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Mt. Eddy.
Across the valley of the Sacramento River, Mount Eddy
beckons skiers to its nice looking east bowl.
Black Butte, a lava dome that erupted about 9,500
years ago, is in the foreground. |
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This guy is cooked.
Halfway up to Lake Helen, Joel breaks out the gummi
boobs and attaches the ball & chain to Kevin's ankle. |
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Ball & Chain.
Kevin wore that sucker all the way up to Lake Helen. |
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Lower Avy Gulch.
A lone climber ascends lower Avalanche Gulch, with
views to the south towards Dunsmuir. |
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Nice tracks. At about the 9,000' level,
we saw some descending skiers cutting up the corn on
lower Casaval Ridge. This nice face drops down
from the ridge into the gulch. Notice the tents
perched high up on the ridge at top left of photo.
They must have gotten blasted on Saturday night. |
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The last push.
The last 500' hill getting up to Lake Helen is always
the worst -- you've been hiking for hours, you have a
full pack, you are slogging up a steep hill, and you
can see everyone above you already snug in their
tents. It seems like this hill takes two hours
to climb. |
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Lake Helen.
We arrived at advanced camp late in the afternoon.
Already the clouds were hovering up near the Red
Banks. |
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