Initially our plan was go on a multi-day ski tour in the Oval Peak region, which is over the North Cascades Highway, past Mazama and Winthrop, beyond Twisp and up a dirt road into the Sawtooth-Chelan mountains. We cooked up this plan early in the year, gambling that the pass would be open and conditions would favor driving to the trailhead and the nice spring snow referred to as "corn" would be the ski conditions.
However, as planning goes we were a week off from the pass opening, the Forest Service website indicated that there would be several miles of skiing on the road before we even reached the trailhead and the high temperature of the first two days would only be 31F. Not exactly the spring ski trip we had envisioned.
Fortunately we are a flexible bunch. Billy, whom we had not yet met, reserved a condo in the little town of Glacier, the last town before Mt. Baker. Aimee, a friend from our mid-week downhill ski group, who is the connection with Billy was in on the Oval Peak plan from the get-go, loosely introduced us to Billy via the magic of email. It was going to work and we were going to have a nice weekend in spite of the weather forecast.
And we did. We all arrived at the condo Friday night at different times. Randy and I left work early on Friday, got up to Glacier early enough to have a nice dinner at Milano's then explore Glacier Creek Road to see how far the snow had melted. We found out that there were still several miles of road to ski before reaching the trailhead to Heliotrope.
For Saturday we got up at a liesurely 7:30, drank coffee, had a nice breakfast of egg, ham, and cheese filled tortillas and homemade rhubarb pie for dessert. We got to the Mt. Baker ski area, which is now closed for the season, to weather not unlike the previous week. However it wasn't quite raining real rain drops. The weather looked like it wanted to clear toward Herman Saddle and there was fresh snow up higher, possibly in Mazama Bowl.
We skinned up to Austin Pass, just like the last week. Saw the Skagit Alpine Club practicing ice axe arrest on a steep slope. We skied down into Bagley Lakes in fairly consolidated snow that was difficult for making turns. Again the snow was deep enough to cross Bagley Lakes and the creek upstream but it won't be for long.
We skinned up to Herman Saddle, decided not to go into Mazama Bowl because we thought the recent snowfall was just too warm to be worth the effort. We thought about skiing around Table Mountain but the skiing down was as difficult as skiing up so we thought it would take too long to complete the circuit. So we skied down and out. Nice warm up day with possibly bigger ambitions for Sunday and Monday. Here are the pictures.
Once we got back to the condo, Aimee and went directly to the hot tub while Randy and Billy went to Maple Falls for a pre-dinner snack and to pick up the second key to the condo. They joined us in the hot tub after Aimee and I were positively pruney.
Aimee and Billy cooked a nice dinner of pasta and prawns and scallops. Yum! We also found out that in spite of the cloud cover during the day, sunscreen was necessary. Even those of us who had applied in advance were a little more tan. Billy sported some red spots on his face.
Billy and Aimee know some folks in Glacier who own the ski shop so he was able to get some directions to a secret stash of good skiing that I will only refer to as "Secret Mountain" here.
On Sunday we didn't get up much earlier, still had a leisurely breakfast and coffee before we got going. Sunday was a beautiful day with bright sunshine and bluebird skies. We took lots of pictures of the incredible views.
I will say that the skiing was nicer on Secret Mountain. It wasn't quite corn but perhaps "creamed corn" consistency. The sun had warmed the slope so whenever we skied, the top layer followed us down. I didn't like that feeling so much so Aimee and I only skied one lap. The slide wasn't fast enough or deep enough to cause injury but it could knock a skier over, especially a skier like me. Fortunately even I skied fast enough to outrun the slide down to a safe zone. Randy skied another lap and Billy skied two more laps. We made a serious mess out of that slope with the slides and tracks. It may not be skiable for the rest of the season so it's not worth trying to find. I'm just sayin'! Here are the glorious pictures!
I just read both your trip report and again, I’m in awe, but so glad it wasn’t me. I love your photos. What does it mean to skin, or skinning? Is part of it cross-country combined with down hill? Just talked to my sis in Tumwater and she said it was a beautiful day today, but rain predicted tomorrow.