December 9, 2001, Nordic Pass, Snoqualmie Pass

Robie, Jeanette and I were eager to sample the freshies and the forecast sunbreaks at Snoqualmie Pass. We got plenty of the first but only about two minutes of the latter. Without any sure destination in mind except up, and the untracked pow up on Mt. Hyak beckoning seductively, we succumbed to the resolve of the turns earner and sprung for a Nordic pass, which allowed us two rides on the Hyak Keechelus chair. One warmup run on the front side and then over the top in more untracked pow with a fairly well settled base that held us up to within 6 to 12 inches of the surface whether we were skiing down or skinning up. None of us had ever accessed Silver Peak in the winter through Nordic Pass and the trail breaking was tolerable, so we decide to head for where we would normally park when accessing Silver Peak in the summer just to familiarize ourselves with the terrain and the route. Found loads of nice skiing in the trees on the way, with good bonding of the snow that has fallen so far, and just barely enough snow to make it over the deadfalls. For a change of pace we skied out the Cold Creek road back to Hyak. Robie managed to stay out of camera range but got a couple of shots of Jeanette in the freshies for your visual conditions eval. For the pics and a map of the tour click here.

Ron Jarvis