Turns All Year backcountry and telemark skiing photos from Goat Rocks Wilderness Area Goat Rocks Wilderness Area, Washington The Goat Rocks Wilderness Area in the south Washington Cascades Mountains encompasses a jagged crest of peaks reaching to around 8000 feet, remnants of an old volcanic complex. The west side of the Goat Rocks crest experiences complete melting of the snowpack each summer, but the east side holds many glacial pockets which persist year-round. With adequate snowpack, however, both side of the crest have extensive backcountry skiing terrain. Possibly the best way to explore the Goat Rocks is to camp near treeline and spend several days sampling the varied backcountry skiing possibilities. The section between Old Snowy Mountain and Ives Peak has multiple passes which allow a skier to access backcountry skiing runs on both sides of the crest in a single day, and various loop tours are possible. The Mt. Curtis Gilbert area of the crest is somewhat isolated from the rest, but offers multiple possibilities for steep backcountry skiing. The photos in this gallery are from a five day June trip, in which we accessed the Goat Rocks from the west and set up camp near Snowgrass Flats. With telemark skiiing gear and waxless skis, we were able to easily tour-for-turns and enjoy superb telemark skiing conditions on east- and west-side runs from Old Snowy Mountain and Ives Peak, in McCall Basin, and on the Ives Glacier. < Sunrise-Burroughs Mountain Photos Snow Images Main Mt. Baker Photos > Click any of the photos to view the large version Andy at Goat Creek Goat Rocks crest from the west Mt. Curtis Gilbert First run, Goat Rocks west slopes Skinning with Mt. Adams Telemark skiing on Old Snowy Mountain Mt. Rainier from Old Snowy Mountain Skiing into McCall Basin Goat Rocks backcountry skiing McCall Basin backcountry Mt. Adams view from dinner bench Steep run in SE bowl of Ives Peak Backcountry skiing, east side of Ives Peak West side of Goat Rocks crest Skiing toward Snowgrass Flats Mt. Curtis Gilbert from east side Goat Rocks telemark skiing Charles catches some air Goat Rocks viewed from the north, with labels (1200x460) Follow this link for more galleries from South Cascades backcountry skiing trips. Follow this link for more galleries from June backcountry skiing trips. Follow this link for Goat Rocks and other panoramas. Photos ©2006 Turns All Year LLC, www.turns-all-year.com   Please read the full copyright details. To contact turns-all-year.com, use this link.