Sheratin Mtn Winter 2014

[Philip]

Presidents' Day

Today I did the Sheratin loop, going up the new trail at the end of the road at Small Creek, up and over the summit, and then descending via the Blue Room and down to the Red Cloud River before grabbing a bike I had stashed to ride back to the end of the road where the car was parked.

I cannot recommend this loop highly enough right now. The snow on the north side of Sheratin is the best I have found on the road system. There are slopes with 6-12" of fresh pow to be had, for real. Unfortunately the best snow is down in the trees as they acted as a snow trap, but some gullies and bowls up high on the mountain were pretty nice too. The runs aren't long, though the approach is, so think of it as an extended tour with some 'bonus vert' thrown in. If you go up before it blows or snows you can even follow my tracks for easy navigation. I snowshoed today thinking the whole mountain would be firm and crusty, but if I were to do it again I would bring a light splitboard setup. The climb up on the north side on the new trail could be pretty annoying with skis due to the low branches. You may want to make a long day of it and go in and out from the Red Cloud side since there are fewer impediments (though not none) to carrying skis in from that approach. You can skin up that trail starting at about 500' elevation. Today was dead calm and totally glorious up there!

About to leave the forest and entering some really beautiful snow conditions:



Beautiful touring:



Good snow was to be had in stashes in various places like in the NE-facing bowl below the summit:



Looking north towards Sheratin and Kizhuyak bays with a frozen Shelly Lake in the image center:



A former resident of Pompeii just after the Vesuvius eruption?



Looking down on Elbow Cr:



Some okay looking slopes in the Blue Room:



The current snowpack is no match for the salmonberries on the trail up from the Red Cloud:

[patrick]

I bet the back side of resevoir ridge where we went for my birthday is also getting lots of ocean effect snow. Spruce Island looks like it has gotten lots. But for now I am happy cross country skiing.

Patrick

[brooks]

Glorious! I have been wondering if that green transmitter thingy is going to actually make it through it first Winter.

[steve]

Sharon and I hiked in from Small Creek and skied some awesome powder shots through the trees Wow. Your right Philip hiking in from Red cloud would be more skiing but the hike threw the forest is pretty nice. Got to see the Northern lights display on the ski back threw the trees.
We hung our skis on our side off our pack and lower shoulder strap which worked well going under the limbs.

[Philip]

Saturday March 1

After stopping by Orion's for the tax-free sale (BAM!) I popped up Sheratin for a lap. It was lovely out, though the snow was 'firm'. It had rained nearly to the summit and though the base is nice and thick and pretty evenly distributed, the snow is pretty much rock hard in most areas. The NE bowl under the summit has a little nice snow in it, but that's about all the mountain has to offer other than nice touring. As usual, ski crampons and a GPS were de rigeur.

Once you are on the trail leaving Small Creek, it's pretty well marked now:



As I got on the summit ridge, some clouds drifted in from the Buskin Valley. Yet another case for carrying a GPS on this mountain:



Headed for the summit with Sheratin and Kizhuyak bays in the background:



The Mt Vesuvius victim has not recovered:



A quick descent of the NE bowl on some nearly-acceptable snow:





Clouds rolling over the summit as I left:

[Philip]

Sunday March 2

Was just up there again with my father. We hiked up to the snow line and then switched to snowshoes. We didn't get all the way up above the trees due to time constraints, but the snow conditions overall were improved over yesterday. It is warmer and the snow has softened up at the surface, and a light flocking overnight added a soft texture. It would actually probably be some nice skiing right now. No wind and some sunny breaks to boot. The west side of the island is only partly cloudy and the views into the interior of Kodiak are pretty special.

[Philip]

Sunday March 9

Today was lovely on Sheratin. Brooks and I headed up in the morning and found variable-depth-dust on semi-crust starting about where the spruce trees give out on the north side. The area seemed a lot less wind affected than a lot of other peaks. It was hard to read what snow you were about to ski over, but the conditions were relatively forgiving, and with light winds and blazing sunshine life was pretty damn good up there. A number of other people were making use of the nice new trail up Sheratin from the end of the road.

Easing out of the spruce trees on the N side of Sheratin:





The scenery doesn't suck:









Climbing into the NE bowl:









We did 2 laps off the top. There were some surprisingly nice slopes in the NE bowl but reading the snow was a little tough. It was hard to tell the crust from the pow thanks to a fairly uniform surface deposition.



Sheratin is a striking place:

[Philip]

Sat March 15

KISAR did an Avy Level 1 refresher training on the trail from Red Cloud up to the Blue Room on Sat. While a significant amount of new snow had fallen at the end of the road at Small Creek, less was to be found at Red Cloud and it was very wind affected with lots of exposed crust and wind slab in sheltered spots. The salmonberries are still knee to waist high. Skiing up was not great, and skiing out was pretty bad. Beautiful area though.

Heading up:













What goes up must come down...





Some down more than others

[steve]

St. Patty's Day
Sharon, John Sikes and I spent this glorious day skiing the Sharatin loop (5 Hours) Red Cloud to North End trail head. Skiing from the end of the road and down to Red Cloud is a better route as skiing through tight trees at the end of the day is a bit nerve-racking, and the South faces on Sharatin are starting to corn up in the afternoon sun. The snow was crusty and a bit grabby in a few places on the North Side but all and all great touring.
































Here's a couple pictures of Sat. Avy class with Joe Stock

[brooks]

3/20
I headed up the red cloud river side of Sharatin today (Thursday) at 415. The snow was soft and had no real crust layer to mention.
Here is a view of heading up making the last ascent before you hit the blue room. I could tell it was hardening up as I was approaching the ridge.


As I was headed up the slope towards the blue room the clouds rolled in and brought with it some heavy snow. I have learned not to fight the conditions in Kodiak so I decided to transition over and make my way down.


I was forced to stop and switch over on the way down. I did have a great time clearcutting salmonberries and alder with my board.


There were a few thin spots on the way down but I channeled my inner Patrick and all was good.


I did make it all the way to the road, mostly just to be able to say I made it all the way to the road. But no ice on anything I skied.

[Philip]

Sunday March 23

Adelia and I popped up Sheratin using the north side trail at the end of the road. Microspikes were useful for the first mile, and after that there was enough snow to skin the rest of the way. That side of Sheratin has received about a foot of nice dense new snow. It was crusted over down low, but by the time you leave the spruce trees it turns into some really decent and deep wind-packed powder. On the upper mountain it was too windy to distribute evenly, and the old crust is showing in a lot of places. We didn't bother going to the summit since the light was a little flat and the snow up there didn't seem like anything special, so we hung out below the NE ridge and yo-yoed some microlaps. We put our skins on and skied down the trail on the way out, which actually worked pretty well. It's good to see that side of the mountain gaining some snow.

Skinning up:













The ski out is interesting. We found it much easier to just keep our skins on:

[brooks]

Lindsey, 3 dogs and I headed up the red cloud river side to do the loop over to anton larsen. It was an incredible day up there.
At the top of the blue room


It continues to survive


The Norths side was the best snow I have seen this year. Absolutely no ice and very nice Spring conditions


Had to do a 2nd run at the top


A slide


The lower portion was pretty sticky but I still had to do it twice


The view was incredible


Lindsey cruising down the North side


In the forest, the snow is gone

[Philip]

Sunday April 13

Went up the Northside Trail today as the weather cleared. No snow from the road up to about 500', then some patchy snow and ice on the trail, and finally enough snow to skin up as the forest starts to get patchy. The middle of the mountain is nice spring refreeze right now with good coverage and a smooth surface. The top couple hundred feet to the summit are bubble-wrap rime ice and not that pleasant. Laps are to be had below the summit and above tree line, or you can just go for the tour and scenery. You could do worse.