Ice Caves on Barrett Spur?

This forum is used to share your experiences out on the trails.
Post Reply
mcds
Posts: 802
Joined: April 7th, 2012, 4:25 pm

Ice Caves on Barrett Spur?

Post by mcds » October 23rd, 2014, 7:40 pm

Just an FYI post because I haven't seen them mentioned here before. A couple weeks ago I spotted some off-trail ice caves on the E side of Barrett Spur. The photos are from the Vista Ridge Timberline Trail, eastward after Dollar Lake. The first photo is 5x zoom from near the switchback on VRT TT. The second is a 1-to-1 crop of the first.

Lighting would be best in early morning light.

Image

Image
Last edited by mcds on October 24th, 2014, 9:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
adamschneider
Posts: 3711
Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:02 pm
Location: SE Portland
Contact:

Re: Ice Caves spotted on Barrett Spur from Vista Ridge Trail

Post by adamschneider » October 23rd, 2014, 8:00 pm

Huh? The Vista Ridge Trail ends at the Timberline Trail and doesn't go to Dollar Lake.

Did you mean from the Timberline Trail descending into Elk Cove?

mcds
Posts: 802
Joined: April 7th, 2012, 4:25 pm

Re: Ice Caves on Barrett Spur?

Post by mcds » October 24th, 2014, 9:04 pm

Yep, my bad. And now I'm not so certain they're visible from the hairpin turn itself, probably on the run up to it.

User avatar
adamschneider
Posts: 3711
Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:02 pm
Location: SE Portland
Contact:

Re: Ice Caves on Barrett Spur?

Post by adamschneider » October 24th, 2014, 9:19 pm

In that case, I'm guessing that the snowfield/ice in question is about where the red crosshair is on these maps:
Image
Image

mcds
Posts: 802
Joined: April 7th, 2012, 4:25 pm

Re: Ice Caves on Barrett Spur?

Post by mcds » October 24th, 2014, 9:32 pm

yeah. Actually if you were to extend southward the downtrail segment of the hairpin, the caves would fall right on it ... which is to say that the photo was taking looking directly uptrail ... IIRC. In fact, they are nearly colinear with the tread, if you know what that means. That ought to allow guesstimating their elevation.

User avatar
Splintercat
Posts: 8328
Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:03 pm
Location: Portland
Contact:

Re: Ice Caves on Barrett Spur?

Post by Splintercat » October 24th, 2014, 9:51 pm

Right here, I believe:

Image

...at the head of the boot path that follows Cove Creek upstream toward the base of Barrett Spur.

Tom

mcds
Posts: 802
Joined: April 7th, 2012, 4:25 pm

Re: Ice Caves on Barrett Spur?

Post by mcds » October 30th, 2014, 5:12 pm

So Adam, did you make it up there?

User avatar
adamschneider
Posts: 3711
Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:02 pm
Location: SE Portland
Contact:

Re: Ice Caves on Barrett Spur?

Post by adamschneider » October 30th, 2014, 6:17 pm

mcds wrote:So Adam, did you make it up there?
Not in this weather! That's a possible exploration for NEXT fall.

mcds
Posts: 802
Joined: April 7th, 2012, 4:25 pm

Re: Ice Caves on Barrett Spur?

Post by mcds » October 30th, 2014, 6:30 pm

It's melting fast though! OK. Anyway, the last bit of beta I know to offer is that the talus slope below the caves looked really steep, from a distance, iirc. Wait, now I'm tempted to go for a look.

Post Reply