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October 21, 2004
Paul Belitz, Phil Fortier
I was avalanched off of Observation Rock in September. I hobbled out, got home, got my shoes off, and fell
asleep. The next day, I couldn't walk, and the ankle was twice its normal size, so I called a taxi and went to the Harborview emergency room. After x-rays,
urine samples, blood samples, etc, etc, the doctor told me that I had sprained my ankle. Gee, really? They were nice enough to give me a plastic cast and a pair
of crutches, and I spent the next two weeks crutching around and icing the damn thing. About two weeks after the accident I could walk without the cast, and a month
later I could get into my ski boots. So, time to go skiing!
I emailed Phil, and based on the recent weather reports, we opted for Baker. Sky and Ross came along, too, with plans for the Park Headwall. We left Seattle at 3am,
left the car around 6, and at some point got to the base of the glacier. Phil and I traversed far right onto Heliotrope Ridge, then swung back left to get to the
campsite beneath the Black Buttes. Sky and Ross opted to go straight up, and we all arrived at the camp at the same time. There we roped up, Sky and Ross started
blazing up the glacier, and Phil and I followed. I held up the show as usual, and I was tired enough that we quit just below the Roman Wall. It was consistently
cold, and the snow was deeeeep.
The skiing was fun, but I had to remind myself how to ski soft snow again. I didn't take many photos, since the camera was in my pocket and the pocket is blocked
by my harness, but here are the best that I've got.
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| Phil on Heliotrope Ridge. Late season ice meant lots of mini-crevasses. | The Roman Wall from where we turned around. The weather was nice, but a bit cold. | Looking back at the skin track. Nice background. |
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| Phil rips it up on his board.... | but realizes that slightly uphill traverses are best for skis. | More freshiez. |
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| The clouds moved in. "I just sideslipped Heliotrope Ridge. It was pretty f****** sweet." - Phil | When we were searching for my sneakers the sun came out. |