Barron Yurt, 1/22-1/26

Carla, Anita, Heidi and myself were lucky enough to get away to Barron Yurt last week.  We were scheduled to fly in Sunday afternoon, but were delayed because of fog.  When the fog cleared on Monday morning, North Cascades Heli Skiing took us up to the Harts Pass area to spend four nights in their very comfortable yurt.  We dropped our gear at the yurt and were also lucky enough to get an extra helicopter lift up to Tamarack Peak because of our late arrival.  Thank you! 

Monday was a cold, but gorgeous blue sky day with amazing views.  I was able to get used to the demoed AT gear (my tele skis are going in the garbage) in the first of four runs that day.  Tuesday it started snowing and a storm was predicted for that evening.  When we were out touring, we saw some animal tracks in the snow and our guide, Michelle determined it was a lynx was hunting a rabbit.  After dinner, the snow really started falling and the winds were around 50 mph.  Ear plugs and whiskey helped, but it was still a yurt shaking night. 

Wednesday morning we took our time getting out because of the high avalanche danger and the lingering wind (down to 40 mph gusts).  Michelle was able to take us to a north slope where the snow wasn't wind packed and we skied in beautiful new snow.  She took a reading with and extra long probe and the total snow fall this year was at 326 cm!  Thursday was another day of snow and wind and some sun breaks.  The highlight of that day was seeing what we thought were bats, only to be flying squirrels.  The days are becoming a blur now, but I think we had about 4,000 feet of elevation gain and more turns in gorgeous new snow.   

I highly recommend the Barron Yurt with North Cascades Heli Skiing.  All four days were fresh tracks on every run in either knee deep or waist deep powder.  It snowed for three out of the four days - 30 cm of new snow when we arrived and 26 cm more fell while we were there. 

A big thank you to our super experienced and amazingly strong trail breaking guide Michelle Smallman.  She is delightful to ski AND hang out with.  Another thanks to Mazama store and Missy Laduke for providing the absolutely delicious meals.  Thank you to Scott, the helicopter pilot for his experience and making my first helicopter ride a piece of cake.

More photos to come...