Home > Trip Reports > May 2, 2010, Nason Ridge, Merritt Lk - Round Mtn

May 2, 2010, Nason Ridge, Merritt Lk - Round Mtn

5/2/10
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Posted by ADappen on 5/4/10 1:15am
Good spring skiing on Sunday between the Merritt Lake Trailhead and the Round Mountain Trailhead via Nason Ridge. We hit/left snow at both ends of the tour a the 4,000-foot level €“ which means we walked about a mile up the Merritt Lake Trail and walked a mile of road at the opposite end. Apart from that, it was all skiing, baby. Not that this is a four-star turning tour. The traverse is more about mountain travel to and along a ridge with a stunning position high above the blue waters of Lake Wenatchee to the north and the green valley confining Nason Creek to the south.

The steep traverse across the south-facing slopes leading to Alpine Lookout could be sketchy on a warm spring day (big avalanche potential), but cool weather on Sunday allowed safe passage. The turns along Nason Ridge and down Round Mountain had a ratio of about six nice corn turns to, unexpectedly, one shin-deep turn of deep grunge.

It takes all kinds...

I love this picture -- springtime in the Cascades, defined:

I was looking over there all day on Sunday (from the Swath), but never did see Alpine Lookout or the top of Nason Ridge...  Were you in clouds all day or did you get some views?


Glad you like the picture, Marcus...another abnormal soul. 

Regarding views from Nason Ridge it was fairly socked in. We could see Swath at the start of our tour but its summit was mainly obscured while we were up on the ridge.  How was the skiing on your side of the valley? Coverage looked pretty good.  When we were starting out and looking over your way I was telling Tom maybe we should bag Nason Ridge and go do the Chiwaukum Birthday Tour.

Too bad about the views, Nason Ridge has such a great vantage!

I'd never been in the Chiwaukum, but had the weather been better we'd have kept going to at least Loch Eileen.  It was *different* (I was going to say nice, but it's such a major part of the experience) doing a May tour without having ANY combat skiing.  A traverse and more exploration is definitely on our list...

How's the approach via the white pine trail?  IIRC, Rainer's book didn't make it sound fantastic.

I like approaches from the White Pine -- the trail let's you line up with various objectives and then you get a steep, direct climb. Some of those climbs align with nice old-growth forests that are easy to move through.  And a few don't. 

I really enjoyed your report Andy, creatively written.
Also, the Chiwuakum B-Day tour report you did a couple years ago was a great read.
I spent a lot of my teen years there, smack dab in the valley near Dorthy's Chandelier Inn, staying at a friends cabin. We skied, hiked and fished the upper lakes and Nason Creek area, so your local reports really interest me.
Thanks for re-awaking such great memories from less concerned times.

Thanks for the kind words. Glad some of these stories from East of the crest touch a sentimental nerve.

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may-2-2010-nason-ridge-merritt-lk-round-mtn
ADappen
2010-05-04 08:15:55