June 5, 2014, - Washington Pass/Kangaroo Ridge

Last Thursday, I snuck in a rare (for me) mid-week day up at Washington Pass and enjoyed beautiful weather, excellent corn snow, solitude and some great compatriots.  This report is a little overdue, but hopefully it will still be useful for folks thinking about a trip this weekend.  There are still turns to be had.

We left from the hairpin with sunny skies and calm winds on a firm snowpack that set up well overnight.



We were able to skin up to Kangaroo Pass on ski crampons and then switched over to bootpacking as we ascended the ridge that leads up towards the shoulder of Copper Mountain.



From below the ridge line, we dropped into a bowl of softening snow and rode back down towards the pass.



Once below Kangaroo Pass, we booted up the opposite side of the drainage towards a notch in Kangaroo Ridge as the sun swung around towards the west. 



We enjoyed some amazing views . . .



. . . and then dropped into another line of amazing corn snow.



So nice!  4000' of turns, and we didn't see a single other person until arriving back at the hairpin.  If the weather holds, this weekend should still offer some good conditions.  Go get some.