March 26, 2005, Heather Pass - SERIOUS POW POW!
3/26/05
WA Cascades East Slopes North
2664
2
Every skier has a vision of the perfect run. Maybe it comes from magazines, ski videos you watch in the off season, or from the photos and stories on this web site. Usually this scene involves fresh powder, and lots of it.
Ross (Freeman) and I left Seattle at 5:30 under pouring rain. Given prior experiences, I had a good feeling that the Washington/Rainy Pass area would have significant fresh snow and the best possibility of dodging the forecasted rising freezing levels. After finding an armada of vehicles and 20+ (very polite) people from the BOALPS (Boing Alpine S?) at the Blue Lake trailhead, we decided to head back to Rainy Pass, where we were the only party present.
We skinned to Lake Ann breaking trail through 1 of snow, with more light snow continuing to fall. At the lake we heard the first of several avalanches that came down the steep slopes of the basin, and we were reassured that our decision not to follow the summer trail was wise. Feeling safe in the middle of the lake, we continued to cross to investigate the possibility of safely climbing to Heather Pass. On the SE-facing slopes above the lake the new snow was on top of a 0.25 sun crust, with a fair bond. We saw little evidence of a cohesive slab so we continued to pick our way up through the trees, alder/willow shrubs, and then back to the trees as the slope mellows out towards the pass. We toured slightly higher on the ridge but given the evidence of instability and increased wind effect, we decided not to cross the open slopes over to Maple Pass. At this point we suspected that we may be in for a nice run¦.
The snow was DEEP and light, and face shots were prolific on the run down to the lake. To our amazement, we found our skin track 2/3 covered by new snow, thanks to the 6 that had fallen in the past 3 hours. We obviously went back up for another run, and it was deeper this time: snow billowing over our heads, complete white outs every second or third turn, and complete bliss.
It took us longer to ski out than it did to ski in, as up to a foot of new snow had covered our skin track in spots, and we had to do some route finding to avoid crossing the steep slope below the Lake Ann basin. We rejoined the summer trial in the forest and re-broke trail *down* to Rainy Pass, where we found my car buried under 10-12 of snow. There was suspiciously little traffic on the road, and as Ross and I dug out my car, some of the BOALP folks came by and informed us that the highway had closed (at the hair pin). Right on! We drove out on "our" private road, after skiing alone all day.
Given our historically low snowfall this season (a.k.a. The Winter Of Our Discontent), its reassuring to know that the PNW can come through with a few late March storms and produce the deepest and most consistent pow pow Ive ever skied. Although you never achieve the perfect run, these runs will certainly be etched into my memory banks and serve as inspiration for future powder-perfect endeavors.
Phil H.
Ross (Freeman) and I left Seattle at 5:30 under pouring rain. Given prior experiences, I had a good feeling that the Washington/Rainy Pass area would have significant fresh snow and the best possibility of dodging the forecasted rising freezing levels. After finding an armada of vehicles and 20+ (very polite) people from the BOALPS (Boing Alpine S?) at the Blue Lake trailhead, we decided to head back to Rainy Pass, where we were the only party present.
We skinned to Lake Ann breaking trail through 1 of snow, with more light snow continuing to fall. At the lake we heard the first of several avalanches that came down the steep slopes of the basin, and we were reassured that our decision not to follow the summer trail was wise. Feeling safe in the middle of the lake, we continued to cross to investigate the possibility of safely climbing to Heather Pass. On the SE-facing slopes above the lake the new snow was on top of a 0.25 sun crust, with a fair bond. We saw little evidence of a cohesive slab so we continued to pick our way up through the trees, alder/willow shrubs, and then back to the trees as the slope mellows out towards the pass. We toured slightly higher on the ridge but given the evidence of instability and increased wind effect, we decided not to cross the open slopes over to Maple Pass. At this point we suspected that we may be in for a nice run¦.
The snow was DEEP and light, and face shots were prolific on the run down to the lake. To our amazement, we found our skin track 2/3 covered by new snow, thanks to the 6 that had fallen in the past 3 hours. We obviously went back up for another run, and it was deeper this time: snow billowing over our heads, complete white outs every second or third turn, and complete bliss.
It took us longer to ski out than it did to ski in, as up to a foot of new snow had covered our skin track in spots, and we had to do some route finding to avoid crossing the steep slope below the Lake Ann basin. We rejoined the summer trial in the forest and re-broke trail *down* to Rainy Pass, where we found my car buried under 10-12 of snow. There was suspiciously little traffic on the road, and as Ross and I dug out my car, some of the BOALP folks came by and informed us that the highway had closed (at the hair pin). Right on! We drove out on "our" private road, after skiing alone all day.
Given our historically low snowfall this season (a.k.a. The Winter Of Our Discontent), its reassuring to know that the PNW can come through with a few late March storms and produce the deepest and most consistent pow pow Ive ever skied. Although you never achieve the perfect run, these runs will certainly be etched into my memory banks and serve as inspiration for future powder-perfect endeavors.
Phil H.
Good on you for braving the dire forecast - looks like temps stayed low at WA pass on Saturday. Way to make us all jealous ;)
I've skied a lot of good powder this year, but no days in the "white room" (yet).
I've skied a lot of good powder this year, but no days in the "white room" (yet).
Phil, your Open Fly Coulior sounds like a pretty nice trip too, and with a little good fortune, the "white room" will be available for a while.
I have to say, I usually stay at home when the avi. forecast mentions considerable, as Joedabaker’s response to the Saminator is suggesting (in that other thread). It’s a good point. I certainly would not have felt comfortable heading into an area where I did not know the terrain, particularly what’s above us. There is the idea that there is “safe” skiing to found in all conditions, but the conditions dictate terrain selection. We felt that with some precision route finding we could avoid traveling below the steep open slopes (which we eventually heard sliding) and safely evaluate our up track. One of the reasons Sat. was unique in my experiences is because usually when there’s deep pow, I feel unsafe traveling in terrain steep enough for gravity to pull me through the snow. Since the snow was falling so quickly, it had not formed a cohesive slab yet. I suspect that the slides from higher up were strongly influenced by wind. However, when you ski safely, you can never know if you’re making the “right” decisions or just getting lucky. It’s one of the most humbling aspects of bc skiing.
Good on you for braving the dire forecast - looks like temps stayed low at WA pass on Saturday.
I have to say, I usually stay at home when the avi. forecast mentions considerable, as Joedabaker’s response to the Saminator is suggesting (in that other thread). It’s a good point. I certainly would not have felt comfortable heading into an area where I did not know the terrain, particularly what’s above us. There is the idea that there is “safe” skiing to found in all conditions, but the conditions dictate terrain selection. We felt that with some precision route finding we could avoid traveling below the steep open slopes (which we eventually heard sliding) and safely evaluate our up track. One of the reasons Sat. was unique in my experiences is because usually when there’s deep pow, I feel unsafe traveling in terrain steep enough for gravity to pull me through the snow. Since the snow was falling so quickly, it had not formed a cohesive slab yet. I suspect that the slides from higher up were strongly influenced by wind. However, when you ski safely, you can never know if you’re making the “right” decisions or just getting lucky. It’s one of the most humbling aspects of bc skiing.
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