We hadn't been up to ski North Cascades Pass since it opened early this month. Last week I tried with a friend but forecasted avalanche danger scared us away. Then I heard from another skier that the skiing was fine. Missed opportunity last weekend; wasn't going to let that happen again, especially since the weather forecast promised sunshine and warm temperatures. The avalanche forecast was still high because the mountains had received yet another storm during the week. Still, we knew we could at least ski the tight trees.
Randy and I left this morning before 6:00 a.m. After a stop at Safeway for breakfast and lunch we went through Arlington then Darrington to Rockport where we turned east onto Hwy 20, the North Cascades Hwy. The roads had very little traffic which must've been nice for the few bicyclists we saw on the road. We talked about riding that route someday.
At the Easy Pass trailhead there was only one other car. The driver was getting ready to ski with his dog. He left a few minutes ahead of us. We slathered on the sunscreen as the day was sunny and warm already. Unfortunately I forgot a sun hat. Oh well… The ski started down the road to the actual trailhead. We entered the woods on the trail then had to take off our skis a little while later to negotiate a part of the trail that had melted out already. Skis back on, travel a little ways, then off again to cross the log bridge. After the bridge, the skis were on for the duration.
The summer trail was fairly easy to follow through the woods. There was a track from the previous day. The problem with tracks like these is that they can be all over the place. For the most part we were able to see where the trail went. Eventually we popped out in an open area that looked like it had an avalanche history, based on the few trees that were pointed downslope. Still, it looked like a promising down route because the terrain was fairly low angle. We crossed the open area to another treed ridge, navigated through that. I should mention that from the beginning of our ski we could hear avalanches coming down from nearby Greybeard Mountain every few minutes. This ridge we chose to travel is above the drainage where the summer trail goes. This drainage is where all the rubble from the Greybeard avalanches were collecting. We were no longer following the summer trail at that point but staying safe on the ridge.
The higher we skied the more evidence of recent avalanches we saw. The open area we were admiring earlier was full of avalanche rubble pretty much from the other line of trees to the line we traveled. So we stayed in the trees, worked our way around a cliff band, got to near the top of the ridge but stopped because there was evidence of avalanches to our left, in front of us, and to our right. That limits our travel options. Unfortunately the ridge was just above us and it was really tempting to chance it just so we could go see how far away we were from Easy Pass. We also noticed that the other skier (whom we had passed near the beginning) had turned around. All those cues made our decision to turn around fairly easy. Though I will say again that the temptation to just get up to the ridge, which was probably less than 100' above us, was strong. We didn't. We started the ski down, still listening to all the avalanches coming down Greybeard.
Since our travel options were limited we stayed in this narrow line between the avalanche rubble and the trees we had come up. The snow was mush, like soggy mashed potatoes. Hard to turn. But, having learned my lesson about skiing in soft snow in Tuckerman Ravine, I had waxed my skis. Turning was actually fairly manageable, even in the tighter trees, which is usually difficult for me.
Eventually we got down to treeline that would take us all the way back to the trailhead. The snow was quite a bit harder, cupped from the melt/freeze cycle, and covered in needle cast and fallen moss. Negotiating the trees on our skis took a long time. Eventually we decided to take our skis off and just bootpack. Except that was worse. I kept breaking through to my hips and in the process getting whacked in the back of the head with my skis that were attached to my pack. Skis were safer on my feet. This was probably the first time I ended up with more bruising by NOT skiing rather than skiing. Progress has been made! Fortunately we were near the bottom of the trail by then.
Again we had to take off our skis to negotiate the bridge then again to walk over the dry part of the trail. After that we were able to ski all the way to the truck. It had taken us as long to ski down as it did to ski up. The route through the trees was tough to negotiate both up and down and the ski conditions were only good in a short section just below where we turned around.
It was good to get out for the exercise and to be in the sunshine. All the avalanches off Greybeard were unnerving but we felt like we made the best choices possible, even if it meant not going that last 100' to the ridge. Once we got a little lower we could see that where we turned around was actually at least a 200' higher than Easy Pass. And gaining the ridge would've meant being directly under a cliff band, which are notorious for letting go of snow. We feel like we achieved our mission, including coming home in one piece.
Here are the pictures.