Memorial Day Weekend at Chinook Pass
5/15/07
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
2533
0
It's hard to make plans when you're in the military and have a love for skiing. Once my friend Aaron and I found out that we could still go skiing up towards Crystal, we're jumped into a plan to get up to the Chinook pass for a couple days. An easy plan though we over packed! We had enough food to last a few weeks, but we didn't care, we were going skiing!
On May 26th, we departed Bremerton, WA late at 8:20AM because Aaron had to work that morning, but it was all good because 2 hours later we were parked up the Pass and checking out were we could camp above the base of Naches Peak. We pitched camp about 1/2 mile from the road had lunch and started climbing. The snow was a bit slushy because it was about 80 degrees, so t-shirts all around! There was nothing short of amazing views of big daddy Rainier and Crystal, so cameras were a great idea to pack although sunscreen would have been a better idea, I'm still feeling some warmth from my skin!
It only took an hour to climb the 1000 ft of vertical terrain were we took a 10 minute break for some photos, then we dropped in! The feeling of snow and my feet in ski boots was better than Christmas because we were skiing on May 26th!
The second run of the day took longer because we climbed the farther and much steeper ridge to get to the real top. Making up the run as we went wasn't hard because the mountain inself looked like a ski area and had precut runs! Later I found out that Naches peak was a ski area with a rope tow way back in the day!
Freezing levels that night got down to 5000ft and we were about 5400ft, so it got a little chilly! But the next morning there was a soft misty rain that just killed us. We didn't know what to do, so pb&j for breakfast and then we hiked up! The climb nearly killed me because I was dehydrated from the drinks I had the night before, but I summited and the last run of the trip was absolutely amazing! The misty rain helped! I wanted more, but my body said no!
The hike out was a bitch, but there was nothing I would have changed about any of the 2 days!
On May 26th, we departed Bremerton, WA late at 8:20AM because Aaron had to work that morning, but it was all good because 2 hours later we were parked up the Pass and checking out were we could camp above the base of Naches Peak. We pitched camp about 1/2 mile from the road had lunch and started climbing. The snow was a bit slushy because it was about 80 degrees, so t-shirts all around! There was nothing short of amazing views of big daddy Rainier and Crystal, so cameras were a great idea to pack although sunscreen would have been a better idea, I'm still feeling some warmth from my skin!
It only took an hour to climb the 1000 ft of vertical terrain were we took a 10 minute break for some photos, then we dropped in! The feeling of snow and my feet in ski boots was better than Christmas because we were skiing on May 26th!
The second run of the day took longer because we climbed the farther and much steeper ridge to get to the real top. Making up the run as we went wasn't hard because the mountain inself looked like a ski area and had precut runs! Later I found out that Naches peak was a ski area with a rope tow way back in the day!
Freezing levels that night got down to 5000ft and we were about 5400ft, so it got a little chilly! But the next morning there was a soft misty rain that just killed us. We didn't know what to do, so pb&j for breakfast and then we hiked up! The climb nearly killed me because I was dehydrated from the drinks I had the night before, but I summited and the last run of the trip was absolutely amazing! The misty rain helped! I wanted more, but my body said no!
The hike out was a bitch, but there was nothing I would have changed about any of the 2 days!
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