May 2, 2004, Mount Pilchuck
5/2/04
WA Cascades West Slopes Central
2082
0
Arrived at 9-ish at Mount Pilchuck, the morning was foggy, with patches of blue skies, occasionally floating by. I eschewed the main trail in favor of climbing directly up the old ski area slopes to the east of the trailhead.
I quickly picked up an old boot trail, and then Teleprints, the distinct duckbill still visible in the softening snow! I gladly followed these tracks as they led up through the trees, as a boot ladder up the snowy slopes. I met up with a few other teleskiers at one of the level places along the way. This being my first time skiing on Pilchcuk, they warned me to watch out for cliffs and cracks in the snow and to not get caught in the SE gully, as I would have to backtrack and climb out of it to amke it back to the trail.
So I eventually made it up to the fire lookout. On the last saddle before the final ridge, I could see that the fog was thick, visibility looked like the backside of Stevens Pass on a bad day. At the fire lookout, I asked the mountain to please disperse the clouds before I started my descent and by the time I was back to the saddle, lo and behold, the clouds parted and it was clear!
Skiing down was a blast, soft corn snow, starting to get a little slushy. I traversed east from the Saddle, to get a view of the SE gully and decided against skiing it, being a lone skier. It looked like it would be best to ski from the top of the ridge and I will be back to try it. On the way down, I was setting off little sloughs the whole way. The longest one looked like it slid 50 feet before coming to rest. Also, there were "sun lumps", not quite wheels that rolled down the mountain. After getting stuck in a tree well while following someone else's tracks (I'll have to listen to my instinct next time!), I made it back to the car. Took a nap, and was ready to go again. Unfortunately, it was too late in the afternoon for it. A good day spring skiing!
PS: Has anyone skied from Mt Pilchuck to Heather Lake? It looked like this might be possible.
I quickly picked up an old boot trail, and then Teleprints, the distinct duckbill still visible in the softening snow! I gladly followed these tracks as they led up through the trees, as a boot ladder up the snowy slopes. I met up with a few other teleskiers at one of the level places along the way. This being my first time skiing on Pilchcuk, they warned me to watch out for cliffs and cracks in the snow and to not get caught in the SE gully, as I would have to backtrack and climb out of it to amke it back to the trail.
So I eventually made it up to the fire lookout. On the last saddle before the final ridge, I could see that the fog was thick, visibility looked like the backside of Stevens Pass on a bad day. At the fire lookout, I asked the mountain to please disperse the clouds before I started my descent and by the time I was back to the saddle, lo and behold, the clouds parted and it was clear!
Skiing down was a blast, soft corn snow, starting to get a little slushy. I traversed east from the Saddle, to get a view of the SE gully and decided against skiing it, being a lone skier. It looked like it would be best to ski from the top of the ridge and I will be back to try it. On the way down, I was setting off little sloughs the whole way. The longest one looked like it slid 50 feet before coming to rest. Also, there were "sun lumps", not quite wheels that rolled down the mountain. After getting stuck in a tree well while following someone else's tracks (I'll have to listen to my instinct next time!), I made it back to the car. Took a nap, and was ready to go again. Unfortunately, it was too late in the afternoon for it. A good day spring skiing!
PS: Has anyone skied from Mt Pilchuck to Heather Lake? It looked like this might be possible.
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