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This old version of Trip Reports is no longer being updated. It is being kept as an archive of ~340 backcountry skiing trip reports posted from April 2001 through August 2002. The new version Trip Reports is where new trip reports are currently being posted; it also has copies of the ~340 older trip reports and is searchable.
April 2002 Trip Reports

April 30, 2002
Snoqualmie Pass:

"Mike and I climbed through old-growth forest and then up an average 35 degree SW-facing open slope to about 5300'. A warm sunny day. The forest snow was first crunchy and dirty, progressing as we climbed to smooth and clean in openings, with up to 6" of loose large-grained surface snow. On the open slope, the snow appeared to have frozen overnight, but not deeply, so with our late start we were kicking steps in 6-8" of the loose large-grained snow, which was underlain by a fairly strong large-granular layer. In places a boot or pole would penetrate this layer and sink into another 6-8" of loose large-grained snow. The ski back down was very good, and much better than we anticipated, as the strong layer held up and the surface snow did not act as deep or slow as we expected. The snow appeared quite stable, with just a few large pin-wheels and a few very shallow (less than 2") slow-moving snow snakes. We were able to ski back down through the woods to about 3000'.
  Photos from this trip can be viewed here"
Charles (tay@turns-all-year.com)


April 27-28, 2002
Mt. Baker Table Mt.:

"Using the Mountaineers Lodge as base camp, we headed out at 9 am to find beautiful sunny skies and consolidated snow we proceeded to make the loop around Table Mountain. At the saddle between Ptarmigan Ridge and Table Mountain, we Yo Yoed on wonderful corn. There was some surface sluffing, but nothing gave way. We were again rewarded with good snow sking down from Hermans Saddle to Bagley Lakes, although the sun made it sloppy on the bottom third of the run.
   We went out again on Sunday to Lake Ann and had another great day. We spotted the other group that went over around the butte to the steeper slopes. Wow that looked like fun. We'll have to go back to do that sometime."
Don Thompson


April 27, 2002
Blewett pass to Diamond Head:

"We decided to head east in search of better weather, at Snoqualmie the temp. was 32 and what was falling could be called snow. A few miles down the east side and the temp. rose to 37. I-90 to Cle Elum brought us heavy snow, snow and rain mix, and just heavy rain, with a brief dry period north of Cle Elum on 97. As we drove up Blewett pass the snow started to fall again, hard at times, the snow plows were at work, we were happy. At the so-park we were greeted by 6-8" of new on the ground and more falling. Skinning in 3 miles over rolling terrain I wondered if this was the right trip to try T'1's on? Snowfall slowly stopped. cloud cover broke and the sun made an appearance. Finally we started skinning up on 30-35 degree slopes through some large Western Larch [ Larix Occidentalis] made all the more difficult by the 2-4 inches of snow sticking to the skins despite repeated applications of glop stopper. In places we found 10-12-14 inches of new and wind deposited snow. Had a bite to eat just below Diamond Head with views to the South and wondered if all the skinng was worth a platry 1200 vertical. Our turns through the foot of new made all the heavier by rising temp's and strengthing sunshine were less then graceful with several grunts, oomph's, and similar cries of disbelief at our inability to ski this as we wanted. Running our ski track back out we dodged falling snow and dripping water from the trees, with most of the them bare as we reached the car. Black Butte Porters in hand Dan and I wondered how the window in his Trooper was broken and could only guess? A winter to spring tour you might say."
Paul


April 28, 2002
Mt. Baker area:

"I never did this trip before. I heard horror stories of 7-8 miles of walk in logging road before the approach. So I took my Mt. Bike. 3 miles of slogging up the road on my bike with my skis and boots was tough but the snow level was low enough to end this quickly. Then it was another 3 miles of road skiing until we left the road and went straight up the west ridge of the South Sister. It was direct and obvious. But instead of taking the rocky 3rd to 4th class climbing West Ridge we saw the north face slope looks good for skiing. So we did an easy traverse and went straight up the north ride. The snow was hard and a little crusty on top. But it was pure corn snow skiing and despite the sun and heat I didn't sink deeper than 4 inches. I thought it was going to be mushy but the snow was fabulous. I was waiting for this after we have been hit with constant bad stormy weather lately."
JERSAN@SAFECO.COM


April 27-28, 2002
Paradise, Mt. Rainier N.P.:

"Paradise got 3 inches of new snow Friday night. We were up there for the annual Seattle Mountaineers Glacier Travel/Crevasse Rescue Class this past weekend with new snow for Saturday and good snow conditions for Sunday. There had been a lot of surface slides on Saturday from the new snow over a bombproof base. Looks like it had settled down by Sunday. In fact there were a few brave souls that had skied from Muir down the Nisqually chutes (not setting off anymore slides) and then they continued on down toward the Nisqually Glacier Bridge.
   Pics from the crevasse rescue practice can be seen here."
Jeanette


April 28, 2002
Mt. Baker backcountry:

"We were four this Sunday, all male, middle-aged and in full-fledged denial of our various frailties. One of our party skied Pellastovas, which are intolerably-almost insultingly-scrawny skis, matched to low, flimsy and in other respects clearly inadequate footgear. Thankfully, the remainder of the party made rather more rational choices: big, heavy boards, some of which sported flames, driven by beefy bindings and huge, manly boots.
   We chose a roundabout tour, beginning with a climb, descent and another climb to Lake Anne, then rambling up and down along the ridge which connects lake and "butte." It was along this ridge that a couple of civil, but undeniably energetic youngsters overtook us, socialized briefly, then left us gasping for breath in the vortex left by their passing. The descent from Lake Anne Butte featured 1700 feet of pretty good corn on slopes to 45 degrees; photographs were taken and smiles were widespread. I tried to blame my new bindings for a few minor technical imperfections in my own skiing, but it is almost certain that no one believed me.
   My companions demonstrated a degree of healthy skepticism about things in general, but I was nonetheless able to convince them to break one of the cardinal rules of snow-sliding ("Never leave good snow in search of more good snow."). It is possible that I was unusually persuasive this day, or that their defensive common sense had been weakened by the bright sun, warm air, exquisite views and hero snow. In any case, they went for it, based on my promise that what I had in mind would offer snow identical to the wondrous stuff we had just skied, my assurances that descent would be in no way problematic, and my confident prediction that we'd be on our way down by 4:00. So instead of climbing back for another run we circled around, again climbed to Lake Anne, then ascended Shuksan Arm and began touring west along the rolling crest toward an area much beloved by lift-serviced skiers but not often visited by the likes of us. Unfortunately, a minor obstacle (in the form of an impassable ice cliff) forced a change in plans, and we retreated back to the east. A fortuitous slot in a giant cornice allowed us to squeeze onto a remnant piece of the White Salmon Glacier (this involved, however, a short traverse of a slope consisting of 50 degree reforming crust mixed with half-frozen avalanche debris), and down we went. The others mainly skied, while I blundered and blustered and spoke bad words to my bindings.
   At one point we dropped too low and had to climb again, but the skiing was mostly quite good: we were now below the narrow band of crust and skiing mainly fine corn on a firm base...with occasional pockets of mysteriously bottomless and wholly unconsolidated slush to keep us properly humble. By some combination of careful consideration, expert routefinding, and blindly following the tracks of others who'd traversed in from the ski area, we found our way eventually across Rumble Gully and into the deserted ski area. At the lower base lodge, instructors and patrol were hoisting beers to the last day of the season while worker drones stacked chairs and packed up espresso machines. Of course, this was just the bare beginning of what looks like several months of good spring skiing, with a couple of hundred inches of consolidated, high-water-content snowpack at 5000 feet. We saw no signs of major current instability, although there were a few minor sluffs on 45 degree slopes, and lots of pinwheels off ski cuts. Giant cornices are still present on the ridges, glide cracks are everywhere, and the patches of deeper slush were worrisome at times. I also noted the first of the tree pollen stuck to my bases, a sure sign of spring in the Cascades.
   I can testify that Chilis (which I am using as placeholders) are indeed markedly inferior to Cobras: each new Chili required drastic tightening after a couple of hours' skiing, though at quite different times. They certainly offer less transfer of energy to the skis, and noticeably less control. On the other hand, I survived just fine on Chilis for a number of years (until one massive binding explosion early last fall), and these will continue to be of service while I wrassle with an unrelated problem involving my preferred Cobras. Your mileage, as is so often the case, may vary.
   Enjoy. "
Mark


April 25, 2002
Silver Creek, Wenatchee National Forest:

"The forecast promised a nice spring day, and I was hoping for nice spring snow to match. I got it - great snow everywhere, smooth, fast, and nice turning, in the woods and in the open. The road to the trailhead (2400') was passable until the last 100', and the trail was mostly bare until it entered shady slopes at 3000'; after that it was continuous snow up to the lip of the hanging valley (3600'), where there was maybe 6' of snow. Telemetry suggested that Snoqualmie Pass had gotten 8" of new snow three days earlier, but little seemed to make it this far east of the crest - a trace had filtered through the trees at 3600' and about 1" was present on south-facing slopes at 5200'. That trace in the forest was just enough to smooth out the snowpack's slight bumpiness, and the firm snow made for fast travel up the 4 miles of valley which lead to meadows and open slopes.
   I did runs on E- and S-facing open slopes up to 5200', and the snow was perfect - up to 1" sun-softened surface on a smooth, firm, and stable base of medium-grained corn. A few slopes didn't look so perfect: south-facing greater than about 30 degrees (littered with old pin wheels) and north-facing (appeared less consolidated and covered with pin wheels). I tried a new variation on coming back down the valley, staying skier's left of Silver Creek until 4000', making a 1200' run from open slopes of West Peak into big-tree old-growth, all on the best-skiing snow I have ever had there. The rest of the trip back down the valley was enjoyable on the very fast but turnable forest snow. Warm sunshine, waxless skis, no skins, no gaiters - spring has arrived (at least for one day)!
  Photos from this trip can be viewed here."
Charles (tay@turns-all-year.com)


April 20-21, 2002
Mt. St. Helens:

"Seven of us, Jeanette, Dorothea , Maxine, Ray, Charles, Ron and myself started up at 5am under stars /headlamps. Climb was on hard snow/ice but quickly softened - took us 7 hours. Beautiful day at the rim but we were concerned that cloud layer below us would give us some trouble. Our plan was to return on East side of Gulley and that worked out great as it kept us out of all trackage. Turned out the snow softened underneath clouds but made for slow skiing and route finding in that section. We came out of the clouds at Horseshoe Falls. Snow all the way to parking lot always make that return trail fun. We get back to parking lot and another climber comes up and said a earthen dam had burst and the road back to Cougar was washed out. We had to drive to Carson upriver on the Columbia river 60 mi from Portland! Didn't get home till midnight. 5500' climb 6 hr drive. Good thing we are only climbing 2000' at Mt. Hood! I'm looking forward to a little luxury.
   Main thing is the road closure and anybody heading down that way should call Jack's at Cougar 360-231-4276"
   Photos from this trip can be viewed at Wild Hearts.
Robie


April 20, 2002
Mt. Roosevelt, Snoqualmie Pass :

"The forecast called for partly sunny after morning fog on the western slopes. Fooled again. Craig and I tried to ski Mt. Roosevelt at the western end of Snow Lakes. The clouds did not burn off as expected altho there were the few sucker holes to get our hopes up. We climbed up to the ridge separating Source and Snow Lakes and dropped down through 6-12" of moderate mush to the Snow Lakes floor. We crossed over to the base of Mt Roosevelt and climbed up through the trees to avoid the main avy lanes. There was much recent debris and a 8 foot wide pinwheel of snow that dug out a 2 foot trench. No deep releases were seen. We got to 5100' where the visibility stopped. We decided to turn around as we stood in the clouds listening to stuff drop and slide around us. The best things to be said about the descent and the rest of the day was that it didn't rain, no one got hurt, no one broke any gear and we got a nice workout."
Richard Korry


April 19, 2002
Nordic Pass/Tinkham Lake, Snoqualmie Pass:

"I have to admit that, in retrospect, all the warning signs were there, but I guess that I chose to ignore them. The sun was out early, working its radiative damage on the 8-16" of snow which had fallen between Sunday and Tuesday, increasing it cohesiveness as it lay questionably bonded to the solid crust from Saturday's heavy rain; the trees were dripping wildly as the sun shined its smiley face down on the wilderness, shedding their loads onto the increasingly stressed snowpack; steeper slopes were littered with avalanche debris, triggered by tree bombs and massive cornice failures; I was alone and determined to force a long spring tour into new terrain to happen; and, huge gouges had been ripped down into the mashed potato snow by skiers the previous day, and very little refreezing had taken place overnight. The inevitable result was that I found myself trapped in a place I didn't want to be, a place where no rational person would want to be: the land of the terrible tandem telemark skiers. Yes, Robie and Nitzy had taken their tandem tele ski setup (two bindings per ski) to the Silver Fir runs Thursday evening and had trashed the slopes. (Sorry, Mark)
   In reality, it was a great spring trip, perfectly suited to my wide waxless skis, and while most of the above is true, I did explore a new area (for me), got some good runs, and had no problems with avalanches because I didn't venture into steep, open terrain. I started at the base of the Silver Fir lift (closed) and skied up a run to Grand Junction. The snow was actually pretty firm in the morning, but overall softened up well during the day (although it didn't get quite as warm or completely sunny as the forecast had suggested). I made my way over to the old-growth forest, then went through Nordic Pass and down to Windy Pass. The snow was fairly icy where trees had been dripping, but where turns were necessary there were always undripped patches. From Windy Pass I then traversed south along the east slope of Silver Peak, near where the PCT goes, staying at about 3800' to avoid cliffs higher up. After traversing through a lot of forest and crossing a couple of avalanche gulleys, I got into the drainage which comes out of the southeast bowl of Silver Peak. I climbed up the drainage a bit, then climbed south again to reach some tarns near the west end of Tinkham Peak. From there, I climbed SE to the little lake which lies right at the foot of the north face of Tinkham Peak (about 4600'; about 16-18" of snow above the rain crust). Very nice woods and a spectacular face, and great views of Silver Peak's southeast bowl. Good skiing, too, coming back down to my traverse track - the surface crust mostly acted unbreakable, until suddenly it was gone and there was only mashed potatoes. It was only 5:00 when I got back to Windy Pass (far too early to head back to the car!), and I spotted some fresh up-tracks on Olallie clearcut, so I took them and got up into the glades on the west side of the Silver Peak north bowl. The run back down to Windy Pass was actually very good - only about 5" of snow above the crust in the clearcut; Sunday's wind must have blown lots of the new snow away there. I don't think that steep, open slopes, especially with sun exposure, would have been the place to be today in this part of the Cascades.
   I pretty much followed my tracks on the way back. Returning from Grand Junction, I saw what seemed to be bear tracks, made earlier in the day; I followed them all the way to the Silver Fir lift, where I headed down toward my car (more nice turns) and they kept heading toward Central. No photos of skiing, but some nice scenery images can be viewed here."
Charles (tay@turns-all-year.com)


April 14, 2002
Nordic Pass area, Snoqualmie Pass:

"The sky is falling, the sky is falling! Friday night what a lousy forecast, all day Saturday the same with mass e-mailing, phone calls and contingincy plans for Sunday. Even a co-comiseration e-mail from Italy from ski friend Oddo, who is suffering from desert sand from Africa being blown on their snow. "Good thing we don't have desert sand or it would have been in our forcast as well", I thought. Dorothea and I were going to stay at my house, practice tying knots and work on our bikes as backup. 4am Sunday still no promised snow and cold, but 82 mph gusts at Snoqualmie Pass (130 mph gusts at White Pass). Dorothea shows up at 7 and a little snow is starting up at Snoqualmie. Forecast is for Winter Storm, high winds, 4-12" new snow and 2000' freezing level. The forecast was 2 hours late, we hustled and were only 15 min late for meeting with Ron and Charles bottom of closed Silver Fir lift.
   Ok now we have snow and quite a bit of wind. We skinned up a bit above Nordic Pass and lost the wind in the big trees. 2-3" of light fluff on a suprisingly smooth solid base. Highly skiable and getting better as we left. The wind lessened quite a bit and more snow accumulated. By the time we got back to Silver Fir runs, 4-6" new then maybe 8" and most of it unskied. Gee we flat tore it up with out as much as one pang of guilt. Ran into Jeff Spann skiing solo and pressed ganged him into our party. A very good day considering mid-April and high wind forcast. Say if anybody happens to run into a pair of clear bifocals up there. Well maybe find is a better word. They belong to me!
"Photos from this trip can be viewed here.
Robie


April 14, 2002
Coal Pass (Mt. Baker backcountry):

 "For some reason no one wanted to go backcountry skiing today. Some people mentioned the predicted heavy snowfall, hurricane-force winds, atrocious visibility and plummeting temperatures in begging off, while others spoke of the four or five inches of rain that fell to high elevations on Friday and Saturday. One frequent skiing partner, obviously spoiled by years of living on the far side of the Cascades, said "This is the worst forecast I've ever seen," and allowed as how, while I might call him if I wished, he could in no way imagine finding any reason to go skiing under such heinous conditions.
   So I went alone. As a precaution I slept late and woke up slowly, figuring that the longer I waited for conditions to improve, the better my chances would be. While I slept it stopped raining and started snowing, and the Mt. Baker Highway was closed due to trees which were toppled onto the highway and power lines by hundred mile-per-hour winds. After early-rising skiers were delayed for a couple of hours, the highway reopened just as I woke up and staggered into the kitchen. Around noon, waiting for my double latte in Maple Falls, I met Tim Place, who was on his way home already after skiing "a couple of inches of sludge over slush." Thus encouraged, I drove to the snowline on the Coal Creek Road behind the town of Glacier, geared up and began slogging up the road.
   This route came highly recommended by a person who is normally quite reliable in such matters. "Avalanche safe," I believe he called it. This appeared true, for whatever that's worth, by virtue of being a long, flat logging road through untold thousands of acres of unappealing clearcuts, with occasional splotches of monocultured second growth inserted into the landscape at random. I had a few choice words for my informant during the three hours it took me to slog ever so gradually uphill-heavy skis, heavy bindings, heavy boots and all-from 2100 feet to the knob above Coal Pass at 5100 feet. Visibility ranged from pathetic to nil for most of that time, so I dared not strike off through the devastation on my own; instead, I followed the road wherever it took me, making only one unintentional detour (which is to say, I got lost), which fortunately cost me only a bit of time and a few hundred feet of wasted climbing. In the end, having found what I took to be a coal mine buried under 15 feet of snow, I put my faith in the USGS and headed straight uphill to the pass. A fifteen minute sucker hole offered some localized views while I de-skinned, but by the time I set off downhill it was blowing hard on the ridge, snowing like crazy again, and my fingers had turned to stone.
   Skiing was actually remarkably good: 6-10 inches of dry, unconsolidated powder over a firm, wet base, with windslab only along the ridge, where there are also cornices reforming. I got some sluffing in the storm snow on a couple of steep rolls, but for the most part I judged the snow reasonably stable and well-bonded. However, the recent reports of size 4 naturals running in newly isothermal snowpack north of here should be all the caution anyone needs after so much rain.
   With a slight uphill breeze to help, there were face shots on every turn all the way down to 3600 feet, and enough snow had fallen while I was out and about so that I skied directly to the door of my van, just as I prefer to do...though some of this "skiing" consisted of poling myself delicately across a half-inch of slush over plants, dirt and roadbed gravel. On the downhill run I had less opportunity to complain about the post-apocalyptic landscape, too.
   More snow is predicted for tonight, tomorrow and tomorrow night. If I was a man of leisure, I'd be out skiing again without question 12 hours from now. Another four months or so and all this snow'll be gone: carpe diem.
  Enjoy. "
Mark


April 7, 2002
Mark's "Secret Mt. Baker Backcountry Stash #421":

"We suspected it was Mark, Mr. Baker. Sorry, we weren't too friendly. No we didn't really have any plans, since none of us had skied the area much. We picked the place after looking at the map, it looked like a resonable place to explore given the snow condition. Yes, the first bowl was nice. After even nicer skiing the lower half in the next basin, with a bit struggle, we climbed to the ridge top. We saw another big bowl to ski if anyone has extra time and energy. Skiing down this steep couloir was a bit of confidence shaker as the entrance was steep and narrow and the snow was not friendly. As we headed back out, we saw Mark heading into his yet another secret spot, it looked better protected for nice powder to stay around. But it was time to head out for us. Skiing out was already in re-freezing crust, making it very challenging. We felt sorry for you, Mark."
Kenji


April 7, 2002
Secret Mt. Baker Backcountry Stash #421:

"Slept late on Sunday-the change to daylight savings made this the obvious thing to do- and hit the trail at the proverbial crack of noon, following a skin track up through thickening fresh slop toward Herman Saddle and into the no-longer-so-secret bowl where almost everyone I know goes to ski powder on warm days (though every one of us claims to have been skiing there long before anyone else discovered it). A group of four was just ahead of me, looking positively offended at my interloping presence and clearly worried that others might be just behind me. My inquiries about their intentions yielded averted eyes and mumbles about not really having any plans, maybe heading off that way (a vague sweeping motion encompassing at least 180 degrees of mountainous landscape), being out here merely for the sake of something to do and a bit of exercise.....
   Of course, I have mumbled similar things any number of times myself, usually accompanied by the same unwillingness to make eye contact, so I let them ski off into the distance (strong, confident tele turns from three, with one tentative randonne skier following) while I yo-yoed a couple of runs to warm up. Then I followed them, carrying on with my original plan of exploring the down-valley exits towards the Nooksack North Fork. Of course, by that time they had climbed nearly to the top of the steep couloir just around the corner which was their original objective, but I left them to their prize and dropped down towards the valley a thousand feet below. Climbing back out, I met one of them again, dusting himself off after cratering hugely, who maintained rather against common sense and the evidence that they had found nothing worthwhile way up there anyway. I satisfied myself by taking another thousand foot ride through steep glades which ran in syncopated patterns all the way to the valley floor...and which had somehow protected the previous night's powder from the heat of the day.
   By then it was time to pay the piper; it was late, the sun was gone, the lighting flat, and what once was slop had turned to 1300 feet of trap crust. I survived only by making liberal use of the double-poling telemark step turn technique I'd been shown just last week in this very spot by some old geezer I was skiing with at the time-name of Beeve Sarnette, or Sleeve Barbett or something similar. Every now and then I'd try a few fast and aggressive semi-jump turns, just to remind myself what total humiliation felt like. The step turns kept me alive. To pad out my vertical footage I climbed through the ski area to ski some frozen groomers out to the parking lot.
   Conditions were nice and powdery in sheltered glades, reasonable but fading fast in the bowls, and horrendous elsewhere else...though good corn won't be long in forming. 8 inches of storm snow sluffed reliably at 45 degrees but not at 40, with potential releases on the raincrust from late last month just a couple of feet down still a bit worrisome. Forest roads at 2000 feet in the Nooksack valley are still snowed in one to two feet deep, so it'll be a couple more weeks before they start really melting back.
   Enjoy. "
Mark


April 7, 2002
Mazama Ridge, Mt. Rainier N.P.:

"Longmire gate opened shortly after 9:00 a.m. We parked at Narada Falls with designs set on Plummer Peak and the Denman and Pinnacle chutes. There had been significant strong westerly winds and light snow from the previous night, with continued strong wind gusts and temps in the low 30's on Sunday. Skies were broken clouds, with occasional sun breaks. Charles, Ron, and I decided to boot up the hill from Narada rather than skin because of the wind scoured frozen crust. The going was tough, you would break through and sink in up to your knees. Once on top, to the road, the winds were gusting strong at times, making the temps seem colder than the constant 30 degrees that remained throughout the day. Snowshoers coming from an overnight at Pinnacle confirmed gusting winds and breakable crust in that area.
  At that point we decided to head from Reflection Lake to the Inspiration Point saddle, via the lakes trail, to the Mazama Ridge in search of skiable snow. Skied down to the Paradise Valley road on frozen breakable crust with an occasional wind drifted snow pocket. Skinning up the North end of Paradise Valley to the top of Mazama Ridge was wind scoured, breakable crust, and boiler plate, with the occasional wind drifted snow pocket. Visibility was poor with flat light conditions. The ski back down was easier for some, who floated over the breakable crust, while it was more difficult for others who were bucked off, or went over the handlebars, while skiing from boiler plate into breakable crust. Hooked up with the Paradise Valley road and skied through the trees, back to Narada, using the infamous "Zorro" turns in certain areas. All in all it was a good day, will be much better once we get a few more melt freeze cycles for the spring/summer corn."
"Photos from this trip can be viewed here.
Jeanette


April 5-7, 2002
Scottish Lakes:

"Took snowmobile ride in to High Camp (5,000 ft). Climbed Wild Bill Hill, skied Telemark Hill then back up above wild Bill, then down and down wild bill. Stayed at rustic Lodge. Next day skied to Loch Eileen and camped. Skied icy ridge two benches up; some nice breakable crust on the way down. Slept well listening to 50 mph winds in trees; woke to 4 inches of snow. Skied back to Lodge and 4 miles out. Snow variable (all difficult, crust/ice, glop); terrain nice and complex; East of Stevens Pass a few miles."
Andy Carey


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©2002 Charles F. Eldridge,   www.turns-all-year.com