April 29, Mt Ellinor
4/15/07
WA Cascades East Slopes North
2602
2
Our original plan was to do Mount Saint Helens but thinking twice with Sunday's initial forecast, headed first for Granite Mountain, then at Issaquah noticed the Olympics in full sun in the rear view mirror. Pulled a U-turn and parked just past the Mt Ellinor lower trailhead at 11am. The road still has some unnavigable snow for a couple of sections but should melt out fast with the warm days coming soon to gain vehicle access to the upper trailhead.
Clouds begin to move in as we approached the summit - arrived 2pm or so. The snow was unconsolidated mush for the most part but in general skiable. It gets a little tricky in the narrowest part of the chute in that there is a deep glissade track and then a chaos of plunge steps going side to side-maybe will be best in a few more weeks as the snow fully consolidates and you hit it at corn o'clock. I saw no rocks yet in the chute so should be good skiing for a while yet depending on what spring does with the temps. As always, the views are superb-Lake Cushman and the Great Bend of the Hood Canal - sweet...
Clouds begin to move in as we approached the summit - arrived 2pm or so. The snow was unconsolidated mush for the most part but in general skiable. It gets a little tricky in the narrowest part of the chute in that there is a deep glissade track and then a chaos of plunge steps going side to side-maybe will be best in a few more weeks as the snow fully consolidates and you hit it at corn o'clock. I saw no rocks yet in the chute so should be good skiing for a while yet depending on what spring does with the temps. As always, the views are superb-Lake Cushman and the Great Bend of the Hood Canal - sweet...
Great call. A week ago on Granite, the skiable snow line was ~at or slightly below the top of the big avy gully on the South side. I'm not familiar with Ellinor, but I'd guess you found a more pleasant route , at least for the non-skiing part of the route, over that way.
Yeah I skied Granite a few weeks ago and the ski off the summit was really good with well consolidated snow, although really prone to point release avalanche - no wonder Granite has that bald top and deep runneled gullies - I've seen the avalanche debris early in the spring...ouch.
If you don't mind kicking back on a ferry boat, I find Ellinor to be a great day trip from Seattle - nice drive along the Hood Canal to Hoodsport and short approach (especially once the upper trailhead melts out).
If you don't mind kicking back on a ferry boat, I find Ellinor to be a great day trip from Seattle - nice drive along the Hood Canal to Hoodsport and short approach (especially once the upper trailhead melts out).
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