Home > Trip Reports > Mt. Daniel and WA Pass, May 28-May 31

Mt. Daniel and WA Pass, May 28-May 31

5/28/15
WA Cascades West Slopes Central
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Posted by danpeck on 6/2/15 10:51am
We spent May 28-30 on Mt. Daniel.  Then drove to WA May 31 to do the mini Birthday Tour.  Back to civilization yesterday and a busy life so here is the abbreviated TR.

May 28

€”arrived at TH around noon, gear sorting and packing ensued
€”Thunderstorms threatened us around 3 pm near Cathedral Rock.  We hid in the trees and decided to camp at Peggy€™s Pond with nice shelter and a beautiful stream for water rather than the alpine we had intended.

May 29€”blue skies in the morning with gathering clouds and T storms by afternoon.

€”5 am wake up. And lazy breakfast
€”Skin up to Daniel East in beautiful clear skies.





€”Down climb the W ridge, access a small snow finger on the N face and ski down 300 feet.

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€”Off to €œmiddle€ Daniel



€”ski down the eastern section of the Lynch glacier then crossing over skiers left to the middle of Lynch glacier down to Pea Soup Lake.  Excellent turns all the way.





€”Skin back up and around €œmiddle€ Daniel then down the far eastern reaches of the Lynch Glacier under (north of) Daniel East.  Again, amazing turns.







€”Back up to the giant ridge E of E Daniel and back down to Peggy€™s Pond before T Storms catch us at camp.





May 30€”blue skies all day.

€”Hoping to scout what a trip to Hinman would look like we head to Daniel€™s West peak.  Found some familiar people in the register!



€”Ski Down the Lynch to 7200 and then back up the far western finger of the Lynch up to Point 7686.  Gaze onto Hinman.

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https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7729/18399170592_8e21d568f7_c.jpg" />

€”Excellent turns down to Pea Soup Lake again.



€”Skinning out of the alpine oven was brutal.

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€”High quality turns down the E section of Lynch and back up and out to our camp the same way as the day before€¦ High quality turns.  Surface sloughing found only on direct S slopes in the afternoon.  Easily managed.



€”Break down camp and walk out to car.  TH by 5:30 pm.
€”Burgers in Cle Elum
€”Drive to Lake Chelan by Midnight.  Stay in cheap motel.

May 31€”early morning high gray clouds turning into bluebird by noon and on.

€”Arise at 5 am.
€”Drive to Mazama to the store for excellent breakfast at 7:30 am.
€”Blue Lake TH by 8:15 or so.
€”Forest walk on summer trail€¦ Amazed at how much snow is gone compared to two weeks prior.  Gaining snow for skinning at 6400 about where the climbers trails break off the main summer trail.
€”Excellent skiing down Madison Avenue.







€”Patchy route finding into Copper Basin



€”Skied out via the Col just SE of Poster Peak.



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€”Skied amazingly well on N to NE aspects all the way to the valley bottom. 

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/371/18404991961_2d4bdc697c_c.jpg" />



€”Walked out about a mile to the car road where I hitched a ride back to our car.


I've always wanted to do a trip like this.  How many times have I been in a place and said, "I want to just set up a base camp here and ski all over for a few days."  Well, we finally did it.  We skied and camped in luxury and had perfect conditions.
Sounds like a lot of skiing in one stretch, well done!!

Nice trip!  I was wondering who was camped at Peggys.  We did a quick outing to East Peak on Friday.  The afternoon T-storm had us sprinting the last few miles of trail back to the car on our return. It must have been a little exciting up there.

Kenji.... It was a lot of skiing!  And pretty  much type 1 fun skiing the whole time.

Snoholic... It was fun to see your tracks.  I saw those and wondered if I might know the people.  It would have been fun to meet you.  The T storm was fun.  We made it to camp just as the rain came and it didn't last too long. Made for some nice lighting.

I hate thunder.

Dan - I think my friend and I met your group in the parking lot on Saturday and talked tents.  Great skiing up there and nice to meet you!

syoumans... Indeed!

Wonderful Dan!  Great photos.  Excellent trip.

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danpeck
2015-06-02 17:51:23