www.turns-all-year.com Backcountry skiing photos: Cascade Crest, Stevens Pass, Washington Turns All Year: Previous Home Page Galleries This is a gallery of images which appeared on the Turns All Year home page in the past. Thumbnail images on this page can be clicked to view the full-sized photos, and lead into a slide show sequence for the gallery. The photos are from a backcountry skiing trip to upper Nason Creek and the Cascade Crest near Stevens Pass, Washington. The new late March snow made for some enjoyable backcountry skiing on runs from the Cascade Crest down through the old-growth forest. List Galleries            < Older  Browse Galleries  Newer >

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from April 5, 2004: Nason Creek, Stevens Pass, Cascade Crest, Washington, March 26, 2004 Avalanche clearing, Nason Creek In the old-growth forest Sticky glades Toward the Cascade Crest Charles below the Cascade Crest Tom in glades Matt in glades Charles in the old-growth forest Backcountry skiing in old-growth forest View toward Stevens Pass Final glade, up Final glade, down Matt in glades Charles in the old-growth forest Backcountry skiing in old-growth forest Backcountry skiing through snow pillows Tom in the old-growth forest Matt near the bottom Photos by Matt Depies and Charles Eldridge

Associated trip report: Matt, Tom, and I parked at the lower Stevens Pass lot and skied up upper Nason Creek to do some backcountry skiing from the Cascade Crest down into the nice old-growth forest. Down low (3600-4000') there was 2" new snow overnight over a substantial wet, large-granular layer. From 4000-5200' where we gained the Crest, the overnight layer deepened to 4", and there was an additional 4" of newer (1-2 days old) snow under that overlying the mostly supportive layer of aged, granular snow. The weather was very calm, flurries, with some weak solar warming at times. Right on the Cascade Crest there were mild signs of wind effects, mostly just a thinner layer of new snow over firm crust.    ÊWe first skied a ~1000' S-facing run, which had nice turns at first in the open, then less good as the snow was more cohesive, and then really nice cruising through the old growth trees. After lunch we skinned up to a 5560+ bump on the Cascade Crest, west of Lake Valhalla. Although it was fairly cloudy, we had a good view of the Stevens Pass area, the Chiwaukum Mountains, and glimpses of Mt. Hinman and Mt. Daniel in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area. The turns on this run were very enjoyable down to ~4200', especially in the trees. Skiing back down to Nason Creek below that, the amount of new snow lessened and the terrain became more varied (lots of humps and dips), and the skiing became more difficult because the snow was faster with less new overlying the old layer. Nice trip and nice terrain - can't wait to get back there with good spring conditions and fishscale waxless skis as the exploring options are almost limitless.     Charles

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