Home > Trip Reports > Dec 4, 2008, Maple Pass - N. Cascades

Dec 4, 2008, Maple Pass - N. Cascades

12/4/08
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Posted by Merk on 12/5/08 1:38am
Sunny skies and the North Cascades make a good combo no matter how 'iffy' the skiing will be.  Friends James, Mike, and myself headed up to Maple Pass for the day.  We started off from Rainy Pass a little later than intended at 11 am.  We began skinning from the truck, but once in the trees the snow became too spotty so we went on foot.  Once Lake Ann came into view the trail had continous snow.  Back on the skins for a good stretch.  On the final steep ascent to Maple the skins became useless on a very hard, unbreakable crust.  So the skis were back on the pack once again and we kicked steps for the remaining 500 ft to the pass.  We arrived in time to enjoy what was left of the sunlight and an awesome view.  We prepared for survival mode skiing on the crusty sheet below, but suprisingly our edges did their job and we made some enjoyable, but noisy turns all the way down to Lake Ann.  From there we crossed the lake and eventually rejoined the main trail back to the truck and wrapped it up by 4 pm.  Great day to be out for sure!
Thanks for the conditions update! Glad you had fun!

Great report, glad that the trip was fun!  I agree:  My joy-o-meter works like such -

Company + fun = 100% on the joy-o-meter

Very very nice :D

Now I know what I shoulda done yesterday... :'(

Man, that's some spectacular terrain!

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dec-4-2008-maple-pass-n-cascades
Merk
2008-12-05 09:38:04