June 15, 2009, Naches Peak Circumnavigation

Hillary, Dale, Jill and I arrived at foggy Upper Tipsoo Lake around 8:30. We then drove to Chinook Pass and the fog was just beginning to clear and it was sunny.   We decided to do a counter clockwise circumnavigation of Naches Peak and start at Upper Tipsoo Lake. We wanted to ski back down to the car at the end of the tour.   There was excellent coverage on the west and east facing bowls. The south facing slope still has continuous coverage but we had to pick our way around a bit due to the fog rolling in and out on that aspect.  The snow surface is slightly sun cupped and ski penetration climbing and skiing was 1-2€. I saw some red/pink algae in a few places.  Once on the corniced ridge of the east facing bowl, we could see Keith Henson€™s, Michael and Brenda€™s tracks from the previous days.  They €œgroomed€ the sun cups quite nicely for our descent.  Thunder clouds were building in the east but there was no immediate threat during our tour.  By maintaining a high traverse while exiting the east facing bowl, we were able to circumnavigate Naches and ski down to the car. 

Photo 1 €“ Group with peak 6567,aka Zap€™s Peak by us Pollacks, sorry Robie

Photo 2 €“ Coverage above Upper Tipsoo Lake