Feb 19, 2011, Mount Maude, North Face

Brian Fletcher and I left Seattle area Friday to camp at the Phelps Creek TH and ski the NF of Maude.  We used a snowmoble to access the 25 mile road to the TH.  Set up camp and got a few hours of sleep before it was time to get up.  After breakfast and coffee we were skinning up Phelps Creek drainage by 3:30am.

We made good time and were at the saddle on the ridge above Ice Lakes Basin where we enjoyed our first sun of the day.  The ridge made for good traveling and we were able to skin all but the last 100' or so to the summit by 11:30am.

The ski off the summit was wind scoured and icy, and we got to a point where we could get a good look down the NF.  We decided to enter on some spines to the left of the main entrance to avoid possible wind slaps on the upper slopes.  The entrance worked great and we enjoyed excellent snow conditions (deep and cold powder) to the bottom!!

Here is a phots of the NF from John Scurlock's site
http://www.pbase.com/nolock/image/57355688

After melting some water and a coffee we climbed up the Entiat Glacier to Ice Lakes Basin and gained the ridge we were at earilier in the day.  The 4K of skiing down to Phelps Creek was great with minimal effect to the snow from the sun throughout the day.

A mix of skiing and skinning we were back at camp by 5:45pm to enjoy a tasty beer and packed up for the sled ride out.