| The Coulior steepens to well over 40
degrees toward the top. Here Larry kicks steps while Scooby
puts in her own track. |
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| Looking back down the coulior, Larry
Miller works his way up the narrow chute. |
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| Now the fun part, Scooby watches as Larry
drops in. |
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| LFM skiing the stem of the Maple Leaf. |
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| Our next goal was the "Life is Good"
gully, also known as the Shooter chute. This moniker comes
from the number of film crews that have filmed athletes
skiing these lines. We climbed up the slopes in this photo
and arrived at the top of the coulior marked in red. The
line we skied is on the shady North side. |
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| The top of "Life is Good" is
50 degrees for a few turns. Here LFM drops in to the nicest
snow of the day - 8" of cold, recrystalized powder. |
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| This gully is quite wide and the angle
drops into the low 40's for the bulk of the run. Here
Larry starts to let them run a bit toward the middle of
the coulior. |
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| Larry getting ready to exit the bottom
of the gully via a short, steep pitch. |
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| Looking across, the "Life is Good"
gully is the left hand coulior of these twin "Shooter
chutes". |
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| Our next line was the "Beer Bong",
so named for it's funnel shape. The upper slopes are often
heavily windloaded (note the giant cornices), and requires
good stability to ski. |
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| Larry Goldie drops in via a steep ramp
to avoid the cornices. Note the huge face of Big Kangaroo
in the background. |
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| Looking back up, LFM drops in on the
same ramp as Larry has just entered on. |
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| LFM keeps it going into the funnel with
Scooby close behind. |
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| After a final climb back up to the top
of Kangaroo Ridge, we drop down our first sunny slope
of the day. While not the perfect corn we were hoping
for with our tired legs, we found fun, fast and carvy
skiing for 2200'. Another great day in the North Cascades. |
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