May 27, 2018, Lake Ann, Washington Pass
5/27/18
WA Cascades East Slopes North
1657
0
Wanted to share what we saw in terms of conditions around the Lake Ann/Heather Pass/Maple Pass area this weekend. We'd planned to get up to Heather and Maple Passes, but never having been to the area before, we had a variety of routefinding "challenges" and got up to the lake too late in the afternoon, with snow too soft, to want to ascend to Heather Pass. We got off-trail from the trailhead because we tried keep skinning on the minimal snow and ended up taking far, far longer, and with a lot more bushwhacking, than if we had just loaded skis on our backs and walked the trail. Don't do what we did! We ended up carrying our skis anyway in the end. If you're headed up that way, just pack your skis/board on your back from the trailhead and follow the foot trail everyone else has taken through the forest - even though the snow coverage at the actual trailhead seems good. On the way back out we loaded skis on packs after taking a few turns from the ridge north of the outlet of the lake into the bowl around 5200-5300 feet. Hiking out took maybe 30 minutes. If only we had done that on the way in!
Lake Ann is starting to open up (see photo). There is still technically continuous "ice" from parts of the east short to the west, but the lake is looking pretty melty and most people were choosing to traverse around the south side of the lake before ascending to Heather Pass. We did see a pair of folks cross the ice on the lake in the late afternoon/early evening and they made it safely across... but most folks were not doing this.
We did not observe any natural avalanche activity on the slopes surrounding Lake Ann. The only major cornice is high on the slope west of the lake, below the ascent from Heather to Maple Passes. We heard one instance of rockfall in the evening, we think from the high slopes SE of Maple Pass.
Parking at the Rainy Pass trailhead was fine - there's only space for three cars at the actual trailhead, but the shoulder is well-plowed with ample (infinite?) space up and down the highway for parking. We parked on the shoulder overnight with no problems.
We saw two folks get engaged on the shores of Lake Ann - congratulations, if that was you!
Lake Ann is starting to open up (see photo). There is still technically continuous "ice" from parts of the east short to the west, but the lake is looking pretty melty and most people were choosing to traverse around the south side of the lake before ascending to Heather Pass. We did see a pair of folks cross the ice on the lake in the late afternoon/early evening and they made it safely across... but most folks were not doing this.
We did not observe any natural avalanche activity on the slopes surrounding Lake Ann. The only major cornice is high on the slope west of the lake, below the ascent from Heather to Maple Passes. We heard one instance of rockfall in the evening, we think from the high slopes SE of Maple Pass.
Parking at the Rainy Pass trailhead was fine - there's only space for three cars at the actual trailhead, but the shoulder is well-plowed with ample (infinite?) space up and down the highway for parking. We parked on the shoulder overnight with no problems.
We saw two folks get engaged on the shores of Lake Ann - congratulations, if that was you!
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