Lichtenberg Mt circumnav

RS and I, plus Karly the adventure dog, headed out from Seattle on Saturday to Lichtenberg Mt, intrigued by reports of good skiing the weekend before. We arrived at Smithbrook Rd turnoff and parked. Head out the road, around the North side of Lichtenberg, went up and over the saddle at about 5100 ft, and dropped into Valhalla Lake. The slopes to the North, above Union Gap looked great, and is on the to-do list next year. Gorgeous area, I really need to check it out in the Summer.  We climbed out of the lake basin and contoured onto the open southwest face of Lichtenberg. Here, I broke the plastic plate to the G3 heel lifter on the splitboard, so climbing became less of a priority. We were looking at about a 1400 foot ski down to the drainage.

The snow was gorgeous on the shadier slope heading into Valhalla Lake. However, the long southwest face of Lichentenberg Mt was surfaced with 4 inches of very wet slop atop a more cohesive granular layer. Things started sliding, and loads of debris from skiiers who had taken a line above our position littered the slope. Big pinwheels. We chose an open line and dropped in. We enjoyed slow, sticky, strange turns, and moved a lot of snow along with us. Skinned out along the drainage to Yodelin road, then along the highway, and finally out to the highway and the car.

Rob scoping the basin on the North side of Lichtenberg Mt

Karly checking out the slop

Rob dropping in