December 5, 2004, Cutthroat Pass Vicinity

My friends from Seattle convinced me to roll with them to scope out lines off the North Cascade highway.  Yes it is still open.  The drive up was anything less than amazing.  Especially where minimal snow coverage gives way to snow ghosts in a winter wonderland.

So our original plan was to go to Washington Pass but the lot was full of snow and there was no place to pull off at.  So we decided on Rainy Day Pass.  We started skinning by 9:30 and making our way up to Cutthroat Pass.  A group of 3 ahead of us were breaking trail in 6 to 12 inches of new snow.  The night before the temps cooled down to 18 degrees, sucking all that moister out and leaving some fluff.  Clouds were looming overhead with occasional sun breaks in between.  Temps were in the high 20's.  The skin up seemed to take forever.  I have never been riding in this area and I was wondering where the lifts were. ;)

After I got home I looked at a map and it seemed we traversed across ridge or two and followed Porcupine Creek up the valley.

Once we were high enough in the valley the clouds broke and sun came out.  Temps here were colder, maybe 20's since the moister from my breath froze onto my beard.  Anyways there are a lot of good lines out here.  Snow was also deep.  Anywhere from 3 to 4 feet of coverage.  The skin track averaged 2 feet in depth.  Eventually we caught up with the group breaking trail.  They decided to turn around so we continued breaking our own trail.  Once we arrived at the final push before Cutthroat Pass we also decided to turn around.  It was already close to 1 and a storm was coming.  Terrain on this side at our elevation (6200ft.) didn't seem to favor boarding.  Mellow pitches with tons of creeks and gullies to get stuck in.  I did notice many lines and sufficient coverage in the surrounding terrain above us but it seemed to get boney before reaching the area/elevation we were at.  Even some of the gullies leading down looked doable but sketch at best.

So while my friends de-skinned I conitued to take in the views.  Within 5 minutes the clouds rolled and obscured everything.  Winds also started up just enough to knock of snow bombs from the trees above.  I ended up skinning out since the terrain was up and down.  I found out that is was 5 miles to the pass and we stopped about half mile shy.  So I skinned a total of 9 miles.  Would have been nice to get some turns.  It was definetly deep enough for face shots but the only face shots I got were from snow bombs from the trees above. ;D  Apparently after chatting briefly with 2 other parties, who we bumped into on our way down, I was told the good stuff is on the otherside of the pass.  Ah shucks!  I guess 2 out 3 days is not bad.  By the time we arrived at the car it was snowing and the road had a fresh coating.  At least we got fresh lines driving home. ;D