Worm Flows on Mount Saint Helens 2019

March 10, 2019

With a beautiful forecast and low avalanche danger despite some relatively new snow, Colin suggested a group of us head down to ski Saint Helens. We left Seattle around 5:30am, departing from the car a bit later than many other people at just shy of 10am but still well in the thick of the throngs of folks up there that day.

We made good time on the way up, reaching the crater rim in just over 3.5 hours. It was blustery and cold at the rim, so we didn’t stay long and opted to descend a bit to a sunny, calm bench where we ate lunch before skiing the rest of the way down and out to the car. It was a perfect time of year to do it, with continuous snow all the way from the parking lot, but a well-plowed access road and an easy skin track the whole way.

The Methow Monster

February 17, 2019

106km Nordic Skate Ski: Cub Creek TH - Rendezvous Pass - Mazama - Jack’s Loop - Mazama - MCT - Powers Plunge - Thompson Pass - Winthrop TH

Looking at the winter trail map for The Methow Valley, I couldn’t help but wonder if it would be possible to string all of the major systems together in a day. Over the years, I’d been on all of the trails independently, but putting it together would mean roughly doubling the longest ski I’d ever done in a day. Last winter’s ski from Cub Creek to Mazama and then to Winthrop at 65km was fun and not too painful, so extending the ski around Jack’s Loop before lunch and up to Thompson Pass after lunch seemed plausible.

I started at Cub Creek at 7:15am. The temperature was in the high teens starting the day and expected to get into the high twenties later on, so I split the difference with my wax. It didn’t feel super fast starting out with the snow creaking as I went, but I made it to Rendezvous Pass in about 1 hour and 8 minutes—about 10 minutes faster than last year. I was trying not to go too fast at the start, but was having too much fun and averaged 160bpm on the climb. I had first tracks of the day for much of the climb, which is always a great experience.

The descent into Rendezvous Basin was quick on freshly groomed trails until the grooming stopped near the bottom of the descent. Sick Joke Hill had been groomed the day before for the Tour of the Methow, but hadn’t been re-groomed, so it was skied out a bit and slick for keeping an edge. I was about 5 minutes faster than last year up the climb, with my heart back in the 160 range on average. Thankfully, the descent down Fawn Creek and Goat Creek was was quick and easy. I made it to the meadow just NE of the Mazama Store in 2 hours and 25 minutes and stopped for a quick snack and some water.

Base Camp, Upper River Run, and Jack’s Loop went pretty smoothly with a consistent, maintainable pace despite a noticeable headwind from the North on my way out. I was back in Mazama for lunch 4 hours after I’d started and just shy of 50km in at 11:15am. My legs felt a bit achy, but not terrible. Needless to say, I went to town at the Mazama Store for lunch, consuming a moderately obscene number of calories, refilling my water bottle and stocking up on Snickers.

An hour later, at about 12:15pm, I started down the MCT. While it had warmed up and was pretty sunny, the North wind kept the snow cool and pretty fast. I took it relatively easy, knowing how much was left, and kept my heart rate a bit lower while maintaining a little faster than 7-minute pace. I decided that Wolf Ridge warming hut would be a good place to take a break so that I’d warm back up before tackling the big climb at the end. Taking the boots off and drying my feet out a bit by the fire while refilling my water was awesome. I felt better at this point than I had just before lunch and was pretty sure I’d pull it off.

Climbing Powers Plunge and up past Patterson Lake to Chickadee Trailhead wasn’t as bad as I’d expected it to be—I made it in 41 minutes with an average heart rate of 148bpm. I rested up briefly in the Chickadee warming hut and then set off up Thompson Road. I decided to go up Meadowlark and down the road to give myself some plateaus on the climb and make the descent more straightforward. I kept feeling good all the way up to the pass, taking one short break part-way up the backside climb and making it from Chickadee in about 1 hour and 6 minutes, keeping the same heart rate average of 148.

From the top of the pass, it was in the bag! I zipped down the road, pulling my windbreaker back on along the way and retracing my steps to the top of Powers Plunge, then heading down the Lower Winthrop Trail. After crossing Twin Lakes Road, despite it being pretty flat, I hit a bit of a wall and stopped to eat my last granola bar and drink the last of my water. That was enough of a bump to get me out to the Winthrop trailhead at 5:30pm, just as the sky was turning pink and the moon was bright in the sky—a perfect way to finish it up. What a great adventure day!

UPDATE: See the extension to all the Rendezvous Huts I did in 2020 here.

Ruby Mountain

January 26, 2019

With another high-pressure forecast and relatively stable snow conditions, Kelsey and I agreed to get back out for another backcountry objective, prioritizing views and trying to optimize for snow conditions on a north-facing aspect.

We left Seattle at 6am on Saturday morning and departed the car at the Ross Dam Trailhead right at 9am. We skinned the road and were able to skin a little ways up the Happy Creek trail before deciding it was too thin and that we needed to pack our skis. We paralleled the highway for a ways on the trail and realized we should have just stayed on the road much farther and connected with the trail where it was only 30 feet from the road before turning south. A set of boot tracks doing exactly that made it even more clear.

We booted through the forest to the South, following a trail for a ways and then going cross country until we reached about 3,200 feet where the snow was continuous enough to start skinning. We followed a skin track for a bit before running into a party of 2 headed up for Ruby and planning to overnight it. We chatted with them for a ways and slogged together through the stickiest snow I’ve ever experienced, making each ski feel like a 20-pound weight.

The other party eventually peeled off to set up camp while we continued up, finding better snow up high, but still needing to put a lot of energy into breaking trail. The snow was quite stable and we stuck mostly to ridges on the way up until we decided to take the path of least resistance through a low-angle gully. The final headwall to reach the summit ridge looked steep from below, but wasn’t too bad once we were on it. I got into a rhythm for the last 2,000 feet of vertical or so and just put my head down to break trail—it was a great workout!

As we neared the top, the views were awesome. Ross Lake appeared like a fjord below us and all of our favorite North Cascades peaks were visible. We reached the summit in 5.5 hours despite our errant trail choice at the beginning and trail breaking, which we were pretty happy with. It was breathless on top and we hung out for a bit to soak it in before gearing up for the descent.

The skiing was tough. It was pretty heavy and necessitated sitting way in the back seat to be able to turn. Lower down, we experienced the sticky snow again, which was mind-bogglingly sticking to my bases and making it nearly impossible to go down (guess I need to wax my skis, eh?). Trying to get away from the sticky snow, we traversed to the West, which got us onto snow we could slide on, but took us through tight trees and spit us out above a steep section we had to down-climb. Oh well.

Some more survival skiing got us to where we’d transitioned on the way up and an easy walk through the forest and on the road got us to the car at about 6pm, just over 9 hours after starting. Beautiful day!