Jan 14, 2007, - Mt. Catherine, south side

Headed up the southern slopes of Mt. Catherine yesterday via the nordic tracks to Windy Pass.  Conditions not much different than the other Snoqualmie-area reports w/ 4-5" on top of the boilerplate crust.  Made for some tough and slippery skinning (ski crampons would have been perfect) as we reached the summit ridge (~4,700) and opening of views to the north.  Heading down the skiing was fast (one friend slid down 100'+ through the trees after getting his pole caught) and at times more survival skiing and mixing in the alpine turns ::).  Much easier to link quality turns w/ the lower angle aspects the last few hundred feet.  Once back on the nordic trail we were able to cut through the trees twice between the big switchbacks for some more turns.  A cold day, but beautiful in the sun.  Overall, maybe too much skinning on nordic trail on this tour, but a great day nevertheless.  But cruising by the nordic skiers and snowshoers makes you feel like some sort of an extreme athlete!!  haha