March 25, 2007, Cascadian Couloir, Mt Stuart

It wasn't supposed to turn out this way. Saturday was one of those days where you stayed inside and finished those long-overdue house projects. With rain dripping from the roof here in Leavenworth and similar reports in Seattle, the outlook for a Mt Stuart ski the following day was looking pretty grim. But there was hope...the weather was changing, with freezing levels dropping overnight and small amounts of snow predicted. Depending on where you clicked on the NOAA weather site you could actually find sun in the Cle Elum area for Sunday.

Here is a description of our day, posted by Aaron on . We skinned most of route in pow and wind buff conditions, , some wind buff and minimal crust. All in all, a brilliant outing."

Gear Notes:
Snomos for the road approach. Harscheisen for the skinning. Pons and axes for the false summit headwall and the summit traverse, if you are so inclined.

Approach Notes:
Snomo approach is mostly covered, with only a few 50 meter+ bare spots. The snow on the road was ultra slushy though, so I doubt it will be in shape much longer.

This was my first time up Mt Stuart and as we made those first turns from the false summit, I couldn't help but realize how lucky we are here in Washington to have such amazing terrain.

On a side note: I thought it would be entertaining to wear my heart-rate monitor to see how a 10-hr day on skis compares to a mountain bike race. Unfortunately it didn't work the entire time but I estimated an average HR of maybe 135 and ~ 6000 calories burned. Like I always say, backcountry skiing is great base training for the upcoming race season!