5/27: Big Craggy Peak; 5/28: Blue Lake col
5/15/07
4996
5
Lets try something different this Memorial weekend.
A peak in the Pasayten wilderness was a welcomed idea, at least until we arrived near the end of Eightmile Creek road to find no snow.
Well, it looks good to me! I mumbled, and then added softly, It could be worse, like living in Virginia...
There were eight in our group (including Cass, Allyson, Kelvin, Cinnamon, Justin, Darryl and Maureen) and we left Seattle Saturday morning. Before reaching the TH to Big Craggy, we stopped to soak in the view at WA pass:
That evening we camped at a pull-out about a quarter of a mile past the Copper Glance Creek TH (3800) on Eightmile Creek Road (#5130). On Sunday morning I woke the crew at 7am using my new wind-up siren/radio/flashlight. WOW! This is a must-have gadget it does not require batteries, but instead its equipped with a hand crank. Need I say more? By 8:15am we were shouldering our skis up the trail toward the south flank of Big Craggy. Before long, some of us were skinning on what looked like snow. I was dying at this point to slide on my new skis, which by the way were not named yet. (I
Monday: after a nice breakfast in Winthrop, we stopped at WA pass for a quick tour up to Blue Lake col. The weather was very nice blue skies with a comfortable breeze. We saw a handful of skiers in the area. Before returning to Seattle, we made a mandatory stop for Good Food in Marblemount I love that place and their pepper steak sandwich!
More photos:
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A peak in the Pasayten wilderness was a welcomed idea, at least until we arrived near the end of Eightmile Creek road to find no snow.
Well, it looks good to me! I mumbled, and then added softly, It could be worse, like living in Virginia...
There were eight in our group (including Cass, Allyson, Kelvin, Cinnamon, Justin, Darryl and Maureen) and we left Seattle Saturday morning. Before reaching the TH to Big Craggy, we stopped to soak in the view at WA pass:
That evening we camped at a pull-out about a quarter of a mile past the Copper Glance Creek TH (3800) on Eightmile Creek Road (#5130). On Sunday morning I woke the crew at 7am using my new wind-up siren/radio/flashlight. WOW! This is a must-have gadget it does not require batteries, but instead its equipped with a hand crank. Need I say more? By 8:15am we were shouldering our skis up the trail toward the south flank of Big Craggy. Before long, some of us were skinning on what looked like snow. I was dying at this point to slide on my new skis, which by the way were not named yet. (I
 Once out of the trees we were blinded by the views of the rugged Isabella Ridge (including Sherman Peak) and the rocky and complex Craggys. We made our way to a col (7700) which divides the ridge joining West and Big Craggy. From the col, the skiing looked better than I had seen/experience in over 1.5 months. Unfortunately, there was no snow covering the remaining 800 of scree below the summit. Justin and I dropped our gear at the col, ran to gain the summit (8470), then returned to ski down with the others. The Joy-O-Meter registered 38.5% (1800/4670, and this is better than zero)! Can you spot Justin in this photo?<br /><br /><img src=){kind=link}
Monday: after a nice breakfast in Winthrop, we stopped at WA pass for a quick tour up to Blue Lake col. The weather was very nice blue skies with a comfortable breeze. We saw a handful of skiers in the area. Before returning to Seattle, we made a mandatory stop for Good Food in Marblemount I love that place and their pepper steak sandwich!
More photos:
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Kam et al. - We ran into you at the very beginning of your descent from the col. Good to meet you all. Despite the discussion about how the snow was probably better on the blue lake side, we opted to ski down the backside to the hairpin anyway. It was better than we expected. Pictures coming soon.
great photos guys (i especially like 'wu manchu' ;D) and another memorable memorial day trip. i was glad to get out and enjoy some washington mountains again! and as always there were lots of laughs and funny moments. thanks everyone for coming out and for making the trip such a blast--see you next month! 8)
Another epic car camp Memorial Day trip!
Lucky for us that Kam brought a wind-up siren so that he could alert us of imminent dangers. Of course, he first had to yell at us to be quiet so that we could hear the siren. It's pretty effective.
Lucky for us that Kam brought a wind-up siren so that he could alert us of imminent dangers. Of course, he first had to yell at us to be quiet so that we could hear the siren. It's pretty effective.
Awesome guys! Big Craggy ski -- great idea. Really enjoyed the TR. I posted a link to it from my website. --Scott
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