April 3, 2013, Chiwaukum Range
4/3/13
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My friend Larry and I just had our first peek into the Chiwaukum Range and got to experience some of the more accessible slopes thanks to the convenience of Scottish Lakes High Camp. We had a fantastic time, as the skiing was fun, and the sights from our tour to the high country were simply amazing.
We started skinning at first light, and were able to glide over firm snow from 5,000 up to our high point of 7132. Visible from this spot were clear views of Glacier Peak, Baker, the North Cascades, Stuart, and everything else in-between.
By 9am, the East and South-facing slopes were coming into prime corn-skiing form for the day, and skied great up through noon at least. North and West slopes stayed firm for an hour or two longer in the morning, and yielded fine turns in the mid afternoon. We found no signs of instability, though on our glide back to camp, things got pretty mushy below 5800. We observed some small pinwheels and minor sloughing in these areas.
Thursday (April 4), we woke to cloud cover, which kept the snow from properly freezing at our camp at 5000. By the time we were leaving at noon it was raining on both sides of Stevens pass.
A video of our activities:
http://vimeo.com/63390622
We started skinning at first light, and were able to glide over firm snow from 5,000 up to our high point of 7132. Visible from this spot were clear views of Glacier Peak, Baker, the North Cascades, Stuart, and everything else in-between.
By 9am, the East and South-facing slopes were coming into prime corn-skiing form for the day, and skied great up through noon at least. North and West slopes stayed firm for an hour or two longer in the morning, and yielded fine turns in the mid afternoon. We found no signs of instability, though on our glide back to camp, things got pretty mushy below 5800. We observed some small pinwheels and minor sloughing in these areas.
Thursday (April 4), we woke to cloud cover, which kept the snow from properly freezing at our camp at 5000. By the time we were leaving at noon it was raining on both sides of Stevens pass.
A video of our activities:
http://vimeo.com/63390622
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