December 8, 2002, Chinook Pass

hey man thanks for the good news i'm headed up that way tomorrow its nice to see it wont be in vain

Sooo sorry I didn't go ! Knee is not good enough to ski but plenty good for hangin sheet rock. DAMN! next week will be the test .

If we would have known how great Chinook was going to be today, we would have bagged checking out Corral Pass and Crystal just so we would have had more time at Chinook.   ;D

Woo Hoo!
Hey Charles, my reply button worked on this one.
I'll check the other one.

New snow spraying from the skis - haven't seen much of that around here lately! I'm surprised the conditions were so good. I was looking at the photos trying to figure out where you were skiing - west facing Naches slopes above the road? This week is looking hopeful...

We were on North and East aspects of Naches above the summer trail.  Somebody up there said that they got some good runs on Yakima but it looked a bit bony to me. If the forecast pans out for the week it won't matter where we skied yesterday... it'll ALL be good.
Pray for snow  ;D

Ron

 Good to see the sking on Sunday, would have liked to been there. Who knows when they might close the road thinking about Thur.... 8)

Charlesw

Thanks, Ron. Yeah, when I was there about 10 days ago the south slopes of Yakima already had been reduced to sparse coverage. Forecast says 5-10" by tomorrow, and continuing pptn into the weekend with FL down to 3K. Yahoo!

Hummm...
CW, Thursday'll prolly be a pretty good call for Chinook.
Provided the don't close the highway by then ...
& provided there's not TOO much snow, &
provided the weather's not a howling blizzard  ;D
I'd be up for it if I didn't have work to do (haven't quite knocked out my first million yet  ;)).
There's bound to be some of the regular midweekers that could join you... CE?

Looks like they just closed Chinook...

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/road/mnts/mntbas.htm

Where do they usually close the road coming from the west side?  I assume they usually plow a bit pass the turn off for Crystal Mtn.  

Is there any poss. of getting up there when the road is closed (ie. long tour on the road, or a tour in from the ski area)?  I've never been up there and was planning on going this weekend so any info is greatly appreciated.

Yep, they sure did, Ajjenkin.  They're saying "Closed for the Season" for Chinook, "temporarily closed" for Cayuse.
Actually, I 'spect they reopen Cayuse for a while unless it really continues heavily dumping for a couple of more days.
From Cayuse the peaks around Chinook (mainly Naches and Yakima) are really nice tours... although its best to avoid the road (avy danger) with a new snowload.  Burgdorfer describes the tour from Cayuse nicely.  If you don't have that book drop me an email and I'll see if I can dig out an old gps track of a Chinook tour out of Cayuse.
If they open Cayuse again we'll probably do that tour this Sunday.  You're welcome to join us if you care to and don't mind old slow folks.  
If they fail to reopen Cayuse, then your yen towards Chinook takes on all together different proportions.  With Cayuse closed they will likely close the 410 gate at the [MRN] Park entrance.  So then your best options (that I can think of) are to skin up the road (410) from the CM Blvd turnoff or go out of Crystal up through Bear Gap and the general route of the PCT to Chinook.  Either one would make for an epic day trip for this old timer, not to mention probably a bit chancy until the new snowpack gets a chance to settle in.
Some of the other folks might have some other ideas for getting you into the Chinook area with Cayuse closed.
I guess that's about all I've got to say on the matter  :)

Hey Ajjenkin,
Ronj is right - the path through Bear Gap would probably be the best path (IMHO) but be very prepared to deal with avalanches and an overnight stay  ;)
As a snowboarder it is just too far to snowshoe  >:( without carrying enough gear for a good overnight.

As a snowboarder it is just too far to snowshoe  >:( without carrying enough gear for a good overnight.

Shoot, it's to far on BC skis for the "older" group too.  Beware, ;) something happens as you enter that wonderful 5th and 6th decade ;D  ;D

Mad Dog. What is that 'something' that happens as you enter those wonderful decades? Would it be mental? Physical? Or just an overall attitude problem? Perhaps something to do with knees ???, backs ??? or another part of the skiing body that will not cooperate like it use to >:(? Whichever way you look at it, it's an adventure 8)! Time to get out this weekend with all the new snow ;D.

The Wild Hearts are a continuing source of inspiration to me.  They are at a much higher activity level than me and I'm 'only' pushing 40.

I have an old Prater book that mentions skiing in Morse Creek Valley, he mentions high avi danger.  The few times I've been up in there, below Bear Gap, I was not pleased to be alone.  Maybe along the ridgecrest to Sourdough is not so bad, but you still pop out on the highway below some nasty slopes.

Doesn't Burgdorfer recommend this traverse for early season?  Which I guess is now, had it not dumped all at once.

Not only has it dumped all at once, but it is presumably overlying the "two to three inches of recent over a bombproof base and topped with a half inch of hoar" that people enjoyed skiing last weekend. And now it has gotten warm and rained. I just browsed the telemetry and forecasts, and it looks like the temps went above freezing last night with continued pptn everywhere - except Snoqualmie Pass, where east flow has kept the temp just below 32. It may be a foolish plan, but CharlesW and I are going up to Snoqualmie tomorrow, our time constrained by kid duties, and we will report what we find.

Thanks to all for the info above.  Ronj, I do have Burdorfer's book, but I didn't even think to look in it.  Thanks, it's much clearer now.  I'm planning on Saturday morning though, so we'll meet up another day.  Our route/skiing plans will probably be limited due to the avy conditions..it should be pretty bad out there.

It now looks like Cayuse is out for the season:

Cayuse Pass SR123
Elevation: 4675 ft (1425 m)
Temperature: n/a°F
Weather:
Road Surface Conditions:
Restrictions Northbound: CLOSED FOR THE SEASON
Restrictions Southbound: CLOSED FOR THE SEASON
Last Update: 1:00 PM, Dec 12, 2002
Next Expected Update: 4:00 PM, Dec 12, 2002

Bummer  >:(
I kinda had my heart set on getting up to Cayuse on Sunday and skiing Naches one more time.  Oh well, there's a lot of mountains out there and now there's snow in some of them!
Guess we'll all have to invoke "Plan B".
BTW, David Lowery, thanks for the kind words.
Be careful out there, y'all.

Paul if this is a multiple choice question I will choose all of the above as far as all those things that age, time, and gravity take care of  ;) ;D

As far as the new snow goes, I had to make a trip up to Buckley today (410 to Crystal Mt) and it was 63 degrees!!    >:(  What's up with that?  

Ron I think "plan B" is definitely in effect now that Cayuse is closed.

One last funny note on the X-tal to Chinook traverse.  As usual, I spout off something and then only later go check to see if its correct.  I said Burgdorfer notes it as an early trip, so I go look at the 'Best Time' and it says 'January to April'.  Whaaat? says I.  Then I look in the first edition and it says 'November;April' which is his 'either-or' notation.  I wonder what made him change his mind?

Now I gotta go and check all the tours in common!

Have a good one.

I am sorry to report that, contrary to my earlier claim, neither CharlesW nor I went to Snoqualmie Pass yesterday, so no TR. It just didn't look like it was going to be very much fun. Reading an account of opening day at Crystal in the morning paper makes me think we made a good decision - bad snow, little snow, edges caught on rocks, dislocated shoulders, bloody snow - now that sounds like fun!

I was at CM yesterday for the opening day of the lift season and had much better snow on the Muir snowfield last Friday (12/6). I would highly recommend not paying for a lift ticket and driving and hiking as high as you can get before looking downhill. We are still more then a week away for good backcountry snowboarding days  >:(

Even though I have had a time or two of sort of fun slogging through the wet snow and rain I don't regret not getting on skis Friday. Spoke to a friend who spent a hour thinking of a tour on Kendall knob road. 12 inches or so of wet slush low with a weak crust at 3600 or so where the snow got so heavy, sticky and wet they turned around for saner activities.

Charlesw