June 3, 2012, Washington Pass

The skiing last week at Washington Pass was so good, I was lured back for another try.  A friend and I had been trying to make a trip fit together for months, and this weekend we finally made it work.  We stepped onto the snow at 0830 with a lite drizzle falling, but the promise of clear sky's  on the dry side.  The skinning was easy, and we were at the col by 1030 or so and then we had to decide what to do.


We had a loose plan to do some variation of the birthday tour, and as we drove around the switchback I had mentioned that I would like to ski spire gully.  There was a skiff of new on the top, and the first 1000 feet or so on the Copper Creek side was very nice, but the further we descended, the deeper we sank on every turn.  Another 500 feet or so and we stopped to re evaluate the plan.  My partner was looking at all the inviting terrain on the Copper Pass side and wanted to go try some of it, I was less excited, and lobbied for the north facing spire gully.  We stood around and chewed it over and ended up putting on the skins, and making tracks for the col.

On the way up we ran into some TAY'ers I had met last weekend and had a nice visit, and since they had come up the way we were thinking about skiing , we were able to get some idea about snow conditions.  Once back at the col, we wasted no time, skiing off the top, to the entrance to the Spire Gully.


It was not creamy dreamy corn, but it was not bad, as usual we should have been there an hour sooner, but it was still a fantastic run.

The views were fantastic.


In short order, we had burned all our vert. and we were standing on the highway loosing faith in humanity, because no one would pick us up for the hitch back to the Blue Lake trail head.  A good soul picked up my partner, and and we were sitting on the tailgate drinking an IPA by 1430, a great day of skiing.  We had to swing by the Mazama store for a sandwich, and we were home by 1700.  The snow is holding up, but an early morning start will be the order of the day for the best snow, if not bring your water skies, and wax.