April 2, 2006, Cyrstal to Chinook Pass

Not much to offer in terms of pictures due to the mostly white up and down.  The east face of Nachees Peak looked interesting at the Pass.  It was fun to explore the backcountry, it's been a while.  The distance still counts ;)

Great sounding trip, went in to Chinook last Monday as a recon for the annual opening projct and probed 200-250 inches of snowpack in the summit/arch area. (Also managed to ski some sweet powder off of North Side of Yakima Peak.) Just wanted to throw out the usual spring warning about both ski released an explosive control avalanche work to commence in the next couple weeks from the eastside.  Also a potential for a minor shot or two to protect road crew clearing Cayuse east and west of SR123 summit.  Saw some slick access from Crystal, a safety conscious trio had descended Big Bertha or Mather "Y" slide paths from top of CM down to 123 and then swapped into inline skates for the pavement carve back to the CM gate.  I was SO impressed with functional use of recreational technology.
Anyway, full WSDOT control efforts begin the 2nd week of April on East side of Chinook so extreme caution is in order midweek.  Folks touring over from Crystal should be very aware of those operations.  Thanks   Gib

Thanks for the info Gib!

When does Chinook Pass usually open? Should it be longer than normal with the deep snowpack?

Sorry Sean, didn't catch the needed reply til just yesterday.  Traditional opening is for Memorial day weekend but as you've noted, the deeper snowpack makes it less certain. Even more of the factor is May weather - seems around Rainier and Chinook the snow can continue to build.  With the highway basically mid-track any new snow keeps peeling off and they wind up clearing the same stretch many times to make any forward progress.  Also just heard of a washout and rockslide not far south of Cayuse that may delay it's opening.