February 10, 2007, Earl Peak
2/10/07
2362
1
Not quite Chamonix or the Pickets but a nice viewpoint, tho we were sandwiched between low and high clouds today. Did not realize how close 29 Pines campground is to Seattle: 2hours not 3, so I got an hour sleep in the Tercel Townhouse after arriving early to rainy conditions.
Met RR at 8:30; I was ready to bail, but he considered the weather no problem, just like last year. Eastside weather is definitely a different animal from western. Anyway we got above the low clouds shortly after arriving at the road end with the (totally legal, please no flames) sled assist for six miles (or so?)
We headed straight up a rib instead of following the valley, then traversed to the col south of the summit. East slopes had an inch or two of softening fresh atop corn, west side was more like dry fresh on crust. Fairly breezy on top with the Stuart range under clouds but Rainier fully visible. We skied down the south ridge to the gap, solid crust with some pockets of blown in powder from last night. Then west into the valley on buttered toast, very pleasant out of the wind. Returned to the trailhead on a traverse above the small evergreens near the valley floor until we reached the ridge we used going up. It provided about 500' of nice buttered corn to finish the day, followed by a speedy sled ride back to the car.
Except for the breeze above the south col, the weather today was much warmer than early May last year! Sorry no photos, batteries DOA.
Met RR at 8:30; I was ready to bail, but he considered the weather no problem, just like last year. Eastside weather is definitely a different animal from western. Anyway we got above the low clouds shortly after arriving at the road end with the (totally legal, please no flames) sled assist for six miles (or so?)
We headed straight up a rib instead of following the valley, then traversed to the col south of the summit. East slopes had an inch or two of softening fresh atop corn, west side was more like dry fresh on crust. Fairly breezy on top with the Stuart range under clouds but Rainier fully visible. We skied down the south ridge to the gap, solid crust with some pockets of blown in powder from last night. Then west into the valley on buttered toast, very pleasant out of the wind. Returned to the trailhead on a traverse above the small evergreens near the valley floor until we reached the ridge we used going up. It provided about 500' of nice buttered corn to finish the day, followed by a speedy sled ride back to the car.
Except for the breeze above the south col, the weather today was much warmer than early May last year! Sorry no photos, batteries DOA.
Wow, I skied near Lake Wenatchee today and conditions were very different. Didn't pop out of the dense fog until above 5000ft... so it was mainly a gloomy misty low visibility day. The snow was horrible -> icy, breakable crust, then slush (respectively, at decreasing elevations).
I wish there was a way to find out when a crappy weather forecast actually means blue-bird west of the crest (at least that's what we drove through in the morning), and fog to high elevations on the east... ???
I wish there was a way to find out when a crappy weather forecast actually means blue-bird west of the crest (at least that's what we drove through in the morning), and fog to high elevations on the east... ???
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