| Mt. Maude, North Face Descent | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
July 4, 2005 Paul Belitz, Sky Sjue, Sam Avaiusini, Jason and Josh Hummel, Bill Frans Note:Click on the thumbnails below for larger photos. Clicking on one closes the others automatically. Justin hosted a nice party on Friday night. There were several climbers/skiers in the crowd, and drunken mountain boasts were made until well into the night (I'm too young; I drank only soda. Yeah.). Sam proposed the north face of Mt. Maude as a potential destination for the Fourth. Feeling the need to redeem myself after snowplowing down Bonanza, I decided to go. The Hummels spent the weekend biking and boating, but the allure of the Face was enough to convince them to come. Sky and I rode our bikes to Sam's house, arriving at 3am. After stashing our bikes beneath Sam's deck, the Hummels showed up. Shortly after, Bill arrived, and we waited for Sam to finish packing. Soon enough we were off, over Stevens Pass, where Josh tested the handling of the Exploder at relatively high speeds. I hadn't been able to sleep the night before, so I was hoping to catch up during the drive. Unfortunately, Josh soon bestowed the honor of driving upon me, ruling out the possibility of any shut-eye before strenuous exercise. It was a mellow hike up an old road to Leroy Creek, where the uphill travel starts. Jason was having trouble with a bum knee, but he didn't seem to be slowed much. A very steep climber's trail deposited us in Leroy Basin, where we got our first views of Maude. I was starting to slow down, and I wasn't surprised; no sleep has always killed my pace in the past. We 'scrumbled' across talus and dirt gullies to reach the pass on the south ridge of Maude. We then dropped down a bit to avoid the gendarmed ridge, and followed small snowfields to the endless talus that leads to the summit. The rest of the group left me in the dust, but I slowly made my way to the summit in a sleepy haze. I found the others sprawled across the summit, ready to go. Damn, I had been hoping for some rest. Boots went on, and we walked down the talus to the top of the North Face.
Jason informs us that "It's a joke!". Oh shit. It's steep. Really steep. We ski down 50 vertical feet to where the NF proper begins, a short but better-than-nothing warmup. It's good corn, but the top of the face proper is at least 50 degrees. Big cornice to skier's left. Uh oh. I'm getting nervous. Sky drops in, and makes two dozen continuous hop turns (!) to where the face flattens out a bit. Josh is next; I see his uphill hand dragging the snow on every turn. Controlled and smooth. Jason follows, with his trademark powerful jump turns. Bill follows. These guys are good skiers. I'm not. I should hike out the south side. Sam has a few encouraging words for me, and I sideslip in. I'm pointing left, as right is my stronger turn. Time to commit. A big hop, my camera (attached to my pack's chest strap) smacks me in the chin, and my edges make contact. That was ok. Phew. Time to turn left. Another big hop, and it's fine! Cool! I can do this.
I make it down to Sky, where the face is only 40-45 degrees. I babble in relief as Sky looks on, bemused. He's as comfortable as if he were sitting at home drinking a beer. My adrenaline is flowing. I could get used to this....
The snow is slushy down here, and runnels are a concern. We have to cross a number of them to get to skier's right of the face, where the traverse to the Jack-Maude col begins. It's not bad, though. Some sidesteps, some hop turns, and several runnel crossing later, and I'm waiting behind Sam as he straddles the moat and loads his skis on his pack. I follow suit, and we make our way up the rock, mud, and soft snow to the Jack-Maude traverse. It's tedious, and very hot, especially with my helmet still on. I stop for a water break, and am again the last one to get to the col. Sam passes the Juju Fish around, and we walk down some talus to the snow fingers extending towards Leroy Basin.
After eating at the 59'er Diner, we start driving back to Seattle. Josh says that he has driven far too much this weekend, and it's Jason's turn. Jason starts weaving dangerously sometime before Stevens Pass, so I insist on taking the wheel. A hastily-chugged Red Bull keeps my eyes open, and we meet the others at Sam's house. After watching their video footage, the Hummels head to Tacoma, and Sky and I bike home.  Back to Climbing and Skiing
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