Mt. Daniel, July 5-6
7/15/08
WA Cascades West Slopes Central
3427
0
We (two skiers and one climber) left the Cathedral Rock TH Sat at 9:45 a.m. after crossing Scatter Creek successfully in my VW Jetta.
(Thats me (
with the ridiculously tall pack and skis good for clearing moss off the trees.)
The trail up to Peggys Pond was just as FreeHeel4Ever described
http://www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboarding/trip_reports/index.php?topic=10572.0
(we crossed paths with rather glum looking Freeheel and Andre who were heading out and, unfortunately, only saw clouds and rain and not much of Mt. Daniel). Snow patches just below Cathedral Rock had rather long, steep runouts, but had firm steps already set and the crossing was uncomplicated. Camped at Peggys and the weather began to clear around 9 p.m. Leaving camp at 6:45 the next morning, we found very firm snow with small sun cups and runnels, which was excellent for booting up the basin to the NW.
Lots of watermelon snow was found in the lower basin. Some low clouds were rolling in, providing fabulous views to the east.
JC&LJ
We reached Daniels east summit
at about 9:30 a.m. and I chose to hang out there, while JC and LJ went to bag Mt. Daniel proper (the route to there from the east summit requires crossing the Daniel glacier between a couple of exposed crevasses).
View of Venus Lake and Spade Lake in the lower left
By noon the snow had softened nicely and we skied 1500 v.f. of excellent summer corn. The last 700 or so was a little bumpy, but still pleasant, as we skied into the low clouds. That basin with South, East, and North facing slopes gives plenty of opportunities to ski all day in corn and it made me wish were staying another night. Theres plenty of good skiing left at Daniel. (If you want to see an exhaustive set of pictures and video, click here.) Thanks to JC for the use of his Flickr photos.
(Thats me (
with the ridiculously tall pack and skis good for clearing moss off the trees.) The trail up to Peggys Pond was just as FreeHeel4Ever described
http://www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboarding/trip_reports/index.php?topic=10572.0
(we crossed paths with rather glum looking Freeheel and Andre who were heading out and, unfortunately, only saw clouds and rain and not much of Mt. Daniel). Snow patches just below Cathedral Rock had rather long, steep runouts, but had firm steps already set and the crossing was uncomplicated. Camped at Peggys and the weather began to clear around 9 p.m. Leaving camp at 6:45 the next morning, we found very firm snow with small sun cups and runnels, which was excellent for booting up the basin to the NW.
Lots of watermelon snow was found in the lower basin. Some low clouds were rolling in, providing fabulous views to the east.
JC&LJ
We reached Daniels east summit
at about 9:30 a.m. and I chose to hang out there, while JC and LJ went to bag Mt. Daniel proper (the route to there from the east summit requires crossing the Daniel glacier between a couple of exposed crevasses). 
View of Venus Lake and Spade Lake in the lower left
By noon the snow had softened nicely and we skied 1500 v.f. of excellent summer corn. The last 700 or so was a little bumpy, but still pleasant, as we skied into the low clouds. That basin with South, East, and North facing slopes gives plenty of opportunities to ski all day in corn and it made me wish were staying another night. Theres plenty of good skiing left at Daniel. (If you want to see an exhaustive set of pictures and video, click here.) Thanks to JC for the use of his Flickr photos.
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