May 31 - June 2, 2019, Mt. Daniel
5/31/19
WA Cascades West Slopes Central
1658
3
Video: youtubelink
We brought bikes just in case we couldn't drive to the end of the road, but it was clear of snow all the way. Friday evening we walked up to the top of the switchbacks where we were transitioning to skis when I realized... I DID NOT BRING SKINS! Oh man! I was so looking forward to getting skis and boots off my back. Dammit! I knew that my friend GarrettW was planning to head to the same area the next day, so we tested out my new inReach mini. I was able to text Garrett, who said "you bet!". I just needed to get skins from my house to his before 2am the next day. We all hate to ask, but at the same time, believe that we have handful of friends that we can call on for a 1 hour favor at 8pm on a Friday night. I felt pretty sure I had that in my pocket. But I used up my quota of inReach texts, and I fell short. Dammit! I think the one guy who would have done this for me was standing right next to me, thinking up clever transition jokes!
We camped at the pass below Cathedral Rock and it was a fantastic camp. A sip of whiskey to end the night, two cups of coffee to start June, and we were off at the crack of 8am for Peggy's Pond. Garrett had agreed to bring me a spare pair of skins, but our impatience had me booting to the east peak before the rendezvous. Overall, good skiing before noon.
The mountain was pretty busy. We had a fantastic dry camp above Peggy's Pond that had a view of the mountain. We met and got to watch several groups ski. One highlight was a dinnertime visit from Pavel S and his friend, Sang. We watched them ski on Saturday afternoon, and then we watched them march uphill on Sunday before we even finished coffee. (Video taken from just above our camp shows them team skiing a steep section at 1:15).
On Sunday we woke up to another super clear mild day and walked up (Jamie skinned) the east shoulder of Daniel and had a look into the Circle Lake Basin. It looks like a pretty great ski trip in there. We had a 4:30pm Wenatchee requirement, which required leaving camp at 10am. We turned around at 9:15 and this put us in Wenatchee at exactly the right time. With just two carries (cathedral traverse and squaw lake outflow crossing) we skied all the way to the trail split at the top of the switchbacks, which for me, shall from this day forward be considered the location of epiphany, and from there had a nice walk back to the car.
Garrett did bring me skins. Hero. The road is just now open, but the low snow is almost gone. What is happening?! Early-in is almost too late. We all should go get the good skiing at Daniel asap! It is super good right now.
new sign!
snow slump
Pretty tempting to pond skim that tarn... The cool kids would do it!
nice hat!
summit nails
Garrett and Eric
camp view
Summit view
Skiing
Skiing
Selfie
Circle Lake environs
Views
Watching the show
more views
We brought bikes just in case we couldn't drive to the end of the road, but it was clear of snow all the way. Friday evening we walked up to the top of the switchbacks where we were transitioning to skis when I realized... I DID NOT BRING SKINS! Oh man! I was so looking forward to getting skis and boots off my back. Dammit! I knew that my friend GarrettW was planning to head to the same area the next day, so we tested out my new inReach mini. I was able to text Garrett, who said "you bet!". I just needed to get skins from my house to his before 2am the next day. We all hate to ask, but at the same time, believe that we have handful of friends that we can call on for a 1 hour favor at 8pm on a Friday night. I felt pretty sure I had that in my pocket. But I used up my quota of inReach texts, and I fell short. Dammit! I think the one guy who would have done this for me was standing right next to me, thinking up clever transition jokes!
We camped at the pass below Cathedral Rock and it was a fantastic camp. A sip of whiskey to end the night, two cups of coffee to start June, and we were off at the crack of 8am for Peggy's Pond. Garrett had agreed to bring me a spare pair of skins, but our impatience had me booting to the east peak before the rendezvous. Overall, good skiing before noon.
The mountain was pretty busy. We had a fantastic dry camp above Peggy's Pond that had a view of the mountain. We met and got to watch several groups ski. One highlight was a dinnertime visit from Pavel S and his friend, Sang. We watched them ski on Saturday afternoon, and then we watched them march uphill on Sunday before we even finished coffee. (Video taken from just above our camp shows them team skiing a steep section at 1:15).
On Sunday we woke up to another super clear mild day and walked up (Jamie skinned) the east shoulder of Daniel and had a look into the Circle Lake Basin. It looks like a pretty great ski trip in there. We had a 4:30pm Wenatchee requirement, which required leaving camp at 10am. We turned around at 9:15 and this put us in Wenatchee at exactly the right time. With just two carries (cathedral traverse and squaw lake outflow crossing) we skied all the way to the trail split at the top of the switchbacks, which for me, shall from this day forward be considered the location of epiphany, and from there had a nice walk back to the car.
Garrett did bring me skins. Hero. The road is just now open, but the low snow is almost gone. What is happening?! Early-in is almost too late. We all should go get the good skiing at Daniel asap! It is super good right now.
new sign!
snow slump
Pretty tempting to pond skim that tarn... The cool kids would do it!
nice hat!
summit nails
Garrett and Eric
camp view
Summit view
Skiing
Skiing
Selfie
Circle Lake environs
Views
Watching the show
more views
Great report and beautiful pictures, Mike! It was a fun weekend up there and we sure enjoyed visiting your camp and chatting. We should try next year, same time.
A friend for "skin" mountain delivery was great. At least you had the skis, poles and boots!
Photos and video are great. ;)
Photos and video are great. ;)
Thank the maker, it was not me that forgot my skins, I would have cried like the whiner baby I am and said this trip is over let's go home, but Mike never missed a beat, and just started booting. It was a slog fest for him, and I still could not keep up! Thanks for a great trip Mike/and all the great folks we met along the way (more TAY friends).
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