Last month Audrey and Richard invited us and several other people to spend Valentine's Day weekend at their family cabin near White Pass (Yakima area). We accepted, looking forward to skiing in a new area, spending time with friends, and meeting some new friends.
Randy and I were the first guests to arrive Friday night. The cabin is really nice. It has several bedrooms, two bathrooms, a large living room and dining area, and a kitchen of course. We got the downstairs bedroom next to the downstairs bathroom, which also features a sauna. Later two more couples arrived. We got acquainted, drank wine, and sat around the fire.
The next morning we had a liesurely morning; Richard and Audrey made a yummy breakfast of pancakes and eggs. After clean-up we got ready to ski inbounds at the resort on White Pass. The ski area has 4 lifts, one of which is a high-speed quad (meaning that it can carry 4 people per seat). The other lifts are slow, two-seaters.
The snow was quite soft and very skiable. We spent the day alternating between skiing on the front side and the back side of the mountain. The backside was a little quieter than the front and the conditions a little better too. There was a fun little route in the trees that ended up in an icy gully. The gully wasn't so much fun so we only skied that once. Mostly Randy and I skied together but once in a while he and Richard would ski more challenging routes while Audrey and I took the gentler ones.
We ended the day around 3:00 then ran into a long-time friend of Randy's who had a funky, fat-tired bike to show us at his condo. We had a beer with him at the bar then ran into two other skiers we knew. We made our way back to the cabin then sat in the sauna to warm up. After showers we had a yummy dinner of lasagna and salad. By then everyone had arrived. Our party consisted of Richard and Audrey (hosts), John and Jenni (newlyweds), Valeska and Tony (John and Jenni's traveling friends), Kevin and Robyn (plus their two young kids Owen and Erik), Randy and I, and finally the single guys (Mike, Duane, John). There was plenty of food and beverage plus a slide show of John and Jenni and Valeska and Tony's very recent trip from Tanzania. They had climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, went on a safari. Very cool pictures.
That night there was a long game of Uno and lots more socializing. Eventually we all turned in before midnight. The next morning was again liesurely. And the breakfast yummy — oatmeal and sausage. We made lunches because the plan was to ski out-of-bounds up Hogback Ridge to the summit (~6700 feet).
Our route was up the ski run for a mile or so. Snow blew in our faces but it wasn't too cold. At the ridge, about half our party decided to stay behind and ski inbounds. The rest of us (Randy, Richard, Jenni, John (not Jenni's spouse), Tony, and I continued up the ridge. The wind stopped blowing, the ridge was fairly gentle in elevation gain, and a track had been set by skiers in the previous day. It was great!
The ridge route was about 2 additonal miles out of the ski area. Eventually the broad level ridge narrowed significantly so we stayed slightly on the windward side to stay off the cornices, which potentially collapse. Eventually we reached the false summit, took a bunch of pictures then continued down a very narrow ridge and up to the real summit. The weather would clear briefly then close. Too cold linger on the summit and celebrate for very long. Visibility was too questionable for us to take a tempting route down the bowl of the ridge.
We went out the safe way — back out our own tracks. Eventually Richard suggested we head north from a particular area because it would take us directly back to the ski area without having to climb back out. It's always better to end a ski on a downhill than an uphill. His map-reading proved correct. We ended up in that forested run with the gully at the end. This time the gully wasn't quite as icy so more fun to ski. We came out at Chair 4 then skied the cattrack out. The four of us skiers had a huge advantage over the snowshoers. We had agreed in advance to meet at the bar. We were on our second beer and had finished a plate of nachos before the snowshoers arrived.
The trip was only 6 miles out and back. We made pretty good time — the first part up the ski run was the steepest and hardest. The ridge route was relatively quick since we didn't have to cut our own track. We got back to the cabin in the daylight — in time for another sauna, a shower, and aperitif before dinner of tacos. Most of the guests had to go back home that night. Kevin and Robyn (and kids) stayed, along with Richard and Audrey (of course), and us. I think we all went to bed fairly early that night.
The next morning was liesurely too (what a nice habit!). We helped clean up the cabin before heading out. Back in Yakima we surprised some friends with a visit. We hung out for a few hours before going into town for lunch followed by the rest of the journey home.
Here are the pictures.
Stunning photos!