Behind Bells Flats

[Philip]

Sunday Jan 12, 2014

There is actually a lot of snow in the mountains behind Bells Flats. It's kinda crusty, but the coverage is excellent and there are ravines and gullies with nice wind-packed pow to be discovered. Adelia and I hiked out the southern fork of the headwaters of Sargent Creek and then popped up onto the bench that is between the Flats and the mountains that mark the range to the west. Once on the bench at mid-elevation, we made a long loop by touring north and east ending at Cope Mountain and then came down the 4-wheeler trail that crosses Sargent Creek at "Little Kosovo". It was a pretty long walk, but would make an excellent ski tour if you just wanted to leave your skins on and travel. The bench at mid-elevation in front of the mountains behind Bells Flats are a super place to tour if you don't intend to do laps or expect long runs (though you could get some real skiing in if you climbed any of the peaks above the bench). Patrick would be able to skate ski for hours up there and not have to cross his tracks. It is a vast and gently rolling area that extends from Cope half way to Center Mountain. It's just a pretty long trek in to get there. Probably better as a day tour than a "one and done" ski destination. The trails down lower REQUIRE some sort of footwear traction devices. Kahtoola Microspikes at a minimum. More serious trail crampons would be better. Full alpine crampons may be overkill but better than a fractured coccyx bone. Up higher the snow is firm enough to walk on with boots/crampons and snowshoes are not required (we carried them and never used them), but maybe not bad to bring if you aren't on skis. We were able to cross Sargent Creek at Little Kosovo with just hiking boots and the water level was low enough that we didn't overtop our boots, but any warmer weather could change this.

We parked at the end of the maintained portion of Sargent Creek Road, walked out the gravel road along Sargent Creek to Little Kosovo, then took the 4 wheeler trail SW parallel to the creek. We then followed the flagged trail up and over the hogback that leads you back to the creek and continued to follow the flagging up into the alpine. Here is a google earth view of our route (north is to the right):



Following the flagging up a nicely cleared route:







Up above the brush line, the snow coverage is quite good, though the snow quality is not amazing:



Wandering around on the vast bench above Sargent Creek:



If you go south towards Center Mountain the bench is cut by a pretty steep ravine:







Heading north. Cope is the mountain on the far right where we will descend back to Sargent Creek:





About to descend back to Bells Flats:

[steve]

Cool tour! How long did it take you? Yes, it is a really fun area to ski tour.

[Philip]

We left town about 10am and got home around 4pm. We were probably were underway about 5 hours, I'd estimate. We spent some time poking around to the south on the bench before doubling back and going north towards Cope, so you could probably do the loop in under 4 hours if you were on task.

[Philip]

Saturday Jan 18

Beautiful day after a lot of rain. Adelia and I intended to do the same loop again, this time with our splitboards. The trails are still gnarly sheets of bulletproof ice:







Up and over the hogback, and rejoining the headwaters of Sargent Creek in the pretty little cottonwood valley:



Once on the valley floor and following Sargent Creek again, we could put our boards on and skin along on crusty snow. Surprisingly, the snow depth hardly changed with all the rain. It's a little punchier now, but the level is roughly the same as last weekend:



Still dealing with salmonberry canes on the climbs:



Cope in the background:



The snow had a pretty slick crust on top as we climbed out of the brush and didn't offer much purchase for skins. Binding crampons helped. It was textured ice above the brushline, but soon transitioned into actual snow. The entire snowpack settled a little on the bench above the Flats, but not much was lost in all the rain. Then again, nothing was gained.



The effects of rain were obvious up high:



Water was still draining out of the snowpack:





There were pockets of nice snow on some aspects:





The effects of the rain were still omnipresent:



Rain runnels near Cope:



Sargent Creek was surprisingly low and while I did get wet feet, the water was barely more than mid-shin at the deepest.

[Philip]

Sunday Feb 9.

Headed up with Steve, Brooks, and Adelia this morning. The road back into Jack's Lakes is relatively melted out and there is waaaay less ice than before. Some traction devices are still recommended, but not absolutely necessary. Unfortunately we lost snow down low and so we booted all the way up to above brushline before putting our skis on. The upper reaches have good snow coverage, but the snow is kinda crappy. A lot of rime ice, breakable crust, with a few pockets of wind-packed new snow. We climbed a high saddle and then came down the way we went up. It was a fun tour and fine exercise, but it's hard to call the conditions good for doing runs, especially with such a long approach and egress.

Up the road along Sargent Creek:





Up and over the hogback (aka Halloween Ridge). We ended up ascending the peak in the upper left part of the pic:



Out of the brush and putting our boards on:



Good coverage, but windy, cold, and crusty:





Almost on top:







Binding crampons were definitely helpful up the last part of the headwall:



Looking around on top:





A few pockets of good snow on the descent, but mostly fast and hard:





Transitioning back to brush:



The stroll home:

[Philip]

Doug D, Adelia, and I did the loop today, going up via the Sargent headwaters trail and coming down the Cope ATV trail to Little Kosovo. We skinned up out of the cottonwood valley, encouraged by some new snow, but it may have been better to boot all the way up out of the brush as the salmonberries are tough to skin through. Up on the bench the snow was pretty crappy. Worse than last week for sure. It had eroded and rimed up, making a breakable crust. The snow on Pyramid is definitely better, though the terrain is far more limited there. If you are just out for exersize, maybe bring snowshoes and do the loop. Otherwise things need to freshen or soften a little to get good.

[Philip]

January 1, 2015

Well, it's been about a year since we updated this topic. Today Adelia and I did a long loop into the mountains behind Bells Flats to stretch our legs and check up on the snow. We basically did the same hike that is shown in the google earth screen shot that opens this thread.

Up and over the hogback (Haloween Ridge) to get to the headwaters of Sargent Creek (4th of July Pk is in the background):



There was zero snow until we got up onto the bench in front of 4th of July Peak, and even then it was pretty spotty on the Bells Flats side.







The Bells Flats side of 4th of July:



We hit solid snow as we climbed the pass north of 4th of July and Microspikes were definitely handy on the very firm snow:



The Elbow Creek side of the mountains had excellent snow coverage, though all the snow was rock hard. Great for walking, and a bomber base if it ever snows more. Elbow Creek is in the gorge in the center of the picture, and Sheratin is standing alone in the distance just right of center.



On the way home. You can see how the snow peters out as you get closer to the ocean. Cope is the farthest peak on the right:

[jeffreyg]

I'm out of town. Does anyone know if there is enough snow up there to get a decent run?