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Topic: may 21, copper peak circumnav (wa pass) (Read 1647 times)
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allyson
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Posts: 233
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cass and i took off for a ride to the countryside of the n. cascades on saturday afternoon. forecasts called for clouds to be moving in by sunday afternoon, so we were hoping to catch a good ski window in the sun up there. we had plans to possibly ski kangaroo ridge, but driving by on saturday, we noticed how little snow there was by the road where we were planning to start, and how much there was by the hairpin. hmmm...we decided to be flexible and make a decision in the morning.
we camped at klipchuck campground, and were up early with the sun. partly cloudy? we didn't see a cloud in the sky, but we weren't complaining. we headed back up to the hairpin (~5200') and began skinning by 7:15am. the plan was to head up the alternate birthday tour route backwards, watch the weather, and decide to head to kangaroo or copper once we gained the pass. the snow was very firm, and a bit tough to skin on once it got steep. so we put crampons on and slowly booted our way up to pass #1--early winters creek/twisp river pass-- at 6700'.
weather was still our kind of "partly cloudy" (aka--not a cloud in the sky), so we decided to continue up the 'alternate birthday tour backwards' route. crampons were easier to climb in as the snow was still quite firm, and we headed up to pass# 2--copper creek/twisp river divide n. of copper peak--at 7400'. once up there, we could see a band of clouds far off coming our way, but we decided, now that we were almost halfway, to complete the copper peak circumnav.
we skiied down 700' on corn that was still a little too frozen...but not bad under the sunny skies. after chatting with another solo skiier who was doing the b-day tour forwards, we continued on to copper pass (pass # 3). we had to boot up another steep 200' section to gain the pass, and again, crampons made this easier (though cass shimmied up it without--he's crazy!  ). here we had lunch, enjoyed the views, and waited for the corn to be just right.
clouds in the distance were getting darker, bigger, and closer, so around noon we decided to get ourselves going. we enjoyed a sweet 1300' descent into the n. fork of the twisp river valley, just s. of copper pass. the top part was wide open and smooth, the kind of corn we'd been waiting for. the last 500-600' we had to work our way through dwarf trees and some slide alder--but nothing like the 'shwacking we've done in the past...  . again i was reminded how much easier it is to go through shrubs on skis than on a snowboard.
we began skinning again at 5400', and traversed a bit through the trees. we climbed up gradual slopes with many fantastic views of the kangaroo. clouds continued to builld around us, though it remained very warm. we booted the last 200' or so (this time no crampons needed) to pass #4, aka pass #1 to complete the circle. it was very windy at the top, and clouds now covered the whole area, threatening us. we quickly tore off skins and took off back to the hairpin.
the final 1500' was probably the best corn we'd had all day! and going down is so much more fun than going up  . we made it back to the car by 2:15, and took a hitchhiker back to blue lake th. cass had buried a couple beers in the snow in the morning, and just as we cracked them open, the first raindrops fell. yes! we beat the rain! and nothing finishes a trip better than a beer and gummi bears waiting for you at the end. cheers to another great trip, cass!
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snowshoe?? why would you??
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bivywack
5Member
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Posts: 16
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Nice work. I was up there with a few friends. Did you pick up a hitchhiker that went back for another hitchhiker? If so, the second hitcher was one of our party. Thanks so much for making our trip back to the Blue Lk TH a lot easier.
It was a beautiful day at Washington Pass, and we also enjoyed a few beers in rain!!
I was going to post a TR with the snow conditions, but it looks like you covered that splendidly. 
B
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kam
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Posts: 511
WWW
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nice report Allyson. and great photos, Cass...
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What do you mean you didn't bring skis?
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Michael
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Posts: 153
WWW
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Great pictures - way to maximize the use of the weather window by heading up North!
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cascadesfreak
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Posts: 366
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Did you pick up a hitchhiker that went back for another hitchhiker? If so, the second hitcher was one of our party. Thanks so much for making our trip back to the Blue Lk TH a lot easier. No problem! Glad you were able to complete your trip before the rain set-in as well 
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markharf
Member
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Posts: 587
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I had a great half-day ski in this area on Saturday afternoon (Spire Gully and Madison Avenue). Snow was wet, well-consolidated and not-intolerably-sticky, even leaving the parking lot at 2:30 PM. Despite the drastic meltdown of this past week, conditions are far superior to last year (and there's some potential freshening on the way later this week). Nice to see someone taking advantage of that nice weather Sunday morning....while we slept, waiting for the sun to hit the tent.
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