Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Washington Pass, North Cascades, May 9 2010

My first tour at Washington Pass was some of the best I've ever experienced. Incredible scenery with jagged peaks all around, a blue-sky day with no wind and demanding yet sane touring. We started at the hairpin and did the Birthday Tour - Here's Aaron looking fresh prior to the exertion...














The first climb took us past Blue Lake to the top of the ridge







Then around a large cornice to reach the top









Here's looking back at what was waiting for us on the other side - the first ski - Madison Ave. Great corn snow on top, a little thick at the bottom.





After climbing out of this basin we hit the next run that takes you back toward the hairpin. This is Kendall showing how it's done...











But we were not finished yet. I think the Birthday tour is about 4ooo', and we needed just a little more - so we headed up to the top of the couloir (I forget the name) you see here, approximately another 2500'. That was about it for me.










Here's the view from the top - you can just see the hairpin at the bottom. A little squall came in as we reached the top, but we never lost visibility and had a good run back to the car.








Thursday, May 6, 2010

North Cascades Plan

Highway 20 is open and we're planning to tour at Washington Pass this weekend. The weather has been unseasonably cold and they received some snow this past week. It's supposed to get warmer, into the 60s this weekend and I'll post a full report.