Month: March 2012

We often ski the north side of an area known as Smithbrook, which is so named because of a dirt road that is open in the summer.  We've seen the south side in all the years that we've driven to the trailhead to go north but crossing the highway with our skis discouraged us from trying it.  However, when familiarity breeds contempt (or boredom) for the north side, we opted to explore the south side on a warm-ish day that promised tree bombs and heavy snow.  What could go wrong?

Here is our proposed route.  Note that we park on the north side of the divided highway, ski west along the bank to where the highway joins together, figure out how to get down the bank (requires a shovel to build a platform and stairs) the scoot across the highway carrying our skis.

Here's a nice slope to consider skiing on a less sloppy day.

And here it is looking up.

Some obstacles to cross.

Another obstacle.

A pretty!

Cool snow formation.

Once we got a little higher in elevation we decided to turn around.  The terrain was getting steeper, the trees were dripping which might mean some snow above us slipping down.

The ski down was difficult.  The snow was heavy, difficult to make turns, and there were a lot of obstacles to avoid.  I followed Randy down the first long pitch, fell a lot, cursed, got wet from the sloppy snow.  We reached the logging road we had followed in to my relief.

Relief was soon replaced by boredom as logging roads are long and dull, full of switchbacks that make the route longer.  I found an opening that would cut off at least one long switchback and get us down faster.  I took the first run down and found it easier to ski since I didn't have to negotiate over the lines Randy had made.  The terrain rolled sideways.  We were in a drainage and a creek was below the snow under us.  We could see the water through open holes.  Another obstacle to avoid.  Near the bottom the trees were so thick that we took off our skis and boot-packed to the last section of road.

Not too much later we reached the highway.  After we crossed, here is how we got back up the bank on the other side:

Nice toe holds!

It was an interesting day, which scouting trips usually are. Some of the terrain is inviting enough to try it again in the future.  This is the year of exploration!

In January of 2009 we attempted to ski Jolly Mountain but fell short of our goal, largely because the conditions were difficult: breakable crust.  Then we had stayed in a motel because we didn't yet have a camper.

This year was our year of accomplishing our missions, as we proved on January 1 when we accomplished our mission of skiing to Lake Valhalla.  That was another ski we had tried a few years ago and fell short.

I had been sick with a rotten head cold for two weeks but was ready to stretch my legs and blow out the rest of the head cold with a long ski.  Leaving Friday night after work is always stressful and this time did not prove to be any different.  There was some snapping and snarling but we got over it.  Bellevue traffic was predictably awful.  We stopped in Issaquah at our favorite watering hole to wash away the stress of driving I-405 on a Friday night hauling a camper.  Yeesh.

We pulled into the snow park (a plowed parking lot usually for snowmobilers but anyone with a pass can park there) around bed time.  We were the only vehicle in the lot so we had our pick of camping spots.  Not too much later a fancy RV towing a snowmobile trailer pulled into the lot and parked opposite of us.

In the morning we ate breakfast, waited for daylight, then got ready to ski.  On an online forum we had read about a pair who often ski up and camp on the route up to Jolly Mountain.  We easily found their skin track and followed it up.  Soon enough we saw their tents on a nice flat spot with a view.  Since their skis were outside the tents we assumed they were inside taking a nap so we quiety skinned on by.  Later we found their trip report with pictures of their tents online: http://www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboarding/trip_reports/index.php?topic=23476.new;topicseen#new

We reached the end of their skin track at the same clear cut we had stopped at the previous time.  We had plenty of time to continue so we toured to the south then up the ridge with Sasse Ridge in our view.  The snow was deeper on this stretch and I broke trail for a while.  All the while we kept noticing potential ski runs for future trips.

We crossed a knife-edge ridge to another knoll and could see the summit of Jolly in the clouds.  By then it was raining, we had gained over 3500' in elevation.  Neither of us were driven to continue so we called it good enough and skied down.  The skiing wasn't great but not awful either.  We were back at the camper just before cocktail hour.

With the heat on, clothes changed, ski clothes drying we poured some adult beverages and made dinner.  After dinner we played the National Park Service version of Monopoly until bed time.

We woke up to a slow drip on Randy's sleeping bag.  Darn it.  The roof leak we thought we had fixed clearly wasn't fixed.  And it was obviously raining, not snowing, so skiing didn't seem like a fun option.  We decided to call it an early weekend and go home.  Except the truck wouldn't start.  We had forgotten to run the truck while we were playing Monopoly for hours the previous night.

At 0700 no one in the RV next door was stirring yet.  No cell service to call AAA.  We thought it unlikely anyone would come up to snowmobile on a rainy day.  So we waited, walked around in the rain, waited, fidgeted, waited until about 0930 we couldn't stand it any more so Randy went over to knock on the door of the RV.  Just then a diesel pickup pulling a snowmobile trailer pulled into the lot.  The driver was early meeting his cohorts so cheerfully pulled his truck up in front of ours and hooked up the jumper cables.  Our battery was so dead that it took about 15 minutes of charging to get it going.  Hurray!

We thought about stopping in Roslyn (filming location of Northern Exposure) for breakfast but that would mean turning off the truck.  No way!  We drove to North Bend, kept the truck on while I refueled (it's okay to do that with a diesel because of the low flammability of diesel fuel) then finally felt confident enough to stop for breakfast/lunch near Bothell.  Except the place we had in mind was closed.  So we went slightly out of our way to a new place we'd heard about in Mukilteo and had an early lunch.

We got home early, unpacked, and relaxed.  Since then we've been trading colds back and forth.  Most recently Randy has the flu.  Plus we've been away on the weekends between colds so the camper sits.  Maybe this month we'll be able to deal with that leaky roof.

One day we'll explore that terrain again and maybe even make it all the way to the summit of Jolly. Here are the pictures.