May 9, 2004, Chinook Pass

Vince and I made a trip to Chinook Pass, neither of us having skied there before.  The pass was clear and we started skinning from just north of the pass at 830am.  Traversed north around Naches Peak, with about 1/2 inch of new snow above a 1/2 inch crust and 4-6 inches of mushy corn below that.  Many older sluffs on the slopes there.  The temperature was cool and we were snowed/rained on intermitantly in the morning.  By the afternoon the weather stayed consitently better.

Skinned over to the saddle between Naches and Point 6567, at about 5990ft skied the southern aspects down to Dewey Lake, 5112ft.  Nice corn, fairly soft above 5600ft but consolidated down in the trees.  Fun.  

Skinned back up to the saddle and headed up to point 6567.  More of the new snow, thin crust, mushy corn combo on the NW slopes.  Skied from the summit, initial snow had a thin crust but became better as we descended.  4-6 inches of corn made for okay turns, not the best but skiable.  Skied down to about 5200ft.  In the trees the snow was more firm.

Skinned back up to the saddle and traversed southern aspects of Naches over to Tipsoo Lake.  Skiing in bowl above Tipsoo was mushy and we released a rather large sluff.

Finalled skinned back to the car but decided to ski one last run.  Descended from the saddle north of Yakima Peak to the car (400vf on eastern slopes)  This was the best skiing of the day.  Wonderful corn.

I've tried to give a good description of all the aspects in the area.  All in all very fun day!

Matt