Headed back to my roots on Sunday 1/15/06. Drove way past where I was expecting, and found some dry pow. Driving conditions where sweet!



There is a huge washout just before you come to Boardman Ridge. They've fixed it somewhat, but it's a tight fit tight next to a ten foot drop :shock:

Drove to the second flat spot below Timberline Camp. Got stuck in the ditch and spent the next 45 min. setting up three defferent picks for the winch to turn the Jeep around. I drove down a hundred feet and parked in a snowdrift on the right facing downhill.
Not much snow. It did snow down to 3000'. Elk Mountain had a good dusting. I skinned up to the summit in two hours. Strange breaking trail at Hull. It was super dry pow all the way. Not deep enough yet to cover the brush though.


I skinned up the road the whole way. Soon I reached the summit ridge.


Perfect blue bird day. Light winds that required the use of full coverage gortex.
Looking back down Boardman ridge from the summit.
Sundream Bowl to the left.


The Hullbacks looked so sweet with all that poofy powder. I dropped in and got about knee deep pow that scraped off to an ice layer. I looped back around an traversed across Sundream Bowl
Cable Couloir - to thin to ski.


The snow had not consolidated into the corn that Hull is famous for. Every turn bottomed out onto rock. I haven't even looked at my bases yet. I'm not sure I want to know...

Looking east from the summit towards Hullafar Bowl


Sudream Bowl from the ridge.



Skied the ridge back down. For once, the ridge represented. Really nice turns down the drifted ridge in ankle to knee deep powder. What a treat!
Skied down the road and found super fast groomer conditions on wind buff.

I was soon down by the lake. The resident herd of elk where there.




Hull was to thin and unconsolidated to ski, but is set up real nice with an excellent base for the onslaught of storms over the next week. Saturday should be epic up there...

Hull from the summit of Elk Mountain on the way in.




Snow Mountain from the same spot on the way out.

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Jibmaster Hull is sacred snow! I will nevever forget the first time I saw it, our skied it. I am blessed. Great post. Sirjibalot.

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Thanks for the recon.

I figured it would be deep up there. Sounds like a 3,500 foot climb, at least.

Thinking of going up next weekend. This weekend is filled.

Let me know if you go up mid-week, I might be able to swing a day trip.

What's with all the RV's.

I'm pissed I misjudged the timing and the snow. I guess that's what I get for not being there since January!


The weather looks like there will be more cold storms over the weekend. More snow down to 3500'. Could be storming on Tue. as well. But there appears to be a break on Wed.
I'll be there Tue. camping out and will ski on Wed., with a much earlier start.

Watch out for the animals on the drive out there.


If I had known these guys where wandering about, I most certainly would have asked him or his buddies for a lift!

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Cruised up to Hull on Tue (3/28) afternoon with freeheel4real from summitpost and camped out. We summited and skied the West Chutes on Wed.
We were able to drive up to 4000' where the road starts to face north.
We turned around and camped out at the flat area just before.
It snowed about 2-3 inches at camp on Tue night. Woke up at 4am and where skinning by 5am. It took us 4 hours to reach the summit.



Hullawest Ridge from just below Timberline Camp


freeheel4real on the summit


jibmaster on the summit


We dropped Sundream Bowl and found powder on top of ice. It was super windy with limited visibility.
We then traversed to Rabbit Ridge and took a west facing line down and traversed out to Timberline Camp. The winds were coming from the east - kind of strange. So we were looking for some west facing loaded slopes.
After 6 weeks of cold storms - very unusual for Hull - I finally saw some slabbing of certain west facing loaded aspects. Nothing to be concerned about. The slabs we released were very small and didn't travel far. Certain drifts that were loaded slabbed off about 5 or 6 inches deep, but would have maybe buried a chipmonk or small squirrel.
We then skinned up the road and got to the very top of the West Chutes.
They were buried DEEP in wind deposited powder! :D





We took one run down from the very top and found ice until we got down into the heart of the chutes. Very dry, chalky pow that was a blast!
We had to hike up one more time to catch another run.

freeheel4real leading the way on the hike up to catch one of the steepest lines


Our tracks down the first line of the West Chutes


More lines to be had in the West Chutes. We should have bailed on the windy, low visibility summit and lapped this area.


Our second run in the West Chutes included these lines which promptly slabbed off and ran down about 30 feet. Nothing serious. I kept on my feet and watched the run below me slide away and then stop a few seconds later.


Further down the same micro-ridge. This is the chute that you want to ski down to the bottom of and start your traverse left - back towards Timberline Camp.


freeheel4real contemplating his next line


freeheel4real traversing back towards Timberline Camp


The best way to ski and exit the West Chutes is to drop in whichever line you like - many of them, all are nice and steep - and ski down to where you can traverse skiers left the soonest. Don't drop it all the way down to the flats. By traversing left at the base of this chute (the longest one),

you can take a stay-high traverse to gain a small flat area below Timberline Camp and wrap around to reach Boardman Ridge and the road.
This is the area on the skin up that you take off of the road and skin straight up through the stubby trees to gain Timberline Camp.
You know what I mean, powderwhore...!

The West Chutes were a real treat to ski. I've never seen them this deep before. They usually get blasted by the wind and sun. The winds were coming from the east this time and loading them up. Don't worry about them sliding. We started our traverse out of there at 11am. The sun was just coming over the ridge and starting to heat up the slopes and they were starting to rollerball on their own.
Plenty of visibility and protected from the hurricane winds coming from the east.
Saturday should be a great day up there.

Thanx freeheel4real for the company. We had a very enjoyable 4 hour skin to the summit.
Glad to get you up there and on the summit. You were there for a very special day. The West Chutes are rarely skiable. Should be covered for quite some time as long as it stays cold like this.

Somebody head up there and nail the West Chutes this weekend!

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:P :P :P :P
Oh my.

Those west chutes look a lot more open than I would have thought. Almost looks like the SW facing shots in Sundream. Did you start from the summit or the road where it traverses across that west face.

Conditions look super good.

Planning on going up with Boma for Saturday. Sunday may not be so good with ANOTHER storm.

We might have a sled so some of the west facing shots in the north bowls might get done. But priority will be the west chutes.

Bringing axe and crampons in case, but looks like you guys didn't need 'em?

SICKNESS

With this much snow, the West Chutes are so filled they seem less steep. I would recommend dropping in from the farthest skiers right-at first. That will give you a great view of them and ensure that you don't miss any epic lines. Taking off from the high point on skiers right offers the most open lines. Then boot up and ski them from skiers right -left. Crampons are a must in corn conditions, but we found ample (read deep) foot holds with all the deep snow.

The lines from below the road are steeper and more defined.
You could get a first descent of a sweet line taking off way skiers right from the high point and ski the drifted ridge that you can see from the summit.

If you follow the ridge down from the summit and take it all the way to it's terminus, you will be on the high point that seperates the West Chutes from the West Face. There is a pull-out/parking area there in the summer.
This is your starting point. Drop the wide open ridge line for your first descent. And then name it! :D

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The West Chutes



The upper mountain


These maps show only a few of the runs that exist.
The dots are skinning routes and the squigly lines are ski lines.
If I get the time, I will post updated maps of all the ski runs with names included.

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thanks for the beta jib,

So you're starting at the ridge knob above the small shack. Yeah, that area is a lot more open. On the topo, I'm eyeing a drainage/chute from near the summit in a SW direction down towards where the "10" is on section 10 of the topo. This is where you see the little ridge going west from near the summit.

With a sled, I'm also tempted to skin out to Monkey Rock or out the main west ridge from the summit. We'll see.

Hullawest Ridge is just south of Windy Gap on the map. Those south facing lines where covered deep and would be a great descent. I've never skied those lines. They have never been covered deep enough. Wide open and steep looking. Good luck getting out of there though!

On the West Chutes map, the red dotted line crossing right over my squiggly ski line and over the very top of the West Chutes. The main wide ridge heading directly west (just south of the '6000' printed on the map) looked like an incredible line to ski. That line is what I was talking about for you to drop a first descent and name it. That's where you should start out for the West Chutes and keep working your way south. Ride down, boot up, repeat heading south.

Elevation line 5400 is the traverse line back from the West chutes heading towards the Boardman Ridge Road.
Stay just above the obvious flat spot.
That's the point where you first leave the road to head directly for Timberline Camp on the skin up.

If you look at the third map - where Hull Mountain is printed-
Swallowed Hull couloir is between the 'll' and 'M'.
Meteor Bowl is above the 'tain'.
Sundream Bowl is of course below the 'H'.

The West Face is anything off the summit dropping southwest towards the red #10 printed on the map. I've skied a few of those lines. Very steep.

You could ski the south side of Hullawest Ridge or anything off the West Face or the West Chutes and drop it all the way down to one of the roads leading back to Boardman Ridge. If you do, it's 3-4 miles of skinning out on a flat road back to Boardman.
I tried approaching the West Chutes that way once. It took forever.
I would recommend not dropping below elevation 5400 if you ski the West Chutes.

1000' verticle is available on the south side by dropping Sundream Bowl in quad 11 and stairstepping your way down across Porcipine ridge to Rabbit Ridge.
Rabbit Ridge heads southwest from the letter 'B' where 'Boardman' is printed on the map. Towards the end of Rabbit Ridge you will find Tortoise Bowl. Look for the large rock at the top. After dropping Tortoise Bowl, you can then take a high traverse back to Timberline Camp.

If you head up powderwhore, take tons of pics and name some first descents!

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I think the south facing off of hullawest ridge will be very tempting since it has good coverage. Brutal hike out though.

Never done Swallowed Hull either.

Hopefully we will have more time to ride new lines with sled access.

:( :( :(

Didn't make it up. Next time Boma.


It was a good thing in hindsight because my Subie limped home from tahoe and deep pow and face shots were plentiful.

bcr

Aw, man that's too bad. How 'bout this coming Tue/Wed? Looks like we might get some good weather. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to experience Hull with this much snow.

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Well, I decided to try a different approach. It would prove to be the wrong decision... I left home at 12:30 am on Monday night after my dinner shift. Got to Hull at 3:30 and found myself on the last part of the north-facing section of the road at 4000'. It looked to be just a short distance to drier ground...

After some consideration and recon of the road further up, I decided to turn the vehicle around. By 5:30 in the morning, I was beat. I caught 3 hours of sleep in the front of the Jeep and set off for the summit by 9am.
I knew I as pretty late, but the winds were howling, even down where the Jeep was, so I figured I had some time.

It took me 3.5 hours to reach the summit.
Looking up to the top. You can see Rabbit Ridge just before the summit ridge


The metal shed at Timberline Camp. Never seen it completely buried!


Once on top, I took a look around.
The not-so-steep south face of Hullawest Ridge

Huge drifts.


I figured I would only get manky snow on the south side of Hullawest. Besides, it didn't look very steep.
I dropped into Sundream Bowl and found it to be EXTREMELY DEEP! The rock outcroppings were sticking out about a foot. The snow was shot by this late in the day, so I caught some air off of one of the rock formations and cut right to catch the ridge again. I skied down the ridge to it's terminous above the West Chutes. I needed something west and north facing to get some good corn.
At the top of the West Chutes looking up at the summit and the West Face


I decided to drop this line


I traversed left and caught another line dropping into the West Chutes
This is just skiers left of the first, wide main chute.
Nice narrow start!




By this time, the snow on the west side of the mountain was starting to show signs of getting manky and sloppy. So I took another traverse left and caught one more run down the far left of the West Chutes and hooked up with Boardman Ridge just below Timberline Camp and skied the slow muck back down to the Jeep. Only had about a fifteen minute hike from where the snow ended.

I was so beat from having only 3 hours sleep last night, I passed out shortly before dark. The babbling brook next to where I camped lulled me into a deep sleep...
I awoke to the sound of the babbling brook laughing at me. The time was 6:30 am. Damn that babbling brook! The air was calm and still. Wednesday was predicted to be even warmer than Tue. I knew I was too late.
Making the most of what I had left of the day, I hurriedly got my jib on and hiked the fifteen minutes up to skinnable snow. Damn that babbling brook.
I'm sure it was the shinning, shimmering, laughing cascade of water that made me sleep so well and miss my alarm which was set for 3:30.

I looked longingly at what would have been my goal for the day.
Hullaska Ridge


This is the ridge coming down the south side. The pointy top is the west side of Hullafar Bowl. I've skied some lines on both sides of this ridge before. The other side (east facing) has some sweet, drifted open bowls.
I had changed my mind yesterday about the south side of Hullawest and had planned on hitting this up.
By the time I got to Timberline Camp, the snow was going fast. I needed some more west facing lines to save the day. I skinned on up to the top of the West Chutes to check out what the sun had already done to some of the west/north aspects.
I figured it would be too late to ski the west facing lines of Hullaska Ridge.
It would have taken about 1.5 hours to reach Hullafar Bowl and drop into the beautiful lines on the west side of Hullaska Ridge.

It was like an oven. The heat of the sun was intense. However, the top of the mountain was showing rime still on the trees. Damn that babbling brook!
So after deliberating about my predicament, I enjoyed the corn harvest in the West Chutes. Not that I'm complaining. The West Chutes will melt out much faster than Hullaska Ridge.

I chose an icy line dropping into the West Face. Nice and firm.




I looped around left and skinned back up and caught my second run for the day right off the drifted ridge.



This photo was taken from the same spot as the last two. This is looking skiers left into the West Chutes.


I skinned back up the drifted ridge and crossed into the first, wide main chute.

The heat of Tuesdays sun had released all the rime on the rocks and the debris littered the slopes lower down. I skied part way down and booted back up for another run a little skiers left.

The sun was just peaking over the ridge atop the West Chutes where the road is (was - it's not visible now, too much snow!). The corn was perfect!



I caught one more run down and traversed over to just beneath Timperline Camp and fought my way down the slow, slushy road back to camp.

Other than sleeping in, I think my day was successful. I learned a lot about exiting the mountain via the West Chutes. Plenty of time to catch several runs and make it back to Boardman below Timberline Camp. If you start at the very top of Hull, you could stairstep or honeycomb your way down the West Face and catch 2 or 3 runs in before you ever even get to the West Chutes!

Oh, well. I had a blast and got to ski some epic corn. But I will say that getting one good day by starting out well rested with a good and early alpine start is better than two halfdays! I think the road should be melted a little further up by next week and the approach will be much shorter. Starting out that far down-it took me an hour to reach Camp I- doesn't help either. I got more excuses! Wanna hear them?! Did I tell you about that damn babbling brook?!

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More pics!


This shows the summit (left) and the west side of Hullafar Bowl (right)
The mountain continues to the right -Hullafar Bowl cannot be seen. It's facing north (other side of mountian)
Rabbit Ridge is the next ridge closer from the summit ridge and of course Hullaska Ridge on the far right with it's west face


This photo was taken from just below Timberline Camp.
The huge summit-looking peak is the top of the West Chutes. The West Face is just beyond and behind that peak. You can see the first, wide main chute coming down just skiers left of the rocks up top.
I skied the skyline down to the first big rock-just behind that dead tree in the foreground. Obviously, the run goes on forever, but if you cut left at the rock on the sky line, you can still get some turns in the West Chutes.
The south face of Hullawest Ridge in the background


Hull Mountain as seen from the airstrip down by Lake Pillsbury

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Mendocino's Hull Mountain is the real deal for persons
looking for legitimate terrain to ride in the Coast
Range--it's a mere three-hour-drive north of the
Golden Gate Bridge on scenic Hwy 101, directly north
of Lake Pillsbury.

The Sierra is a classic, unreal ski zone, and I will miss riding there next year ;-) ... However, I won't miss the hassle of driving up there.

The only chain control I can imagine in eastern
Mendocino County is being locked and chained to the
back of a gigantic 4X4 while some northcoast-redneck-ape stuffs an apple into my mouth ... the local scene thus differs from Lake Tahoe.

Pics from a trip to Hull on Saturday, April 22 are here:

http://homepage.mac.com/hartje/PhotoAlbum80.html

Enjoy...

Shawn

Nice work! Glad to see that someone else is jibbing up at Hull. Looking forward to some (sat/sun weekend) folks hooking me up with info on the snow conditions. Welcome to the Coastal Crest Snow Patrol Hartje!
Hope you can find a place for the stickers. I got more if you need them.

Hull Mountain is the best, most gnarly, greatest small mountain on the West Coast. TONS OF TERRAIN to explore. The possibillities are endless...

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Woke up at 12:30 am on Wednesday. Left the house by 1:30 and made it to the Soda Creek Store by 4:15.
Feeling lucky to have skiing so close to home!


Cyril showed up a few minutes later and we drove up to 4500'. A lot of meltage since last week.
We hiked up for a few minutes and soon found skinnable snow. We made it to Camp I in 15 minutes.

Looking up to the summit from Timberline Camp


A closeup of the far east portion of the south side. The top of Hullaska Ridge on the far right.


Cyril skinning up Boardman Ridge.


Cyril on top. It took us 2 hours to reach the summit


Cyril dropping in to Sundream Bowl


We skied halfway down Sundream and then cut left across Hullavater Ridge and across the top portion of Swallowed Hull Couloir


Our goal was to ski the next main ridge just before the fluted slopes of Meteor Bowl. This is an obvious ridge that ends in a huge rock outcropping, sticking out right in the center of the entire south side.
It shall be named Hullotta Love Ridge. Or Hullotta Love Rock. Why? Because I love Led Zeppelin, I loved the snow and terrain in this area and for the phallic shape of the huge rock outcropping at the end of this ridge standing erect over the entire south side...

Cyril coming down Hullotta Love Ridge. Little Whitney and Meteor Bowl can be seen on the top/right


Hullotta Love Rock. The end of Hullaska Ridge in background
Snow Mountain on the skyline


The terrain on Hullaska Ridge(near the top) as seen from Hullotta Love Ridge


I've never skied below Hullotta Love Rock. Always looked at the steep, rocky chutes and always wondered how one would get out of there.
We were about to find out.

Cyril feelin' the love


The skiing was great! The slopes take off from The Rock on 3 sides. Skiers left (east) was too soft. VERY STEEP! We took off skiers right (west ) and looped around to the left and skied some of the chutes directly beneath and to the right of Hullotta Love. Very interesting terrain. Steep lines bordered by rocks with lots of aspect changes. The cameras were forgotten as we negotiated the chutes and worked our way all the way down to Rattlesnake Creek(as named on the topo). Rattlesnake Creek is at the very base of the west side of Hullaska Ridge. We had descended 1800'! We were down near 5000'. Well below the traverse back to Timberline Camp(5800'). We were staring up at the end of Porcipine and Rabbit Ridges. A STEEP and long boot straight up or a long traverse around to try and gain Timberline Camp were the options.
It was hulla hot. Booting up seemed like too much work. So we took a high traverse and skied around to the right and finally were within sight of Timberline Camp, but a little lower. The terrain finally opened up once we got out of the canyon and we put our skins on and skinned up.
If you take Rabbit Ridge all the way down and ski Tortoise Bowl and take the travese back to Timberline Camp - that's the area we skinned straight up back to Boardman.
Didn't bother to check out our time out of there, but we summited again and skied the West Face out to the West Chutes.

Cyril enjoying some of the more firm conditions of the day on the West Face


We skied some nice corn down to the road and took it took it left, to a major outcropping of rock. The terrain from this rock to the beginning of the West Chutes was some of the most sustained, steepest terrain I've ever seen at Hull.












This area deserves some serious respect. Sustained steeps with lots of trees to hit if you fell. Lots of vert. The way out would be to ski it and traverse left to gain the ridge below the top of the West Chutes and skin up that. The snow was going fast and we were on our way out of there. The West chutes proved to be somewhat south facing and were rotting out beneath our skis, so we just traversed out from beneath them and hit Boardman and the road just below Timberline Camp.

Had a great time jibbin' at Hull with you Cyril. Better luck next time on this rail jib though! :lol:

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Nice JibMaster, making full use of all that snow I see.

what would be your plan for a sat or sun mission up there, assuming the continued hot weather?

I'll be up there tomorrow(Wed). So I'll be reporting on the snow level. But you want to summit right at sunrise(currently at 6:11am), or a little before. The first two hours after sunrise will have the best snow conditions.

One trip would be to head for Out of Bounds Bowl just the other side of Hullafar Bowl and catch some east facing corn. Or better yet, drop into The Shaft first and skin out of Hullafar and THEN ski O.B. Bowl.
The Rock Chutes are right there and you could lap them several times.
On the way back I'm sure the West Face still has good coverage. Drop it to the road and take the road down to the obvious rock outcropping. From there to the West Butte... Thats what I'm going to call it. The West Butte is the large flat peak where the West Chutes start.


Anyways, if you ski the West Face off the summit-down to the road, take the road left, to the obvious rock outcropping and ski the lines beneath the road from there. They have a northerly aspect to them.




Skin/boot back on the ridge line of West Butte. I'll check and see if the West Chutes are still deep enough to ski across to get back to Boardman.

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Well, I gotta say, after a week of 80 degree weather there was a lot of meltage. Especially down low on the approach. jibC and myself were there on Wed. with the snowmachine. However- still tons of snow!

jibC and the machine at Timberline Camp looking up towards the summit.


We got an EARLY start and left my house by 1:30 am. We were able to drive up to about 5000'. Just above Camp I. jibC got his truck high-centered on a large drift... We left the vehicle and took the snowmachine up the mountain. What would have been a 2 hour hike/skin to the top became a 30 minute joyride! We summited minutes after sunrise.

Sunrise from the summit woods near Rabbit Ridge


We parked the snowmachine on the ridge above Sundream Bowl


A few minutes later the corn maker shines on us


Lucky for us, it was about 10 degrees cooler on this lovely day. We sat around for a few taking care of certain priorities, waiting for things to soften up. I don't think it got down to 32 degrees, but the radiant cooling had the slope locked in a solid state of alpine ice. Thoughts of predawn cramponing...

With the cool air and the snomachine - we were set!
jibC taking the first line into Sundream Bowl


Our intense snomojibbing caused the earth to tilt on it's axis for a second...


We dropped Sundream and traversed right to catch the top of Rabbit Ridge and took advantage of the full 1000' vert and made turns down into Tortoise Bowl. We skinned back up to the summit and jibC drove the snowmachine down to Rabbit Ridge to pick me up for my second lap.



By now, things facing south and east were beginning to get sloppy. But the West Face wasn't even in the sun yet. So we took a nap. With only three hours of sleep the night before, we decided to recharge before our assault on the West Face. jibC lay down on the snowmachine and I took a spot on some sunwarmed rocks. A cold wind required some gortex, but soon we were both passed out. An hour and a half later we woke up to the West Face coated in sun and epic corn.

The West Butte and it's skyline ridge as seen from Sundream Bowl


I dropped in from the summit ridge and skied down to the road. I took the road left dropped into the bottomless depths of the West Face. jibC drove the snowmachine down and met me at the West Butte. We both skied the north/west aspect WAY down.



After honeycombing or stairstepping our way left across and down the steeps, we finally made it to the skyline ridge of West Butte and skinned up.


We got to the top of the West Butte where the snowmachine was parked and jibC gave me a tow back up to Sundream Bowl and the top of the West Face. Then we both got another run in.


We took it down, but not quite as far as the first run. Then it was time to skin back up.


I got stuck in a micro area of supersteeps (took the wrong skin line), so jibC summited West Butte before me and skinned back up to Sundream to retrieve the machine and met me as I skied my way down to Timberline Camp.

The West Chutes are shot. They don't face north enough. There is no way to traverse across them.
But the West Face is going off. They have just enough of a northerly aspect - especially at the corner of West Butte. Really steep lines that go for a long ways. Just ski and cut left to gain the great skyline of West Butte for your lifters-on-high skin back up!
Man, I haven't even made it to Hullafar yet this year. I'm sure it's good. It's always the last place to melt out. With these cooler temps the 1000' of vert is still possible on the south side of Hull.

Once the patches started on the ski down Boardman back to the vehicle, jibC gave me ride down the dirt on the snowmachine...
:lol:
it's actually an all terrain vehicle!

We got lucky with our vehicle w/no winch stuck in the snow. Shortly after we got back to the truck, a truckload of mexicans shows up. It's very strange to see anybody up there midweek. His Toyota 4X4 towed us out easily.

Still plenty of snow up there. Hey Hartje - check out Hullafar Bowl for me this weekend!

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I'm back! :D
After having acl replacement on my right knee in May '06 and miniscus surgery on my left knee in Feb. '07, I finally got some skiing in. I was Hullin' it yesterday - Monday, Jan. 7 with janzalo, one of the original CCSP members.
None of the Coast Range backcountry weather sites were working during our 'historic proportion' storm. So I was unsure of what the snow levels were.
By the time we were half way up the 33 switchbacks on Elk Mountain, the road was fully covered in snow. Never seen that before. We hit snowline around 2500'. We almost made it to the top, but the last several switchbacks I was spinning and didn't want to have an epic on Elk. So back down we went. Filled the tank in Upper Lake and headed for Potter Valley. This is a lower approach to Lake Pillsbury from the west.
Found a good amount of snow on the road, but made it with ease to the lake. About halfway up to Boardman Ridge we hit snow again. I had to fight a couple of steeper sections and rolled into the large 3-way intersection of the M1 and the M6. The State Game Refuge is straight-ahead down the M6 and the M1 turns left and follows Boardman Ridge up to the summit of Hull Mountain.

I had to make a decision. Continue on and risk winching the Jeep - the road is extremely narrow here and the only way to turn around in the next few miles is by using the winch. The road must be kept clear. Lots of recneck 4x4 enthusiasts up here. Wouldn't want to block their way.
By now it's just after 9am. :roll: "Hope you like skinning!" janzalo took it well and started getting ready. We were skinning by 10am.

The bottom of Boardman Ridge 3400'
8 miles and 3473' to go


janzalo contemplating all the snow


What sucks is that I could have made it quite a ways up Boardman in the Jeep. We were passed by several vehicles and the snow didn't get that much deeper for a while. There was about a foot where we parked.
Oh, well. I would rather skin an extra hour than spend that hour winching the Jeep. Besides, I had never approached Hull Mountain from that low before and was curious how long it would take. We were about to find out.

janzalo near the start


I can't believe I'm actually here!!!


It took us 1 hour to reach the wide pull out just before the road goes to north facing at around 4000'. I've skinned from here many times before, so when we got there I was stoked. Familiar terrain and only one extra hour of skinning. I put'er in middle rung and shifted up a few gears and up the mountain we continued.

Arrived at Camp 1 about 2.5 hours from the start


About half-an-hour later I passed Camp 2


Lake Pillsbury as seen from just below Timberline Camp




There were tire tracks from vehicles over the weekend, but the 4x4's on this day didn't make it as far. Finally got to virgin-untracked by vehicles- snow just before the pull-out beneath Timberline Camp.

Apparently janzalo had started to clump earlier on, so I was on my own at this point. After the tire tracks ended the trail breaking started. It's interesting because I've only had to break trail on Hull a few times. The snow is always corn. It was deep, loose and a little manky this time. Not overly deep trail breaking, but I was sinking about 6 inches and starting to clump a bit and the snow was piling on top of my Volkl Explosiv 3's. This is when I started getting tired.

Looking up the virgin road just below Timberline Camp


Rounding the corner at Timberline Camp


The upper mountain comes into view. As seen from Timberline Camp.








After gaining the ridge above Timberline Camp, the snow became more firm as the ridge was pretty wind buffed. The shrubs only had a few inches to go before being completely buried. Should be well covered by now. Once in the still, quiet summit woods, the snow became deep again and I was breaking trail.
The upper mountain is midwinter deep. 10 feet+ in the summit woods. These are the woods just above Rabbit Ridge, just before Porcipine Ridge.
I took a break just before Porcipine Ridge - about 5-10 minutes from the top. It had been snowing/sunny all day, and with only a few minutes to go, I wanted the top bad, but a nasty wind was picking up and the top was enshrouded in fog. I tried to wait it out, but began to slowly freeze to death. I was soaked in sweat, and tired. There were no picture opportunities.
It was here that I realized that I was still unsure of how my knees would hold up. I still hadn't thrown any turns yet... It was a long way down and didn't want to get caught in the dark, skiing on one leg, down the jeep ruts back to the Jeep.

I had gotten what I wanted. My curiosity was satisfied. 4 hours, 45 minutes to Porcipine Ridge from the bottom of Boardman Ridge. I was essentially on the top of the mountain. Only 5-10 minutes from the true summit. Good enough.
Now I know. The worst-case scenario is a 5 hour approach to summit Hull Mountain.

I skied down to Timberline Camp and met janzelo just below.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... &plindex=1

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... &plindex=2

The road was Hulla fun to ski down! The snow was fast. The frozen jeep ruts even faster. Jump into a jeep rut and see how long you can stay in like a bobsled track until you pick up so much speed, you gotta go shooting off into the soft snow in the woods just to slow down!!! :lol:

It took us 1 hour from the bottom of Timberline Camp, where I met janzalo to get back to the bottom of Boardman Ridge where the Jeep was parked.
My knees held up just fine. But the funny thing was that I was a little shaky on my turns from the summit area down to Timberline Camp. I was kinda bummed about that. Had I forgotten how to ski? What the Hull?! About half-way down Boardman, I realized that I never switched my boots from walk mode to ski mode!

I say it's a do-over. I'm just gonna have to go back!

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Right on Jib. Should be a good season up there, eh.

I'll be back on Fri/Sat Jan. 11/12. We are skiing both days and camping in the snow on Friday night.
Saturday should be bluebird. I dare somebody to show up on Friday night and crash our party.

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Headed back up on Fri. morning. I was in for a surprise.
With snowblasta as my partner for the day, the amount of fun
was sure to be doubled. As we prepared for the 33 switchbacks
on Elk Mountain on the way in, it was still dark.
About halfway up we hit snow. Again. What the Hull?!
How could I have made that mistake? The noel weather
station just above Stonyford @ 5000' had readings of 32-35 degrees
the past few days.

It was too early to think that hard, so we continued on up.
The snowplows had finally gotten to the road (M1).
We topped out on Elk Mountain and were enjoying the icey,
but plowed road when the plowing suddenly came to an end.
We were still on pavement at this point. Just around the bend,
the road starts heading downhill and the pavement ends. Would we
be able to make it through? I stopped the Jeep and walked
down to where the pavement ends to check for how much traffic
had been on the road. There was about a foot of snow.
I need dirt. I didn't have chains with me. Ice can stop me.
It was just after sunrise and everything was frozen solid.
I couldn't even back up the hill on the icey pavement.
We were commited.

The top of Elk Mountain




Still on pavement.


Luckily for us the road had some nice 4x4 ruts.
It looks easy, but I was all over the road.


Coming down the north side of Elk Mountain,
we ran into (not literally...) some redneck that had
his 4wheel drive pickup truck stuck in the ditch. He had
spent the night. We told him we would stop in
at the Soda Creek Store and get him some help.

Eddie was there. As she called for some help, we watched
the weather on her TV. Looks like Friday is the only
clear day.

5 hours after leaving my house, we get to the bottom
of Boardman Ridge. Massively dense fog had hampered
our progress through Lake County and Elk Mountain was
slow going.
We ran into snow again about halfway up
to Boardman Ridge. It was deeper this time! I barely
made it. All vehicles had turned around about 300 yards
from the top(bottom of Boardman). I had those 300 yards
to myself and all the virgin, icy, consolidated snow.
4wheel low and second gear. With the tires spinning super fast
and the Jeep just creeping up the hill, we were able to turn around
and dial us in a parking spot without having to use the winch.

It's gonna be a long day. My buddy snowblasta desides to start
out a few minutes before me and I have to stop him
from descending down the M6 into the Game Refuge!

First view of the day


snowblasta - I preferred the previous view!


Views of our goal




The summit from just above Camp I.


After 6 hours of skinning. I was standing on top of Sundream Bowl.




The storm was coming ashore. Looking out over
Sanhedrin Mountain.


We left the Jeep at 9:45 and I got to the skier summit
at 3:45. It was well past the corn window.
The snow was bullet-proof, boiler-plate, solid as rock.
I was dissapointed that I still couldn't get to the summit.
The last 40 feet is steeper than it looks, and I couldn't even
get my ski boots to stamp in good enough foot holds.

Looking south from Sundream Bowl.
A corner of Lake Pillsbury
Clear Lake covered in fog
and from left to right -
Mt. St. Helena, Mt. Konocti, Cobb/Boggs Mountain/s


The wind was picking up and it was getting cold.
Remembered to lock my ski boots before the descent and had
a fun time slipping down the ice to Timberline Camp where
I met up with snowblasta. I had a little bit of memory left in
my camera, so here's another stupid little vid.
This was taken 1000' lower than the summit. Listen to the ice!
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... &plindex=0

The snow on the upper mountain was too fast
and the snow on the lower mountain was too slow.
It took us two hours to get back to the Jeep from
Timberline Camp.

Just before 6pm. Back where I started.


We were not in the mood to camp out. The weather didn't
look very promising for Saturday, and frankly I just had
way too much fun to even think about repeating it the next day!
One would need to start skinning at 3am to get a good corn
window when the approach is this long.

We drove back down and took the Potter Valley way out and stopped
in at the Potter Valley Cafe for some hot food and cold beer.
I had the Boont Amber Ale on tap to pair with my
duck breast with red onion and apricot compote
w/ mashed potato and grilled vegies.
The cornbread they serve is delicious!

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It's 3am Friday (1/18) morning. Leaving for Hull. Camping out...

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Finally got some decent access and weather. I drove up Friday morning and skiied Fri. and Sat. Still quite a bit of snow on Elk Mountain on the way in, but no driving issues. I was able to make it to 4700' in the Jeep.

I attempted 3 times to make it over this drift.


It was too icy. I managed to get myself stuck twice. A few minutes of shovel work got me out both times. I contemplated winching myself over the drift as I could see dry ground just beyond. I decided against it. I was just below Camp I and was simply stoked that I had driven 4 miles past my highpoint of last week. I didn't want to press my luck.

I found a nice flat spot just below to park and camp.


I hiked up the road for 10 minutes and started skinning at Camp I. Soon the upper mountain and summit came into view.

Sundream Bowl can be seen dropping below the summit on the left.
Hullavator Ridge is lookers right bordering Sundream Bowl.
And Swallowed Hull Couloir is the next large drainage to lookers right.

I was on the summit 2 hours and 15 minutes later. I took a look around.
Looking south down Boardman Ridge. Timberline Camp can be seen with the road snaking around. Mt St. Helena is the mt. on the skyline with the flat and tilted top.


Looking north, northeast out over the Hullbacks. Trying to get a good zoomed in shot of the Hullback Chutes. Black Butte is on the skyline -upper left.


Looking east. The Hullbacks on the left. Hullafar Bowl just beyond.
Lassen can be seen as well.


I like this next shot. Hullavator Ridge drops away beneath me and meets up with the bottom of Porcipine Ridge dropping in from the right with that funky drift.
Just beyond is the bottom of Rabbit Ridge. Some of the lower section of Hullaska Ridge can be seen in the background. Look at the steep stuff far left.


Another shot looking south down Boardman Ridge. Timberline Camp on the left and the West Butte on the right. West Butte divides the West Face from the West Chutes.


Saint John Mountain and the Worlds Smallest Mountain Range - the Sutter Buttes
http://home.earthlink.net/~yuba-yada-yada/sutter.html


It was time to ski. My first real run of the season was to be Swallowed Hull Couloir. Looking down before dropping in.


Perfect buttered corn! At first I thought this was a movie, then I realized that I was simply skiing malolactic snow!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malolactic_fermentation
The turns were sweet. The lower snowpack made the run more steep and the lack of deep snow made for a rather technical descent. Little chutes between the rocks that I threaded my way through led into open areas to arc some turns before it closed up again.
I dropped down and gained access to Hullavator Ridge.

Looking up and left into Sundream Bowl.


Looking straight up Hullavator Ridge.


Looking up and right into the upper sections of Swallowed Hull Couloir.


I started skinning up Hullavator Ridge. The name describes the skin up quite well. Very steep. Lifters on high. Making small z's to get up and around all the obsticals. It takes you straight up.
Soon, the corn turned to slush and my attempts to skin up were denied. I cut across Sundream Bowl back to Boardman Ridge. Nothing west facing was covered enough, so I dropped into Sundream and honeycombed my way down the ridge across the top of Porcipine Ridge and on down to the top of Rabbit Rige. The skiing on the ridge was excellent. Nice corn and lots of hits and halfpipes formed by the drifts to jib on. Caught multiple 3-5 ft. airs all the way down to the West Butte. Amazing corn, arcing highspeed turns down the zig-zag mellow ridgeline to Timberline Camp.
The road was hell to ski down. Luckily I didn't have far to go this time!

Soon I was down by the Jeep. One of the first things I saw was this.
Bear tracks


I walked around and found many bear tracks as well as mountain lion tracks. Not to be deterred, I set up camp.


And was soon enjoying a cold one.


I kicked back and took in the views. Who know's? With all the predator tracks I was surrounded by, these could be the last views I see!

Saint John Mountain




Snow Mountain


And my roaring anti-predator fire.


The winds were out of control all day. I was bundled up in goretex above Timberline Camp while skiing. Goggles and everything. Now the wind had dropped in altitude and was ripping through my camp. My pathetic fire barely warmed me. I warmed up in the Jeep listening to The Coast
http://www.ontheradio.net/radiostations/koztfm.aspx
with the heater cranked for awhile then crashed out with the high winds lulling me to sleep.

The next day was identical to Friday. Everything looked the same so I didn't take any pics. I lapped Sundream Bowl a few times and returned.
Just above Camp II on the way down the rutted up road, I dropped off to the right and skied down through the woods across Camp II and on down to Camp I. Decent coverage allowed me to ski some smooth corn without having to fight the jeep ruts all the way down.
I gotta drive up here in the afternoon. Trying to drive up on ice in the early morning prevents me from getting very far. I could have driven to Camp II at least. Oh, well. I need the exercise!

One thing I did notice this trip, was that most of the dead, standing trees on Porcipine Ridge - for which this ridge was named - had apparently blown down during that high wind event we had a few weeks ago. Only a few remained standing. The rest were lying on the ground covered with snow.

Lots of rednecks on Saturday afternoon on this long weekend. I saw at least ten 4x4's heading up Boardman from my camp and 5-10 more heading up on my way down to the lake. Driving conditions will be good next time!

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jibmaster

its been awesome looking through your post and seeing areas i never thought could produce so much snow. i stumbled upon your post as a lurker over on the mtbr forums. im even more interested because i grew up in sonoma county and have camped out in the pillsbury and snow mountain areas many times. i live in the bay and snowboard tahoe (kirkwood) and have been itching to get into some BC turns but can't convince any of my buddies to get into it. ive seen the open invitations to join a run with the coast crest snow patrol but I have never made a bc turn. this is probably more appropriate for a general forum but as a lurker not knowing where to go with north bay roots i figured id ask you. couple things...

1) as a boarder would it be wiser to get into split boarding versus snow shoeing to be able to go out on trips into Mendocino?
2) would an avy 1 class be advisable to take prior to making an appearance?
3) what else would you expect from someone wanting to make some turns in mendocino?

sorry if these questions are too open ended. im just a stupid newbie.

Yo, teddyruxpen. There are lots of epic skiing/boarding lines to be had here in the Coast Range. Very few people make tracks here. The adventure of exploring and making turns on remote peaks and snowfields here in Mendocino National Forest is the goal of the Coastal Crest Snow Patrol.

Answering your questions

1) Split boarding is a wise decision if your a boarder. The ability to travel over snow-covered terrain with skins is unmatched by any other mode of human-powerd snow travel.
Not absolutely necessary though. Snowshoes work as well.


2) Any avy class is always advisable. However, one of the main reasons I ski in the Coast Range during midwinter, is the lack of avalanches.
Extensive knowledge of snow conditions is not necessary. A clear head and some common sense is all that is required. Knowing your aspects is important, due to drastically different snow conditions during any tour, and having a good sense of direction. A compass helps here.
It's not rocket science. If you know your south from your north, you're all good.

3)The qualities that would make a good CCSP member would be a great sense of humor and the need for adventure.
The capacity to fully enjoy the beauty of making turns on peaks in an area that has rarely - if ever seen any tracks, even if that means suffering.
You gotta like snow-camping.
And sometimes, the trip doesn't turn out like you planned. That's the risk you take when you explore terrain that nobody knows about...
The rewards when you do succeed are greater than any trip to Tahoe and it's swarm of ski lifts and people.
The desire to see the ocean, Shasta, Lassen, the Sierra, Mt. St. Helena, etc. all in one shot.
You gotta like hikin'!(skinning)
:wink:

Hope you can hook up.

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I was Hullin' it on Tuesday (2/19) with janzalo.
We got two miles up the road to the north facing section
of Boardman at 4000'.
Some deep snow on the road. We pressed on.
Trying to keep a steady foot on the gas in the deep snow,
I was soon stuck. janzalo's Jeep pulled me back onto the tire
track with some old climbing rope and we drove on.
Then I got stuck again. The winch took care of that,
and we drove on.
No more issues in the deep snow and we were out of there
and onto dry ground. We drove for another two miles up
the road with only patches of snow on the now south facing road.
Got to the same spot as last time. A steep drifted part of the road,
just before Camp I.


The storm was coming in faster and stronger than expected.
The drizzle started shortly after we started skinning.
With temps in the upper 30's overnight at 7000', we were
thankful for the cloud cover. We were looking forward to
skiing in the rain.
The fog layer started just above Timberline Camp.

janzalo skinning up the misty mountain.


The precip was a fine, light graupel which my ancient
yellow/red Marmot shell jacket repelled better than expected.

The stiff breeze that hit us just as we rounded the corner
at Timberline Camp was our only hope of drying out our outer shells.
The snow was really good. Firm, no clumping. Every aspect was
the same. What a treat!
But we didn't have the time to ski everything.
Our time was limited to the waterproofness of our clothes.

By the time we got to the top - 2.5 hours later - the wind was
blowing pretty hard. We took shelter behind a large drift
just off the summit.

janzalo on the hunt for his sandwich.


Knowing that we had only one long run before hyothermia set in,
we headed for the West Face. We dropped into Sundream Bowl
and found some epic corn. No roller balls, no mank.
The top inch smeared effortlessly into the soft ice below.
It was beautiful!

janzalo traversing out of Sundream Bowl


We hit the ridge above Sundream Bowl and dropped
into the West Face. We were looking for a tree run for visibility.
As good as the skiing was in Sundream Bowl,
virtigo was a problem.
The same snow conditions on the West Face. Carving nice highspeed
turns, jump-turning tight tree chutes, all on perfect corn.
I need to ski this area more often. It's got a northern
exposure to it that holds a lot of snow. 2000' of steep trees.
I would have loved to drop the entire thing and boot back up.
But we were running out of time.


We skied down to the road.
janzalo


This makes for a nice exit from the mountain. If you don't drop
down too far and keep traversing your way to skiers left,
you will soon gain the West Butte Ridge. If the West Chutes
are skiable, you can get two runs in the West Chutes as you
work your way skiers left to gain the turnout below Timberline Camp.
As is often the case, the West Chutes are melted out while the
West Face remains packed in with deep snow.

After hitting the road, we got several more runs down through
the steep trees of the West Face on our way to the West Butte Ridge.

When we got there the West Chutes were melted out.
We attempted to skin up aways. The snow was still the same.
Nice and firm. Thoughts of Goretex sliding on steep, icy corn...
This is not a place you want to fall in freeheel mode while skinning!
A slide for life in this area would certainly be painful.
We were soon booting our way up the ridge.

janzalo






Almost there.


Once on top of the West Butte, we were set for another run down
the drifted ridge on down to Timberline Camp.
We were looking forward to the heater in the Jeep.

Unfortunetaly, one of janzalo's bindings broke just after we got
to the ridge. What's even more unfortunate
is that he was borrowing my skis.
He was skiing on my Dynastar 4X4 Big's with a pair
of really old Diamirs that I got used some years back.
The rod snapped in half inside the heelpiece. The bindings
still worked for ski mode and janzalo gingerly worked his
way down the ridge to Timberline Camp and on down the road.

By time I got to the Jeep, I could barely operate the keys
to open the door.
Cranked the heater and was soon warm. I was prepared to
spend another day, but didn't think that my gear would dry
out by tomorrow in the Jeep. So we bailed.

Almost made it through the deep snow on the north facing
section of road. I think the deep tread on my tires increases
the odds of digging a hole when the tires spin.
I winched my way to firmer snow and on down to Potter Valley
for a hot meal.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... &plindex=0

_________________
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Headed back to Hull on Wednesday, Feb. 27.
I filled the tank in Upper Lake and noticed some
snow in the hills above town. I decided to take
the Potter Valley way in.

Saw some old friends on the way in.






They were curious and friendly as usual.
I was soon surrounded.





More creatures down by Lake Pillsbury.






I drove on up the mountain. Still lots of snow on Boardman Ridge.
The snow conditions on the north facing section
of road was the same as last week.
I had to winch the Jeep three times through the icy snow.


I had some trouble farther up the road. The ruts are deep.
Had to make about ten tries on a couple of the drifts.
The Jeep represented and I was soon dialing in my parking
spot at 4500'. A couple hundred yards down
from my parking spot of last week. Only 10 minutes below
Camp I.

I skinned right from the vehicle. A short ways up from Camp I,
the upper mountain comes into view.




I was sorta late. It was warm. Not wanting to stress about
the snow conditions or my route for the day, I enjoyed the
T-shirt weather and the views.

Bobcat tracks on the Timberline Camp ridge.




I summited in two hours. Well, ok - I stopped about 30 feet from
the summit. The south side was shot, as was anything east facing.
Once on the skier summit above Sundream Bowl, I decided to drop
the West Face.
St. John and Snow Mountain as seen from the top of Sundream.


The snow was just corning up on the west side. I was looking
at this micro ridge dropping down the West Face.


I skied down on softening corn to the large rock halfway down the ridge in the above picture.
Now I was lined up. The slope was steep.


The snow was really good. But I could tell it would not last long.
About halfway down, the West Butte ridge.


I skied down the West Face about 1800'. Epic STEEP lines!
Looking up to the top of the West Butte on the way down.


The West Chutes were not buried deep enough to get
a traverse back to Timberline Camp, so I was commited to
booting my way back up.
This is when I really noticed how steep it was. By this time, the
snow was softening fast. The sun was creeping past the south
facing Boardman Ridge and starting to melt the soft corn on
the West Face. Big pinwheels from yesterday lying everywhere.

I was on hands and knees climbing up. My weight was sketch
on each of my boot holds, so I used my knees and put my
hands all the way down just above the baskets on my poles.
My hands were above my head and my face was about a foot
away from the slope as I inched my way up the rock and loose snow.
I got manzanited several times. Pulling myself up by the branches
of manzanita when I sank up to my waist.
I was hoping the slope would hold just long enough for me to get to the
top before it rotted all the way to the ground and ripped.



Several times I wondered what I was doing up here on this rocky
ridge and not down in the drainage to my right. But this was just too
much fun! It's been awhile since I actually 'climbed' something.
This was definetaly climbing for sure.



Soon the steep, rocky ridge opened up and I was finally able to stand
up and walk to the top of the West Butte.


The ridge by now was mank and it was slow going down to Timberline Camp. The jeep ruts finally got things going further down.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 0945&hl=en

Took Elk Mountain on the way out and found excellent driving
conditions. What a great road. The road from Potter Valley really sucks.
Tons of potholes and road cups (washboard - as opposed to suncups).

Hull Mountain from the top of Elk Mountain on the way out.


The West Face is awesome. I'll try and get some better pictures
of it next time. Super steep trees and rocks for 2000'. And the
climb out of there was Hulla fun!

Stopped in at the Blue Wing Saloon in Upper Lake for a hot meal.
Really good food. Had the battered prawns and the burger
on a ciabatta bun all washed down with a Racer5.
http://www.igougo.com/dining-reviews-b3 ... aloon.html

Can't wait for next week.

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Thanks for the update Jib.

We were thinking of hitting it up this weekend. With warming temps it might not be the best choice. Do you think the north facing stuff will set and corn up by the weekend? I've experienced really bad conditions of the north side before during similiar storm cycles.

Are you coming over for the slideshow on Tuesday. Mtn. bike ride the next morning too.

The snow was fine. I was simply too late. I was skinning
by 9:30. The snow had definetaly consolidated. It was icy and firm
down at 4000' in the Jeep.
There were still snow covered trees facing south up near the top.
The snow on the West Face will be your best bet. It holds the longest.
Just summit early.
Do as I say, not as I do! :wink:
I should have summited around 8am.
If you do that, Sundream will be dreamy and you'll even have time
to hit up Hullafar Bowl for some east-facing shots before
ending your day on the West Face.

8am - noon is the window.

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I was back at Hull on Wednesday. Saw the herd of elk
at Lake Pillsbury on the way in.




Was able to drive up to Camp I. Fought my way
past two or three drifts and finally gave up
just above Camp I.

It hasn't snowed in two weeks. None of the patches of snow
were connecting, so my attempts to skin from the vehicle
were denied. I hiked up to just below Timberline Camp
before the snow patches finally merged into each other.

I had no plans for the day. Just keep going and see what
the day brings.
The top of the rednecks sled hill between Camp I and II
provided the first view of the day.


The mountain looked classic. A typical spring day.
Ridges melted off, anything west facing was shot and
anything with north or east in the aspect was buried deep.
The storms come in from the ocean to the west and blow
the snow down into Hulls' deep south side.

No snow in the West Chutes, but the West Face
still had skiable snow. Especially the north facing side of
the West Butte.
Keeping that in mind, I continued on to the summit.

Still no plan for the day. It'll come to me...

Getting up to the summit woods at the top of Rabbit Ridge,
I looked to my right and admired the end of Hullaska Ridge.


A closer view.


Hmmm...

Looking from the top of Sundream bowl east, out over the entire
south side. Across Meteor Bowl to the top of Hullafar Bowl.
Hullaska Ridge dropping off to the right.


I booted my way up the melted ridge to the summit.
Looking east to Hullafar Bowl (cannot be seen - just beyond).


Still no plan for the day. It hasn't hit me yet.
I decided to jib on to the top of Hullafar Bowl.
My goal was to get to the four-way intersection
of Hullafar Bowl, the Hullbacks, Hullaska Ridge
and Meteor Bowl.
The tree on the ridge is perfectly placed at the center
of this intersection.


When I got there - about 15-20 minutes from the summit,
I took a look around.
The Y couloir of the Rock Chutes in Hullafar Bowl.


Looking back towards the summit.




It was at this point that a plan for the day
finally hit me.
I needed a First Descent.
A little exploration was in store for me.

I dropped into the south, southeast facing slopes
opposite(south) of Hullafar. I didn't take any photos of this bowl.
But I do have a little diddy of a viddy.
The plan that hatched in my mind was to ski this bowl and take
the drifts on the east side of Hullaska Ridge all to way to the end
and drop one of the northwest facing couloirs
I had seen on the way up.

When you watch this vid, Hullafar is behind me, off over my left
shoulder. The ridge to my right is the east side of Hullaska Ridge.
The bowl I'm skiing will be called Grey Bowl.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 2263&hl=en

The snow was really nice. 20 minutes from the summit to
the four-way intersection and another 15 minutes(I took my time)
skiing down the east side of Hullaska Ridge.

Looking back up Hullaska Ridge.
Meteor Bowl can be seen on the left.
Grey Bowl on the right.


A view of Hulls' south side from halfway down Hullaska Ridge.
Left to right...Sundream Bowl drops off the summit.
Hullavator Ridge lies between Sundream and Swallowed Hull Couloir.
The ridge with the large rock outcropping is
Hullotta Love Ridge. And of course Hullotta Love Rock.
Meteor Bowl disapears off to the right.


Unzoomed version


In the above picture you can see that if you dropped
Sundream Bowl (right off the summit) and took it all the way
down, the drainage passes a stand of large trees and then
veers skiers left to merge with the bottom of Swallowed Hull Couloir.
Hullavator Ridge can be seen, partly melted out, dividing the two.

Just lookers left of Sundream Bowl in the above picture is
Porcipine Ridge. Most of the dead trees have fallen down.
Lookers left of Porcipine Ridge, the summit woods crawl out of the
drainage between Porcipine and Rabbit Ridge (far left of picture).

This is a picture of Meteor Bowl from the same place -
half way down Hullaska Ridge.
Hullotta Love Ridge rises from the left of your screen to the
summit ridge and the peaklet on right skyline is the
top of Hullaska Ridge/Hullafar Bowl/the Hullbacks/Grey Bowl.


The snow on the east side of Hullaska Ridge took me all the way
to the end of the ridge and I crossed over the ridge and was
soon looking down my goal.






The snow in here was more firm as the slope was angled to
the north. Nice and steep.

Another perspective on the south side of Hull Mountain.
Taken about half way down the couloir.
Tortoise Bowl can be seen dropping off Rabbit Ridge- far upper left.
The bottom of Rabbit Ridge has deep snow on it's north-east aspect.
Hullota Love Ridge and Rabbit Ridge meet at the bottom of your screen.


The couloir I skied has not been named yet. I'm actually unsure
of which one I skied.


Anyways, I finally got down to the bottom where I met
Rattlesnake Creek.




I tried to ski my way out of there after crossing the creek.
Then I took a nasty fall. It is extremely steep down in there.
Everything.
I was attempting to ski traverse my way down the creek and around
to the lower portions of Rabbit Ridge.
A rotten snow bridge collapsed beneath me and my left leg
immediately disapeared. I lost my grip on the cliff to my right
and fell head first about 10 ft. As I fell, I could see my LZ.
Two large logs, the bottom of the cliff with several large rocks,
and lots of manzanita.
I managed to avoid the large logs suspended between the boulders
as my head passed between them and headed for the boulders below.
I tucked my head in as it passed the logs and was hoping to land on
my back. My right leg, which still had my ski attatched, caught
on the two logs and I was now suspended upside down about 4-5
feet off the ground. My head and shoulders were buried deep
in the manzanita. My left leg was being crushed beneath me as
it rested on one of the boulders.
I could not reach the ground.
:lol:
Once I fgured out that I was uninjured, and all my gear was intact,
I started laughing.
I found it hard to move hanging there and all.
It must have taken me about 15 minutes to extract myself from my
predicament and I was then booting my way up the steep slope.

Looking up.
Rabbit Ridge drops down the far left of this shot.
The end of Porcipine Ridge just above the three distinct rocks
further right.
Hullavator Ridge dropping down to meet Porcipine
and Sundream Bowl between just off the upper ridge.
Hullota Love Rock standing guard and Meteor Bowl on far right.


There was not enough snow to traverse out of there.
I was directly beneath Rabbit Ridge.
Straight up was the only way.
With the skis attached to my pack I enjoyed some scrambling.
A few bouldering problems later and I was booting up a steep
snowfield.


Looking back to the Hullaska Ridge Couloirs


I ended up booting straight up after scrambling my way out of the
creek. Straight up to the bottom of Tortoise Bowl.
From there, the snow was deep enough for me to get the skis
back on and traverse my way easily to Timberline Camp.

The skiing was excellent. I kind of like it when the snow
is thin. It makes everything steeper.
A nice 6 hour tour. I'll be back for more Hullaska Ridge action when
there is more snow.

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3/21/08

Hull DELIVERED yesterday. Looked grim on the hike up, but it is always deceiving.

Be booted the whole thing up to the top in 2 hours, then the short rides down the ridges over to east face. We rode east face first, then the bowl between east face and Grey bowl? or maybe it was grey bowl, and these sweet gullies between the two off the s/se facing shot off the top of the far peaklet at hullafar bowl. Jib, you must have skied these gullies before.

I've never got such long runs at Hull before, a good 1,200-1,500 foot runs.
Perfect corn all day. North facing wasn't corning up.

Got back to the truck at, I think Camp 2, to a dead f'in truck battery (damn door and cargo lights). We were sooo lucky to have two 4=wheelers up there with cables. Saved us big time as we had no water, food, or BEER left.

Will post some pics for ya Jib before you head out there. My body feels like I climbed Shasta or something.

Sweet! I think I know what your talking about. You dropped O.B. Bowl -
Out of Bounds Bowl first then hit the southeast facing chutes more skiers right.
Grey Bowl, for now, is from the corner of Hullaska Ridge and the south side of Hullafar bowl.
I'll wait to see the pics, but if it's what I think it is, I have never skied those chutes before. They look distinct enough to be worthy of a seperate name.

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Yeah, it is between OB bowl (east bowl) and grey bowl.

Ecobrad topping out.


Eco dropping OB Bowl.


Nat at the top of OB Bowl.


Nat entering the gully below OB Bowl.


Eco getting ready to skin up after our second run. We decended down the center and then traversed a little lookers left to avoid and drainage down lower.



Then we saw these lines and had to hit them. I rode lookers right line, Eco and Nat rode lookers left. The center one goes but is crap.


Standard Hull protocol - Hiking down and connecting some snow pacthes on the road.

Question on this picture.


The gullies you rode are on the right, but you said you "...descended down the center..."
Is the ridge on the left Hullaska? If so, then the bowl in the center would be Grey Bowl. You dropped Grey Bowl as well?
-Or-
The center of the pic is the top of OB Bowl, making those gullies skiers left of OB Bowl.
Just trying to place the gullies. Never seen that perspective on the mountain before.

Nice photos. Sounds like you got a First Descent on those gullies!
Whatchya gonna call them?

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Hullaska ridge is on the left. OB Bowl is far right out of the picture. The gullies come of the ridge before the knob of OB Bowl/ridge out to rock chutes.

We got a lap on OB, Grey Bowl, the gullies, then Boardman Ridge.

Hully gullys ??

The Hully Gullies were Hulltastic!
3 days, 3 nights of Hull.
Pics coming soon.

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DAY 1
-----------------------------------

Drove up Monday afternoon with sirjibalot.
We were able to drive easily
to Camp I. Just past Camp I, the drifts started.
We winched our way through and fought a couple more
drifts in the Jeep and pulled into Camp II.
We parked the Jeep by the road and booted in a trail
several hundred feet through the drifts to the trees, fire ring,
view, and many flat spots of Camp II.
We set up camp and were soon warming ourselves by our fire.







Sometime around midnight, janzalo joins us. He had gotten stuck
on the same drift we did.
His winch was not working, so I drove down
to pull him out. The road is rutted deep here.
We tried a climbing rope, I attempted to winch him out,
nothing was working. By now I was stuck. I had to winch
underneath the Jeep and pull myself back. Then we took
another couple picks and turned the Jeep around.
The technique that finally pulled him out, was having me winched
to a tree and the climbing rope attached to janzalo's Jeep.
With my winch grinding and both Jeeps flooring it, the climbing
rope streeetched and YANKED him right out.
This climbing rope is almost twenty years old! Pulled many vehicles
with it.

-----------------------------------------
DAY 2
-------------------------------------------
The next morning, we almost joined the crack'o'noon club by leaving
camp about 11:30am.
Sirjibalot gettin' his jib on.






Out by the road.




We booted our way up to skinnable snow, just before Timberline Camp.
Rounding Timberline Camp.


The clouds held the corn for us. They soon disappeared for a
blue bird day.

Janzalo gaining the summit woods.


Sirjibalot


Lake Pillsbury and West Butte in the background.






The day was shortened by our lazy sleeping in, but the corn
in Sundream Bowl was perfect at 1:30 pm.
We dropped in and got turns down to Porcipine Ridge and then
dropped down Rabbit Ridge.
The snow was perfect! We skied on down and found more
perfect corn in Tortoise Bowl.

Janzalo traversing out of Sundream.


Sirjibalot at Porcipine Ridge.




We skied on down and kicked back at our camp and enjoyed
the views from Camp II.


Our sunny day was coming to an end.
Wednesday's storm rolling in.


I brought a chef with me this time.
janzalo prepares dinner. Thanx dude!




We warmed ourselves by playing frisbee.
janzalo


Check out sirjibalot's skills





We also warmed ourselves by hunting for firewood.
We needed fire.


It was snowing
The pile was growing.


It was super windy. We needed a wind break so the fire
wouldn't burn everything within minutes.


janzalo's mug warming by the fire.


sirjibalot hogging the warmest spot in camp.


Then we decided to take walk and enjoy the sunset views.




When we got back to the fire -
shadow or snow?



----------------------------------
DAY 3
----------------------------------

When we woke up the next day, it was still windy and snowing.
We slept in and were booting our way up the road by 10am.

Skinnable snow.


Rounding Timberline Camp, we got blasted by the wind
and found only boiler plate snow with pockets of powder.
We skiinned up the drifted ridge and stopped for a break
in a large tree well.
We decided to skin up to Rabbit Ridge.

sirjibalot changing out.


janzalo gettin' his jib on as well.


Rabbit Ridge was really good corn. Firm up top and more powdery
about half way down.
We dropped it all the way.




The storm was pummeling us, so we headed back down to camp.
Hulla cold evening. Windy and snowy. Just before sunset,
the storm began to dissipate.

-------------------------------------------
DAY 4
-------------------------------------------

We awoke to blue skies.


It was time to head for Hullafar Bowl.
Skinning through the summit woods.


janzalo booting up to the summit.
Sanhedrin Mountain in background.


sirjibalot taking in the views.
Mt. St. Helena and Clear Lake can be seen.


Looking out over The Hullbacks.


Skinning out to Hullafar. The summit in the background.




janzalo dropping down Hullafar's southern ridge.


When I got to the Hully Gullies, I was impressed. I had seen these
lines before, but they somehow slipped my mind all these years.
You can see these gullies stand out when you view Hull Mt.
from the summit of Snow Mountain.
I got a good view of them several weeks ago, when I skied down
Hullaska Ridge.

My instinct took me to my favorite one.
I was so excited, I dropped in right away and only have pics from after
I booted my way out.
I took the skiers-left gully. The one with the drift.
The corn was sick. Firm, crunchy and buttery.
The drift provided a sweet natural halpipe for me to jib on.
I took it about halfway down.

The boot out of there took about 20 minutes. Pretty steep.




We headed back and got a beautiful run down Boardman Ridge
back to camp.
We broke camp and met up at the Blue Wing Saloon in Upper Lake
for burgers and beer.

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Was up at Hull on Wednesday with janzalo. We were able to drive
up pretty far. Still some drifts before Timberline Camp.
No winching this time.


janzalo booting to the summit.






We summited and skied over to Hullafar Bowl.
janzalo hiking the last few hundred feet.




Looking down Grey Bowl.


Looking to the right, down Hullaska Ridge.


Looking left. Hullafar Bowl opens up to the north.
The Hully Gullies start at the bottom of the ridge at the flat spot.


Looking down the Hully Gullies. All three lines can be seen.
We dropped the one on skiers left.


janzalo near the top.


Almost halfway down. The lip of the drift was too melted
to get any good jibs off of.














The snow was EPIC! Our timing couldn't have been better.
Firm up top and softer down lower.

janzalo captures some rare footage




What a great run! 1000 feet of buttered corn.
Unfortunately, the sun was out - we were hoping for some cloud cover.
The Hully Gullies were softening up too fast.
We found a snow bridge to cross the creek.


We skinned through the tree farm and headed for Hullaska Ridge.
The Hully Gullies from Hullaska Ridge.
The gully we skied is on far right.


The mountain looks bare on the approach. But the east side is buried
deep. Especially Hullafar Bowl, which faces north.


Hull Mountain from Elk Mountain on the way out.
You can see OB Bowl on the far right(east) skyline.
The gully we skied is just to the left of OB Bowl, just left of
the long, black vegetation line.


Still tons of snow at Hull. This time of year is nice for the approach.
Soon we will be able to park the Jeeps at the top of Sundream Bowl.
With the snow so deep on the east side and Hullafar buried so deep,
the skiing should last 'till May.

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Pictures look good jib. How would you say snowpack looks this year as compared with last? All I hear about down here in LV is doom and gloom.
I'll be up to NV first week of July. Will look you up.

Global warming has been good to the Coast Range. Lowest snow levels I've seen yet. This cold spring has kept the corn alive. I haven't been to Hull in many weeks now. Not enough money/can't afford the gas.
But knowing Hull like I do, there is still plenty of skiing over on the east side. Hullafar is still buried deep and OB Bowl is still going off.

I wish I could afford to still be skiing. The ski season here in NorCal lasts a good six months(including Shasta, etc.). I only got three months in.

Fck you George Bush. :evil:

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Went up to Hull last Saturday, Jan. 3 with jibC. While it was fun being up there, the conditions were depressing. Not sure why the Covelo site
http://www.coveloweather.info/
is showing so much snow. We saw nothing more than two feet.

We almost made it to Timberline Camp, but the ruts were too deep for jibC's truck. So we backed down to a turn-around spot just below.

Lots of manzaineering.




Soon we were standing on top of Sundream Bowl.


The snow was hard as rock. The wind was out of the east and blowing strong.


It wasn't going to soften on this day. So we downclimbed - I mean skied on down to the truck.

http://flickr.com/photos/jibmaster/3165391420/

http://flickr.com/photos/jibmaster/3164566587/

(How to I embed the videos?)

When we got down there, the parade started. Tons of 4X4 vehicles drove by headed for Timberline Camp. All sorts of rednecks and a bunch of folks from the Santa Rosa 4X4 club.

Then we drove down to the lake. It was really low. We drove aways onto the lake bed.




The heard of elk were chillin'.


And of course, the obligatory pic from the top of Elk Mountain on the way out.


We stopped in at the Blue Wing Saloon in Upper Lake for a bite to eat on the way home.
http://www.bluewingsaloon.com/

The mountain is in much need of more snow. Oh well.
I guess I'm not missing much - for now...

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Well, I'm bored. So I contacted the Sonoma Wings Hang Gliding Club
http://sonomawingsbb.yuku.com/directory
to see if I could bum a ride from my winged brothers of Hull.
They were very excited to see all the pictures
on this thread and asked me to put all my names
of geograghical features of Hull onto Google Earth for them.

Here it is. Have fun!
www.sonomawings.com/ge/hg.kmz

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(old hang glider pilot here, often camping on the mountain).

Nice pictures. I recognize a lot of those trees!

The two areas you camp used to be called"Upper Boardman Camp" on the older area maps; 'Camp 1' near the bottom and 'Camp 2' the big flat area in the trees above the big red rocky cliff with the great view.

It was an old hunting camp; a Forest Service archeologist told me that it's been a campsite for at least six thousand years, maybe longer.

The hang glider pilots call that whole area 'Red Spot' (or, the 'House Thermal') -- 4600' to 5000' or thereabouts on the ridge.

Anyone know a better daily satellite photo covering Hull?
This site is the best I've found; usually several images per day:

http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/imagery ... -north-000

(You can zoom in; the false color infrared image, second one, is pretty good, sees through haze. You have to know where Boardman Ridge is to get much of an idea at all where the snow is -- and we all know that the road on Boardman on the north side in the trees can be deep in snow around 4000' when the rest is melted out).

Glad to meet some other folks who love this place.

I'll be eager myself to hear when the road is like.

OK kids, I finally got it fixed. Sorry for the delay.
This is the Google link to my Hull Mountain map with all the names.
Enjoy.
http://www.sonomawings.com/ge/ski-hull.kmz

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If you're seeing blank terrain once you're in Google Earth, just click(check) one of the 'ski-hull.kmz' boxes in the 'places' menu.

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