February 21, 2008, McClellan Butte, East Face
2/21/08
WA Snoqualmie Pass
2323
1
On February 21st I skied the McClellan Butte East Face from the ridge south of the summit (~5000ft).
After two attempts in 2006 I gave it another try yesterday and started skinning ALL of the forest road at 6.15. There's still a lot of snow at 1300 feet and while a high clearance vehicle will make it up parts of the road, a '92 Subaru probably doesn't. The current conditions do add a little bit of approach not only to this tour, but also to ski/climb the North Face Couloir. The coverage is really good, so there's no bushwhacky part when you leave the forest road to traverse below the East Face proper. Skiing conditions on the East Face were nothing to write home about - Cascadian Concrete at its finest. But it really wasn't that bad and it sure is a long ski run.
a few pictures:
After two attempts in 2006 I gave it another try yesterday and started skinning ALL of the forest road at 6.15. There's still a lot of snow at 1300 feet and while a high clearance vehicle will make it up parts of the road, a '92 Subaru probably doesn't. The current conditions do add a little bit of approach not only to this tour, but also to ski/climb the North Face Couloir. The coverage is really good, so there's no bushwhacky part when you leave the forest road to traverse below the East Face proper. Skiing conditions on the East Face were nothing to write home about - Cascadian Concrete at its finest. But it really wasn't that bad and it sure is a long ski run.
a few pictures:
Nice work Armin - good job knocking it off!
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