March 6, 2004 Snoqualmie Pass area

My buddy with a new state of the art AT set-up (Marmot sale) and myself on seriously flaking old tele gear headed up with skins at Central about 9 AM. Tried to be unobtrusive; patrollers waved. This was my first trip through Nordic Pass in the outbound directions, a real treat and easy to follow the blue tree blazes taking off from the "tip" of the Rockford Loop trail. Couple of inches of graupel-like stuff over a pretty firm crust. No serious creek issues. Observed sloughs off of Margeret. After a short, sketchy downhill from the pass (sketchy for me anyway), regained the trail near the warming hut and met with the friendly patrollers. Exit to Hyak via Windy Pass and road, at least the heavy gear was fun for the initial downhill part. Absent fish-scales, the final stretch back was tiresome.... It was pleasant to fill in the Nordic Pass mini-blank on my map through beautiful forest.