January 8 -- Nordic Pass loop

Followed old-skool Nordic Pass blue diamond route, leaving the Hyak parking lot around one.  Had to ford the creek just after leaving the plowed road and get a little creative to avoid open streams following the blue diamonds through the forest and past Hyak lake, powerline swath and Frog lake to Nordic Pass.   Lots of tree drip in the sections of forest that got sun on the trees.   Traverse lower slopes of Mt Catherine on way back hoping to find some non-tree-drip effected snow.  I got maybe a couple dozen decent turns and then spent a bunch of time farting around avoiding open streams before reaching the clearcuts and wonderful alpenglow view of the Snoqualmie peaks.    Followed nordic center tracks back to the lift area and skied down one of the blue runs (Chikamin ?) in twilight.



Nordic Pass trail sign -- watercolor effect from low lighting and cell phone camera zoom ?


Alpenglow on Snoqualmie Pass peaks -- it was much more beautiful than this lousy cell phone camera shot