June 7, 2015, - WA Pass SW Buttress of SEWS and ski

This is starting to become an annual event.  Last year I was able to skin up to the base of the route from blue lake trailhead, but just barely.  This year a lot less snow so we decided to park at the hairpin and climb/skin up to the col that way.  It was darn hot and I kinda of worried the snow would be too baked for any fun skiing after the climb.  After a hard approach (I prefer the Blue Lake when that's an option) skied to the based of the climb (fun but quick).  After some fast climbing passing a few groups we made it summit around 1pm.  A little after 3pm we re-skinned back to the top of the col and locked our heals for some extremely surprisingly good turns.  Corn snow the whole way down to the hairpin.  The snow was just enough to get us within a 50 yards of the car, with only one carry because of some rockfall.  We left WA Pass at 4pm.  I would guess that the hairpin gully is now out because the creek was eating up the snow quickly, but a friend reported that still lots of snow up on Madison Ave.  If your a skier and a climber put this on your list- Such a fun day!  5.8 fun climbing and a quick fun descent on skis.  What more could you ask for?