Colchuck Glacier; July 5, 2008

A somewhat bleak weather forecast led to Skip and I abandoning plans for a more adventurous ski trip in the North Cascades, with a last-minute itinerary shuffling to the Stuart Range for hopefully drier weather.  After camping out under clear skies near Leavenworth on Friday night, the clouds ended up chasing us to the eastside early Saturday morning.  By the time we left the trailhead (about 7 am), clouds had already engulfed summits in the Stuart Range.   

A large patch of bare glacial ice is now present on the upper Colchuck Glacier, but was easy to skirt around on steepish snow to climber€™s right (or in Skip€™s case, here.