New to Backcountry. Good low angle spots off i90?

My girlfriend and I are new to backcountry skiing. We are looking for some beta on good low angle places to explore as we develop skills and gain experience. Preferably somewhere we can bring our dog too.

Any help would be appreciated!

Summit East midweek. Please pack the (dog) poop out.

Kendall Stump/Commonwealth Basin are viable options when the chairs are spinning at East (weekends and holidays).

Thanks!

Depends on how low angle, and what your touring goals are. If you want a quickly accessed slope to lap, then pipedream has good suggestions. For a somewhat different flavor, Kendall Knobs/lakes via the road route that starts from the porta-potty on the east side of the highway by exit 54 is an option. There are some practice slopes a ways up the road around the knobs, and lakes, and a bonus for the pup is that it almost always has a pretty well beaten in snowshoe and skier tracks which will usually support the dog well. When we have a lot of new snow, postholing can be a real problem for a dog - but a strong dog may seem to be dealing with it; only years later will the back issues crop up... So having some routes that optimize for the dog but are OK for you can be a good thing. The road route up to the ridge on Margaret is another option along these lines thanks to snowmobiles, which are a mixed bag as you'll see and hear some up there but they also tend to have packed the roads firm all the way to the ridge crest which can be a big deal for your dog (and the lower portion of the road is groomed for snowmobiles; once you leave this you'll see far fewer of them btw...). And again there are some options for doing laps up there though many of them are closing in as the clearcuts continue growing in, and you can also follow the summit ridge from the road-accessed logging platforms to the false and true summits through pretty uncut forest. You can get up all the way to the summit ridge on a couple of branches of the road system - Burgdorfer describes one good route in his book. I've heard Amabalis is along similar lines but have never done it.

Once the ski area closes for the season, there tends to be a period when Summit Central is good for quick laps, and radio tower ridge behind it can be fun too if there's fresh late season snow at that point.

And there's a brief period, often late June, when the forest road 9070 has melted up to Windy Pass where the PCT crosses it, but when there's still snow right at the pass and above, where you can ski pretty moderate slopes all the way up to just below the summit ridge of Silver Peak via Windy Acres and Silver's NE basin (getting onto the summit ridge is a bit steep, but it's a short steep slope). You can of course do that in the winter too, via the Summit's groomed XC trail system, but only with a xc ski ticket and without the dog. And it's a long-ish way back there on mostly groomed trail (if memory serves, this is also in Burgdorfer's guidebook, which may be a good reference for you to check out...).

The bridge over rocky run is washed out and the price creek snow park is gone making snowmobile access more challenging

Well that likely weakens the "good for the dog in deep snow" premise for Margaret then. Thanks for the news - hadn't realized that bridge is out.

Source lake. (check avalanche danger.)

Paradise at Mt. Rainier probably has the most and best beginner touring terrain. The best access from the car and tons of inspiration.

What's the parking situation at hyak? Is it a pay lot or do you need a snowpark permit and NWFP?

Free parking

I think the closest parking, behind the mid-parking lot berm, may be reserved for residents only. Otherwise, have at it, and park so that the benevolent snowplow overlords can plow.

What's the parking situation at hyak?  Is it a pay lot or do you need a snowpark permit and NWFP? 

To clarify there are several parking areas around "Hyak" -- to park for free you want to park in the "Summit East" ski area lot

The areas circled in green on the attached image show the approximate locations. On busier weekend mornings there are sometimes attendants that will direct you. You don't need to buy a lift ticket or nordic trail pass to use the lot.

Well that likely weakens the "good for the dog in deep snow" premise for Margaret then. Thanks for the news - hadn't realized that bridge is out.

H'mm with the bridge over rocky run out, folks should use the "bypass trail".

As you head south from the Gold Creek Sno Park (about a hundred yards south of the turn around). Look to your left as you enters clearcut, there is an old logging road climbing away. Follow it, after completing the second ziag zag take spur to the right, which ends in a little bit at a loading platform. Poke around at the North end of the platform looking for sawn branches, follow the sawn branches through the Christmas tree 🎄 farm generally paralleling Rocky Run, avoid getting too close to the creek the first 1/2 mile as slopes are very steep near the creek. Emerge from the farm near the upper bridge over rocky run. It's been about four years since the "bypass trail" last had any saw work, so maybe bring a saw to trim back some of the branches. My dad first took me this way back when the clear cut was fresh.

Sketch map of the "Bypass Route"  (not an exact GPS trace -- in the christmas tree farm -- best method for keeping on route is to watch carefully for sawn branches)

www.hillmap.com/embed/ag1zfmhpbGxtYXAtaG...lZE1hcBiAgICQncqhCgw

Perhaps worth mentioning that, unlike the Burgdorfer-described road route up to Margaret's ridge crest, that cutoff route crosses one slope where I've seen slide debris down across the route (from up above on the still pretty bare slopes of Rampart Ridge), not too far from where it reaches Rocky Run.

Perhaps worth mentioning that, unlike the Burgdorfer-described road route up to Margaret's ridge crest, that cutoff route crosses one slope where I've seen slide debris down across the route (from up above on the still pretty bare slopes of Rampart Ridge), not too far from where it reaches Rocky Run.

Agreed. Furthermore, there's little, if any, opportunity to make a relevant stability assessment before crossing under those large windswept open slopes.

How long have you been downhill skiing? Have you ever been backcountry skiing? Can you read a map? Can you use a compass? Have you taken an avalanche skills training course? Can you read and understand the public avalanche bulletin? How much mountain experience do you have in general? ( You don't have to answer these questions; just understand that your answers are highly-related to what constitutes "safe" terrain for you and your girlfriend. )

Most of the backcountry ski options off I90 aren't good places for inexperienced backcountry skiers. Exposure varies widely and can increase significantly in ways that inexperienced skiers won't necessarily notice. I'd say that you shouldn't ski anything at all until you can open a map, find low angle terrain, and write a real trip plan ( even if it's just for meadow skipping ).

Maybe you could post some of your terrain ideas here and experienced folks could provide feedback.

Ah Cookie how we have missed your sage guidance! I always enjoyed your devils advocate perspective on things. Good to have you back.

Anyone can read a map, its on the phone - right?

Best advice I've got, get educated and then go with a couple others to show you the goods bringing ample cookies and beer for the payment.

If its just skinning practice then Hyak of course fits the bill although a lot of folk are complaining about doggie poop on the skin track these days, can't say I blame them. Anything else then cookie is on the money.

Thanks for the kind words!

PS. Why be devil's advocate when devil will do?

I tend to do a lot of low angle stuff. Here are the three places I go most often that I would call backcountry:

Kendall -- There is a long approach, but the drive is easy and you can definitely get into some nice backcountry skiing. Even if you just poke around the lake area it is fun, easy and wild. But the road is not totally safe -- there are spots that have avalanche danger (as do other areas of course).

Artist Point -- This is one of the easiest and nicest backcountry places out there in my opinion. There is a groomed section (that is shared by the ski resort) but it is fairly short. The tour itself is fairly short, but extremely pretty and wild on a nice day. I'm not sure if dogs are allowed.

Paradise Area -- There is a lot of low angle terrain around Paradise. No dogs allowed, though.

Park Butte -- There is plenty of low angle terrain here. This is the only place on this list that has a lot of snowmobiles, which I find irritating.

I believe all these areas are mentioned in the books (backcountry skiing or the cross country ski tours books). I would buy those books. They go into a lot of detail and tell you (roughly) what the avalanche danger is and what to avoid. You shouldn't rely solely on that information (of course) but it reduces the chance that you will only go a little ways and then turn around (you wouldn't want to pick a ski tour with a moderate or higher avalanche danger this last week). It also reduces the chance that you will simply follow an old track and trigger a slide, when there is a much safer way to go (e. g. the route to Artist Point).