Circumnavigating Crater Lake March 10th-12th, 2020
Posted: March 14th, 2020, 11:33 am
On March 7th I looked at the weather forecast for Crater Lake. The weather for March 10th, 11th, and 12th looked fantastic. So, I put my gear together, drove down, got my permit and skied around Crater Lake.
I decided to use my Altai Hok skis instead of my Rossi BC-90s. They are much more manoeuvrable in tight spaces. It turns out that was the right choice. Ski touring around the lake seems like the perfect fit for the Hok skis.
I removed my Chili Telemark bindings and swapped them out for my Voile 3-pin tele cable bindings. I watched a video where a woman broke her Chili binding cable on the Crater Lake tour. I didn't want any problems. The Voile bindings are great because if an issue developed with a cable, the 3-pins would at least still hold my boot in place. The "quiver killer" like system on the Hok skis make swapping out bindings trivial.
I planned on three days. The first and second days I had seven hours of moving time. The third and final day, it only took another two hours to ski to Rim Village from my final campsite; then it was about a half hour to ski the Raven trail back to the backcountry office. I left the pulk sled at Rim Village and drove back and picked it up. I wasn't interested in dealing with it on the Raven Trail - and no reason to do so.
I travelled a total of 31.5 miles with 8000 feet of elevation change. The North side was the most challenging with massive snow drifts and bare spots in the road.
I had read many blogs and stories, and watched a few videos about touring around Crater Lake. In every story and video people complained about blisters. I used my Alpina Alaska 75 Telemark Ski boots. I did not have any issues whatsoever with blisters or even a hint of a blister. They performed great!
Circumnavigating Crater Lake has been on my to-do list for a while. My weather window was fantastic. Day time temps in the mid-40s (F), and night time lows around 30F. This was a great trip and one I'll remember for weeks to come
I decided to use my Altai Hok skis instead of my Rossi BC-90s. They are much more manoeuvrable in tight spaces. It turns out that was the right choice. Ski touring around the lake seems like the perfect fit for the Hok skis.
I removed my Chili Telemark bindings and swapped them out for my Voile 3-pin tele cable bindings. I watched a video where a woman broke her Chili binding cable on the Crater Lake tour. I didn't want any problems. The Voile bindings are great because if an issue developed with a cable, the 3-pins would at least still hold my boot in place. The "quiver killer" like system on the Hok skis make swapping out bindings trivial.
I planned on three days. The first and second days I had seven hours of moving time. The third and final day, it only took another two hours to ski to Rim Village from my final campsite; then it was about a half hour to ski the Raven trail back to the backcountry office. I left the pulk sled at Rim Village and drove back and picked it up. I wasn't interested in dealing with it on the Raven Trail - and no reason to do so.
I travelled a total of 31.5 miles with 8000 feet of elevation change. The North side was the most challenging with massive snow drifts and bare spots in the road.
I had read many blogs and stories, and watched a few videos about touring around Crater Lake. In every story and video people complained about blisters. I used my Alpina Alaska 75 Telemark Ski boots. I did not have any issues whatsoever with blisters or even a hint of a blister. They performed great!
Circumnavigating Crater Lake has been on my to-do list for a while. My weather window was fantastic. Day time temps in the mid-40s (F), and night time lows around 30F. This was a great trip and one I'll remember for weeks to come
- Starting out counter-clockwise
- Dutton Cliff
- First camp