Home > Trip Reports > February 18, 2004, Twin Lakes Couloir

February 18, 2004, Twin Lakes Couloir

2/18/04
WA Cascades West Slopes North (Mt Baker)
5260
9
Posted by GregLange on 2/18/04 4:06pm
Sorry; I only posted the second half of the TR the first time around.

Heavy snow falling as we began the 4-mile death march approach from the Hyak parking lot, skiing toward the Cold Creek trail. By the time we reached Twin Lakes, however, the snow had abated,and we could see a high cloud ceiling, as well as our objective, a 1700-ft. long couloir falling west from the north ridge of Tinkham Peak. Ben Haskell, Adam Gorski and myself skinned up the ridge through the beautiful old growth that the Forest Service left behind. We reached the top of the ridge in about 90 minuters, and headed north. A bit of a boot pack, a little more skiing and, voila, we were staring down the throat of a rarely-skiied chute (I originally thought this had never been done, but when I mentioned it to a fellow bc skiier, Jan Kordell, he told me that he'd just recently done it himself. He'd checked with Lowell Skoog, and there wasn't much beta from his end.) Ben dialed in the safety stuff for us, and then entered. The snow was heavy powder for the first 10 turns, wind pack for the next 50, and avay debris for the last 30. Notwithstanding, the skiing was excellent for the conditions, as a fine mist was falling when we sat for lunch at Twin Lakes and surveyed our line. We'd done it! This tour is well worth the effort, if you don't mind being VERY warmed up by the time you reach your skin track. There are worthy lines galore in all directions from this ridge, and the couloir, while not "Extreme", is steep enough to be quite fun.

Happy Trax...Greg Lange
Nice line, Greg.
Well done.

Do you have any pics. I love that area in the winter. Just curious, are you talking about the mountain in the background of this photo

He means the one near Snoqualmie Pass, across from Mt Catherine.

Different Twin Lakes Jason. The Twin Lakes that Greg skiied is in the Snoqualmie Pass Ghetto SE of Mt Catherine.

Glad you had a good trip Greg. Hope there were no remnant tracks?

Oh, oh. I gave my stash away!  ;D Sounds like a good trip...

Don't worry, Jason, your secret's safe with us  ;)

Wait a minute...those are your tracks I'm always finding in my stash?  Damn.  We gotta talk.

Thanks for the report, Greg.


Though not really my kind of thing, I have looked at that couloir many times from the Windy Pass area, always wondering if anyone skis it. Then last week, as I was skiing around Twin Lakes, I looked up and there were tracks in the couloir. Now, less than a week later, here's a report from the same place! What is the world coming to when a lowly place like that is swarmed by masses of bc skiers? It's a good thing the approach is so long or we'd have another Slot Couloir on our hands.

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february-18-2004-twin-lakes-couloir
GregLange
2004-02-19 00:06:52