Home > Trip Reports > May 1, 2009; Near Rainy Pass

May 1, 2009; Near Rainy Pass

5/15/09
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Posted by cascadesfreak on 5/2/09 2:20pm
An enjoyable day of corn harvesting on higher elevation west and south aspects near Rainy Pass, making good use of the much-awaited break in the cloudy weather.  Cool winds seem to have kept the corn from over-ripening, even into the early afternoon.  Great views and fun turns were followed by a short "adventure ski" in semi-mushy snow back through the forest to Rainy Pass. 

Snow coverage overall seems slightly better than usual for this time of year near Rainy and Washington Passes.  Although it seems to be melting off fast east of WA pass (snow cover appeared patchy at Silver Star Creek). 

Also, noted numerous climax/nearly full depth slides on various aspects in steep terrain (appeared to have released within the past couple of weeks).  No active slide activity was seen during our tour.  During a separate tour in the area today (Saturday), found continued good corn skiing on south and west aspects above about 5,800-feet, and semi-breakable crust-over-mush on southerly slopes below about 5,800-ft.
Cool... that spot looks familiar! skiing the cascade crest is a dream -- one of the best area vantage points I have found yet...

http://picasaweb.google.com/kevinsteffa/08_05_Cutthroat#

Anyone ever ski the ridge line in the 3rd photo?

Amazing lines up there.

I have not been on that particular ridgeline (Whistler), but it looks possible, at least a little easier closer to the local knob. Turn left 90 degrees and it should look something like this:

http://picasaweb.google.com/kevinsteffa/08_05_Cutthroat#5203040509764311298

- Kevin

author=JimH link=topic=13215.msg55062#msg55062 date=1241375725]
Anyone ever ski the ridge line in the 3rd photo?

Amazing lines up there.


If you're talking about the line that drops off the west side of Whistler Mt (right skyline in that photo), then yes. I skied it on Saturday with others. A nice sustained line but the main chute is choked with debris. We stuck to the ridge on skiers right and found nice corn in sparse trees before it turned to bottomless glop around 5000'. It should hold up for another week or two at least, especially if it is snowing up there.

Yup. That's the one. Nice work getting on that line, its really aesthetic

The chute that goes to the hwy (just skiers L of the ridge line, I think its the one you're talking about) caught my eye first. It looked like it might have a bit of debris and maybe a cliff/choke this year. Thanks for confirming that - maybe it will fill in with the new snow? One can hope.

Kevin - is the ridge line in your linked photo the 'county line' run (the border between Chelan and Skagit counties runs down a nice lookin' spur). That looks nice too.

Should be lots of possibilities up there this week. The terrain just kind of goes on and on...

We started at the nicely plowed pullout with the outhouses (which are open, incidentally) and went straight up the chute, for the most part. The choke(s) were easy to get past on the up. They'd also be easy to get by on the down but, like I said, pretty rubbley. The lower one wasn't too bad because the latest wet slide had sort of "groomed" it.

There is a small A-frame cabin near the bottom. It shows on the topo map. anyone know what the story is with that? It would make a nice weekend hideout in the winter.

A frame? Sounds like the Rainy Pass Hut to me. Perfect, we need to pursue that...

Thanks again for the info. We'll see what the snow/wind/rain etc.. does. Hopefully I can reciprocate with a good report and some stoke worthy pictures later in the week.

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may-1-2009-near-rainy-pass
cascadesfreak
2009-05-02 21:20:56