April 28-30, 2004, Skookum Peak (and Jolly Mtn.)

I have been drooling over this terrain for a number of years now, every time I ski Jolly.  The south and east faces of Skookum Peak (6394' elv.) offer as much as 1600' feet of uninterrupted vertical that to the best of John Morrow's knowledge have never been skied. There are so many good lines it's agony to have to choose.

Here is an Apr 03 photo from a 6080'+ knoll ("Ladybug") to the north of Jolly Mtn.  Skookum Peak is directly below Mt. Stuart. Point 6050 is to the left along the ridge leading to Skookum.



I had hoped to do ski this with John because it really was his idea, but he was not able to make it so it ended up another solo trip.

Instead of accessing Skookum via Paris Creek as John had done last year, I started on FS Road 4315 and was able to drive to 3250'. Walked up the road to 4200' where I could start skiing. There was just enough snow on the 'frontside' clear cut to ski up (and down) and from the ridge top I followed the usual route that goes to Jolly, camping on a knoll 5760' elv, with a great view of Skookum, Hawkins, etc.

The next morning I skied over to Ladybug, and then off the northeast side just as the snow had begun to soften, about 7:30 am. You don't want to be late or getting back out could be a real pain. The top of this 600' vf run is about 40 degrees, backing off to about 34 deg. When the snow has just thawed, it's heaven.

From the saddle to the north of Ladybug (5500') it's an easy ski up the long ridge to Skookum Peak. The slope directly east looked ever so inviting with at least 1600 vf, but I didn't think I had the energy for that, and the Jolly Creek Basin (shown in the photo) too.  The upper part of south facing slopes off Skookum vary from maybe 28 deg to nice and steep in spots. There is plenty of vertical here too, but you don't want to be too late as climbing back out in deep slush is not that much fun. In fact even by 11:00 the sun had slushed up the east side of Ladybug enough so that the skis would simply not hold an edge on the steeper slopes, and booting it wouldn't work either; knee deep. Some of this was caused by several inches 3 day old snow that did not have a particularly firm bond yet. My solution was to climb up the exposed rock rib for the last 200 feet.

On the third day, before I skied out I went back to Jolly for one last run off the top for the season. At 8:30 am when I started down the snow was *perfect*.  What a trip; when I finally stopped bumming around Crystal Mtn. years ago over weight and out of shape, I never expected to really be able to again ski the way I had become accustomed.  So this was a special treat.

Larry