2/25/06 Sass Ridge.

Hi Dave, we saw you starting out on our drive up valley.  Wondered if a post would result.  The man on foot saw us driving back because of some forgotten gear!  That great triangular slope (scree in summer) in your picture does in fact get occassional high marking.  It can hold beautiful powder because of the NW aspect.  But is totally ruined when highmarked.  Combined with the clearcut unit in your next picture it is a nice amount of turns.  I look for fresh snowmobile tracks at the bottom near the parking area to determine if the slopes will be without highmark damage.  The road approach seems to be their only way in.  Otherwise it would be ashamed to get all the way up there to have the downhill skiing opportunities ruined.   Glad to see it getting explored because it really is a nice opportunity.  At one time I am sure it was signed as a voluntary non-motorized area.  I will check.
Thanks for checking it out, glad you found it worthwhile.
John

So where is this wonderful place for the clueless among us?

This trip and the one I posted for Red Mountain (5880+ft) are both in the Cle Elum River Valley.  Drive I-90 80 miles east from Seattle to the Roslyn/Salmon La Sac exit.  Head north through Roslyn and Ronald for 15 to 20 miles.  At first it is State Route 903 then becomes a county road known as the "Salmon La Sac road" to several plowed parallel parking areas for the various trips.  The only parking requiring a snowpark permit is the actual Jolly Mountain road trailhead parking area.  All the parallel parking on the main Salmon La Sac county road is free of charge.  Signs indicate where allowable parking begins and ends. To avoid a ticket from a county deputy park between posted signs.  All are on the west side of the road.  The parking is located at access points to Hex Mountain, French Cabin Creek, Sasse Mountain/Howson Creek, Cooper River, and Jolly Mountain (free along road outside of the parking pit). The county does the plowing of the roadside parking which is why it is free.  Only Jolly Mountain rock pit area is signed as a State Snowpark requiring a permit.  As I mentioned, one can still park for free on the "Sac" road between the county placed signs (indicating parallel parking permitted), just outside the Snowpark, for access to Jolly Mountain.  Clear as mud?  
Many of these trips are described in the Mountaineers book "Cross Country Ski Tours of the Cascades". They are all of the road tour to some turns up high variety.  Multy day ridgetop traverses connecting the areas and avoiding snowmobiles can be done. Every year I say I will do something like Sasse Ridge, Jolly Mountain/Yellow Hill, or Kachess Ridge to Red Mountain but never seem to get the camping gear out.  The trips I describe above are more of a mid-winter option when deep dumps at the crest make avalanche a significant concern.
Once Spring hits, increasing road access up the Upper Cle Elum River and N. Fk. Teanaway Valleys make destinations beyond these more attractive.  

Thanks for the info.  I sucks to forget gear.
The road we skied up starts just beyond the French Cabin Creek road.  It's on your right and parking in just beyond it.  There's a map on a sign farther down the road with the area marked voluntary no moto.