Patrol Race Route Scouting Mission
2/15/15
WA Cascades East Slopes Central
3380
1
Four of us did the first 1/4 of the Patrol Race Route on Sunday. As the race coordinator, I hoped to convince myself that the race was doable in the current conditions (albeit with some walking). I regret to say that did not happen. Between the creek crossings, trail walking and scampering across thin strips of ice/slush/rock/pine-needles I came to the conclusion that it is in nobodys best interest to run the race with the current conditions. With that said, it is too early to completely give up hope of running the race as scheduled on Feb 28th. After all, Weather Undergrounds Snoqualmie Pass forecast shows snow on the 18th currently. By Feb 18th, we should have a clear enough picture of what conditions will be like on the 28th and be able to make the call then as to if we can run the race, or if we need to move it out to a backup weekend. Currently we are looking at March 28th as the backup date. For more about what we did/saw on Sunday read below¦
* Put skis on our backs and walked up Summit West starting at about 8:30AM. We could have skinned, but chose not to.
* Once we poked into the woods behind Summit West the PCT was bare as suspected.
* The creek crossing of Rockdale Creek was challenging. Liza and Jim tried bushwhacking up stream to find a better crossing than that of the PCT. They met Sarah and I on the other side 15 minutes later frustrated and sweaty. Jims quote Im not sure if these are tears or sweat on my face¦ but I am exhausted
* We continued on, occasionally punching up to our thighs where there was snow (in the open), then back to dirt in the trees.
* Approaching Windy Pass (at about 3600) we got finally took our skis of our backs and put them on our feet right before Jim broke through a snow bridge and fell into a small creek.
* After Windy Pass we ducked back into the forest (~3900) where the snow all but disappeared again to start our traverse under Silver Peak. In this section we had at best a thin white line of snow that had not yet melted on the PCT. Either that or bare trail.
* By 4000 on the PCT we had still not yet hit consistent snow in the trees and time was running out. We were about 5 miles into the 19 mile course. It was 2:00PM.
* We turned around and eventually skied out the road from Windy Pass to Hyak. I nice lady in a Jeep drove us the last few miles of the road to civilization.
Hoping for a miracle by Feb 28th¦
* Put skis on our backs and walked up Summit West starting at about 8:30AM. We could have skinned, but chose not to.
* Once we poked into the woods behind Summit West the PCT was bare as suspected.
* The creek crossing of Rockdale Creek was challenging. Liza and Jim tried bushwhacking up stream to find a better crossing than that of the PCT. They met Sarah and I on the other side 15 minutes later frustrated and sweaty. Jims quote Im not sure if these are tears or sweat on my face¦ but I am exhausted
* We continued on, occasionally punching up to our thighs where there was snow (in the open), then back to dirt in the trees.
* Approaching Windy Pass (at about 3600) we got finally took our skis of our backs and put them on our feet right before Jim broke through a snow bridge and fell into a small creek.
* After Windy Pass we ducked back into the forest (~3900) where the snow all but disappeared again to start our traverse under Silver Peak. In this section we had at best a thin white line of snow that had not yet melted on the PCT. Either that or bare trail.
* By 4000 on the PCT we had still not yet hit consistent snow in the trees and time was running out. We were about 5 miles into the 19 mile course. It was 2:00PM.
* We turned around and eventually skied out the road from Windy Pass to Hyak. I nice lady in a Jeep drove us the last few miles of the road to civilization.
Hoping for a miracle by Feb 28th¦
PLEASE NOTE - I had previously mentioned March 14th as a potential backup date for the race - but that got overturned (won't work for Meany) and the March 28th is the actual backup date. Sorry for any confusion...
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