July 15, 2011, Naches Peak Circumnavigation

Mack and I finally were able to do a tour together.  The forecast seemed to indicate that Friday would provide a weather window and it sure did.  We started on the west side of Chinook Pass and began in a counter-clockwise direction.  The snow banks were still over our heads so finding a nice staircase punched into the bank was very nice.  We both forgot our cameras so I used my cellphones rather limited camera.  The lake is partially melted so we started up the gradual ridge climbers€™ right.  The main bowl on the west side of Naches has plenty of coverage but the runnels and sun cups are increasing in size. Also the climbers left side of the bowl has considerable rock fall which diminishes the ski terrain on the left side.  The right side of the bowl has good coverage. The south side of Naches has continuous snow coverage for skinning as long as you stay on the lower bench.

Once at the back bowl, we skinned the ridge to the higher entrance ramp.  The cornices are still huge but there is an upper and lower entrance ramp between cornices.  The snow at the back bowl has mixed sized sun cups and runnels.  There is excellent coverage.  Peak 6567, aka Zap€™s Peak, which is east of Naches, has excellent coverage on its northwest slope. After skiing the back bowl, we continued the circumnavigation and stayed on a high traverse which allowed us to traverse back to Chinook Pass without having to skin up to the road. We headed west and skied the tree line slopes back to Tipsoo Lake.  The weather started with clouds covering Naches Peak then opened up to mixed clouds, sunshine and a pleasant breeze.  Mack was trying his new Trab skis with the NTN binding system and watching him ski and smile convinced me he was experiencing post purchase satisfaction. Remember these photos were taken with a cellphone camera.

Photo 1 €“ Mack and his new Trab toys

Photo 2 €“ Mack with the back bowl coverage in the background