RR
10-01-2003, 10:41 PM
I took a walk out to North Slide today and I got a good look at the exit chute for 100 to 150 yards above where the hiking trail meets it. I have some good news and some bad news.
I found the exit chute below the main slide fairly tight with brushy growth. What's more, the rains came and shortened the time available. That also kept me from pushing up into the Slide proper.
Now for some good news, a little tempered by reality. What little time I had was well spent, a nice little section a 12-15 feet wide and fifty feet long. I see a need for more of that work to open the exit chute as a real thriller. I found cuts done in recent years past whilst I was busy. The footing is mostly bedrock with a lot of moss. The angle is going to dictate that starting up high is best, a gardener taking a tumble on fresh clean could go a long, long way unless there was some brush to slow things down.
More good news. Some one has been very busy on the hiking trail approach above the Livermore Road. Most of it seems wide enough for linked turns. Further, two folks could extend the lower chute into the stream bed very in under an hour. That's important because the nearly south-to-north running slide terminates into the east-to-west running streambed. The stream bed is up to 40 feet wide and free riders can link back to the hiking trail in several places. Some barrier brush would need to be left where the hiking trail reaches the chute, but just below it could be made wide open for the full 15-18 feet of width in the lower chute, for the next 60 feet to the streambed.
All of that stuff about the streambed is worth the effort because it would mean that a freerider could ride from just about 4000 feet down to 2500 feet with the first 1200-1300 feet being 30 degrees or better.
I'll be going back on the 11th...I want to be thourough and I want to earn that BBQ and some turns!
Logistical stuff:
It's 3.6 miles to the trail junction and another half mile to the slide, with another half mile to the top of the slide. My wife and I walked in today at her pace (slowish with lots of stops). 1:55 to reach the hiking trail, another 20 min. to reach the slide.
I have been thinking about my gear for the approach. If I go solo or with someone similarly equipped, I'd use kicker stickers instead of full skins and carry some snow shoes for climbing the slide. That's mainly because the first tenth of a mile of the slide is the narrow exit chute and using on kicker stickers for the 3.6 miles of the Livermore road will cut 1/3 to 1/2 off the time for skinning. The time for skinning the Livermore will be about and hour, maybe a bit more.
I found the exit chute below the main slide fairly tight with brushy growth. What's more, the rains came and shortened the time available. That also kept me from pushing up into the Slide proper.
Now for some good news, a little tempered by reality. What little time I had was well spent, a nice little section a 12-15 feet wide and fifty feet long. I see a need for more of that work to open the exit chute as a real thriller. I found cuts done in recent years past whilst I was busy. The footing is mostly bedrock with a lot of moss. The angle is going to dictate that starting up high is best, a gardener taking a tumble on fresh clean could go a long, long way unless there was some brush to slow things down.
More good news. Some one has been very busy on the hiking trail approach above the Livermore Road. Most of it seems wide enough for linked turns. Further, two folks could extend the lower chute into the stream bed very in under an hour. That's important because the nearly south-to-north running slide terminates into the east-to-west running streambed. The stream bed is up to 40 feet wide and free riders can link back to the hiking trail in several places. Some barrier brush would need to be left where the hiking trail reaches the chute, but just below it could be made wide open for the full 15-18 feet of width in the lower chute, for the next 60 feet to the streambed.
All of that stuff about the streambed is worth the effort because it would mean that a freerider could ride from just about 4000 feet down to 2500 feet with the first 1200-1300 feet being 30 degrees or better.
I'll be going back on the 11th...I want to be thourough and I want to earn that BBQ and some turns!
Logistical stuff:
It's 3.6 miles to the trail junction and another half mile to the slide, with another half mile to the top of the slide. My wife and I walked in today at her pace (slowish with lots of stops). 1:55 to reach the hiking trail, another 20 min. to reach the slide.
I have been thinking about my gear for the approach. If I go solo or with someone similarly equipped, I'd use kicker stickers instead of full skins and carry some snow shoes for climbing the slide. That's mainly because the first tenth of a mile of the slide is the narrow exit chute and using on kicker stickers for the 3.6 miles of the Livermore road will cut 1/3 to 1/2 off the time for skinning. The time for skinning the Livermore will be about and hour, maybe a bit more.