May 12, 2002, Naches Peak, Chinook Pass

While there were those that claimed Cayuse was not open yet, there were enough that believed the same info we had to end up with 6 or 7 hearty souls sharing the (south) summit of Naches, including Brent Hostetler and his ski buddy Eric. Also ran into eastside (of Rainier) guru Eva on the way up. The road over Chinook is cleared to almost the first switchback on the west and past the summit on the east side.

Most aspects were reasonable stable with nice, sweet corn but the ones that had seen the most sun since the foot or so dump a week earlier had an extra melt/freeze cycle or two in the recent snowpack and were the best. Steep (35-40 degrees) north and east aspects sloughed easily especially as the day got warmer. The sun and high temps urged us to forego laps, arriving back at the car by 1:00. Pics are posted here.

Ron Jarvis