Mark on the ice. Llao Peak on the left.
The hours were easy to keep track of, so we just watched that. The plan was to stop each day at 3pm, two hours before sundown.
We now had three days to travel the remaining 28 miles. The snow soon got better. We made good time and saw no other tracks for the rest of the trip except for one set of ski tracks. We would follow this set of tracks the entire way around. One track, no stops or camps, except for a few places where the the skier probably paused for a water or food break. With this unknown jibbers tracks for inspiration, we jibbed on.
Merriam Point overlook.
A little zoom.
20x zoom - Rim Village
Hardly any creatures. Only saw one bird, a raven. Only a few rabbit and squirrel tracks and the occasional coyote track. Didn’t see any of the creatures that made the tracks. We had the place to ourselves. The ice layer was with us the entire time. Slide one ski forward and weight it. Only to have it suddenly break through the ice layer and into the sugary powder beneath. The annoying ice layer was a small inconvenience. We had world class views all day long. The sun was hidden behind the dark clouds, keeping the snow cold.
A little video taken from the viewpoint just past Pumice Point:
Crater Lake – January, 2012 from jibmaster on Vimeo.
My goal was to get to a place called Wineglass. We skied along following the ski track along the snow covered road. The wind had died down by afternoon and we were able to put the hard shell back in the pack.
The view from Palisade Point.
Close up view of Wizard Island and The Watchman.
Wizard Island, The Watchman, Hillman Peak, Llao Rock.
The round orb of the sun over the round lake.
We arrived at Wineglass by 2pm. It felt like we were almost there. We had gone almost halfway around on our first full day of travel. But knowing that the road leaves the crater rim and winds it’s way around with plenty of climbing yet ahead, we stopped.
We were now on the eastern side of the lake. Very little snow here. We had to take off our skis and walk certain sections. 10 feet here, 50 feet there. We set up the tents on dry ground. I had spilled my water earlier in the day and finding good, clean snow to melt for water was a challenge.
It had started to snow again by early evening. I awoke in the middle of the night to find I was out of water. The best snow for collecting was around the tents. The snow would hit the tents and slide off. So I harvested all the little drifts around both tents. It was a very slow and tedious process.
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Wonderful ski trip! Thanks Craig.
That’s a pretty sweet sun pillar on that sunrise shot! Nice TR, looks like some fun turns could be made, just don’t fall or get caught in an avy near the bottom eh?
This must be some super new skool Jibbing you speak of.
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Remember when snowboarding was just getting started? Back in the day, before terrain parks. My friends and I would watch them from the lift. They would build a kicker and ride down, go off the jump and then hike back up to do it again. All day.
The word ‘jib’ is/was used by skateboarders and then snowboarders. A jib is a trick. The winner of a terrain park/half pipe competition is/was known as the ‘jibmaster’. While I have been known to hang out in the terrain park, this was not the reason for my username.
The snowboarders who were hiking up to hit that jump again and again, weren’t really riding the resort. In our oppinion, they weren’t taking snowboarding very seriously. They were simply having fun.
So – my friends and I started to call our outdoor sports (mt. biking, skiing, kayaking, rock climbing) jibbing.
We weren’t at work, we were having fun.
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So one day-about 15 years ago, my buddy calls me up and asks if I had done any jibbing on my weekend. I told him that I had gone skiing, kayaking and mt. biking. He says, “Damn dude! You’re always jibbing. You’re like the…jib…master!
And it stuck.
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Too this day, the word ‘jib’ in all it’s forms is stuck in our vocabulary. It can be used as a verb, noun or adjective.
If you’re not at work, you are jibbing.
If you’re changing the oil in your car – you are jibbing on your vehicle.
You can also jib to the store.
All the people at the resort/backcountry are considered jibbers.
It can also be used in the derogatory sense. Like when everyone used to bash on the poor knuckle-draggers.
If you’re stuck in traffic – “Damn all these jibbers!”
Someone cuts you off – “$#@! jibber!”
In a busy mall/resort – “Look at all these jibbers!”
Does that help?! 😉
Get your jib on!
Great trip report, and epic pics…
Brent if you answer, please do so by email. i did not specify on the page where i asked the question. after all i’m a geezer, what would you expect.
geezer
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What the Hull?
Crater Lake is one of the most beautiful places i’ve been to. I remember when I was 12.. there was a group of older teenage males trying to work up the courage to clif dive 30 feet down into about 20 ft deep of water.. as soon as I put on my trunks i walked up to the cliff they were on.. looked at the water and hopped in..
Big mistake! The water was FREEZING!! I could swear I almost jumped the 30 feet back up to the cliff and tried going home to rethink my choices in life. But nope.. I only climbed the nearest rocks to avoid being in the coldest water I have jumped into at that point in my life. (still is to this day).. Sad thing was.. I did not want to jump into the water and swim 3-4 ft to the sanctuary rock slab that woulda taken me up to where my clothes were.
Hell I even looked up the rocks I was clung to, too steep and I didn’t want to chance slipping and falling back in.
I will say this.. in that split moment I was underwater before the cold shock shot me out of the water. Looking around underwater and down into the depths was probably the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. The water was so crisp as if looking through a window that wanted to give me hypothermia, but still insisted on seeing its true beauty.
Honestly I’m glad I did that.. Despite it taking my father 10 mins to convince me to jump back in the water just to make it over to him.