June 10, 2012, - Kangaroo Ridge Roaming

Last Sunday, an early morning east-meets-west alliance in Rainy Pass drizzle inspired us for an alternate tour around Kangaroo ridge starting at the hairpin. The view from first pass (Kangaroo) quickly dissolved into a whiteout as we skied up and into NF Twisp River drainage. Subsequent four passes around Kangaroo ridge provided stunning views of W slope clouds spilling over the crest near WA pass with higher westerly summits poking above the stratus deck.

To our surprise, we stayed in the clear most of the day and found reasonable snow quality (refrozen) on N-NE aspects and moist (grabby), rapidly thinning corn on S-SW aspects. Cover is still reasonable above 4300'. Ski crampons helpful for steeper climbs given easy shear in upper (storm) snowpack. Final descent down to the hairpin from Big Kangaroo(?) provided the best descent line of the day. Otherwise, mostly a scenic yet energetic tour with nice hang spots. A great spring day out despite the marsupial nature of the area.

Thanks to D-Wayne for all photos.