January 24, 2007, Silver Creek, Wenatchee NF
1/24/07
WA Cascades East Slopes Central
2380
1
Events of the past 6 weeks conspired to prevent me from skiing any of the recent great snow, so with conditions looking to be crunchy David and I headed to Silver Creek, near Easton. Quite a bit more snow than 6 weeks ago at the parking at 2200 feet and on the trail up to the hanging valley.
In the fog on the trail climb to the hanging valley:
Definitely crunchy in the forest of the lower valley, then a little better around 4400 feet, then solidly frozen smooth in the meadows at 4800 feet. The sun was out and we did a little run around 5000 feet on perfect January spring corn.
David harvesting some corn:
This was an open south facing slope - everything else was very unattractive for turning. The glide down the meadows was great fun, then the stiff snow in the forest as the valley dropped was not fun at all. Beyond that the fast snow under the trees allowed us to make good time to the lip of the hanging valley. For the first time in my ~12 trips it was possible to ski the trail for the entire 1200 foot drop to the trailhead, and the top 800 feet was actually fun. The last 1.5 miles of road glide/skate/double poling was a bit tedious given my tired state. From this experience, if I were able to ski this weekend and looking for turns, I'd be looking for south-facing slopes getting some sun warming.
West Peak from Silver Creek Meadows:
In the fog on the trail climb to the hanging valley:
Definitely crunchy in the forest of the lower valley, then a little better around 4400 feet, then solidly frozen smooth in the meadows at 4800 feet. The sun was out and we did a little run around 5000 feet on perfect January spring corn.
David harvesting some corn:
This was an open south facing slope - everything else was very unattractive for turning. The glide down the meadows was great fun, then the stiff snow in the forest as the valley dropped was not fun at all. Beyond that the fast snow under the trees allowed us to make good time to the lip of the hanging valley. For the first time in my ~12 trips it was possible to ski the trail for the entire 1200 foot drop to the trailhead, and the top 800 feet was actually fun. The last 1.5 miles of road glide/skate/double poling was a bit tedious given my tired state. From this experience, if I were able to ski this weekend and looking for turns, I'd be looking for south-facing slopes getting some sun warming.
West Peak from Silver Creek Meadows:
glad to see that you got out for some turns Charles!
and what perfect timing to see a trip report before the sunny weekend...I had my fingers crossed that someone would post a TR that included the words 'spring corn' :)
cheers!
and what perfect timing to see a trip report before the sunny weekend...I had my fingers crossed that someone would post a TR that included the words 'spring corn' :)
cheers!
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