Silver Peak 5/31/09

As we got to the pass it became apparent hiking from Hyak was not going to involve much in the way of skinning.  We decided to try our luck driving the road that goes around Mt Catherine.  In about a mile we came to the first snow blockage.  A Jeep was stuck and the two people with it had been unsticking themselves for an hour.  We got there just in time to watch them get unstuck.  The got through and with much speed we powered through in a 2 wheel drive truck.  We somehow ended up ahead of the jeep and our next snow block was too much for the little truck.  We ended up high centered and got our hour of digging, pushing, mud splattering in before we were on our way again.  Anyway long story short we made it about a mile shy of the PCT. 

Continuous skinning was possible from Olallie Meadows.  At that point there was plenty of snow and the conditions were good.  We crossed over the little ridge at Olallie and headed up the gut towards silver.  After gaining the ridge we skinned as far as was possible towards the summit and ended up ditching our skis 200 ft or so below the peak.  Ate lunch and took in the views at the peak (beautiful day).  After retrieving our skis we dropped in and lapped off the lower ridge a few times.  Short runs but good turns and good coverage.  The lower section was incredibly sticky.  Felt like skiing on sand paper.  My ski buddy was actually a board buddy and he had a bit of a hard time getting back.  All and all great day in the mountains.  This weekend you could probably drive up to the PCT no problem and have quick access to some nice short lines.  Forgot my camera so no pics.