A Long Weekend in the Northeast Cascades
Was gonna post this in the general ski/snowboard section but couldn't pass on the opportunity to snag thread #420 in here :wink:
Fri. 3/18
Ah yes, the morning after St. Paddy's Day. A great day to skip work and work-off a hangover by hammering afternoon laps in the sunshine. Arrived at my buddy's house at our prearranged time of 10am to roll to find him mowing his yard in his snowpants. Loaded my gear in his car and after a fifteen minute delay we were off. Two hours later we were riding onto the Skyline chair at Stevens Pass in chilly easterly winds but stoked to get some weekday laps in before continuing northeast to our destination of Mazama. I've never seen so much terrain groomed at Stevens in my life - the runs on the frontside were chalky and smooth, the runs on the backside had just softened in the sun. There was a downhill race course setup, sans-gates, down the back for a race over the weekend with some serious steeps winch-groomed to perfection and crash netting on both sides. We opted to see how fast the sticks could go, hammering lap after lap until last chair loaded and we rode to the car and departed. 3 hours and a quart of oil later we were in Mazama at sunset, just in time for a potentially last meal of steak tips, Yukon gold mashed 'taters and assorted greens at the Freestone Inn.
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Sat. 3/19
The main event. Clear skies allowed for temps to dip into the teens overnight, making for an easy walk on the snow to the heli barn. Upon arrival we were surprised to see not one, but two Seahawks-colored A-Stars sitting in the yard. One was adorned with TGR logos, the other fitted with a camera on its nose that likely costs more than I make in a year. The pros were in town and they were dying to get after it, so after some elbow-rubbing at the morning weigh-in, they were off while we received the typical briefing on bird and avalanche safety over our second cup of coffee. Our group of four shipped-out first to the northern flanks of Silver Star mountain, where we "explored" the conditions with our guide who's also part-owner. The wind from the east, while usually a welcome influence, had built substantial windcrust over the new snow from a few days ago and the riding, while enjoyable, wasn't exactly what you were hoping and paying for. Just as the windboard began to subside we reached our pickup spot where we lounged in the warm morning sun and awaited our ride to the next destination.
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After all groups had been transported to their respective starting points, we were picked-up and transported to the western edge of Hinkhouse Peak, high above Cutthroat Lake. The view south from our drop-off point was straight up Spire Gully, with Liberty Bell on the right and Kangaroo Ridge stretching endlessly to the left. Not long from now the road below will be cleared of snow and open to traffic - some of which will assuredly seek out these easily accessible zones and make beautiful turns in our abundant spring snow. We dropped due north off the ridge, finding excellent, knee-to-waist deep snow and rallying fast turns through the steep trees to the lake below. It was like being first through the far reaches of the Alpental Back Bowls - except you didn't have to traverse to get to the top, nor did you have to traverse back to the parking lot. After a second lap through roughly the same zone, we moved further west and rode a northeast-facing aspect from Cutthroat Pass which offered some excellent opportunities for airtime and pillow lines all the way to the same pickup zone below. We took a half-hour lunch break while the bird went back to the barn to refuel, during which a brief snow shower moved through before clearing in time for the heli's return. The TGR athletes had moved to the next ridge over, into a north-facing zone called "Stairstep" which has a spicy landing zone atop a knife-edge ridge and offers some incredible chute skiing and pillow lines into the trees below the south side of Tower Mountain.
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While enroute to Stairstep the pilot circled above and treated us to a birds-eye view of the pros getting sendy - it looked real good and I'm sure we'll see some of it in next year's video. We set down and traversed skier's left while our guide worked on the landing zone for the other groups to follow. After the pros were dropped-off for their second run, we were cleared to go. I inquired about ripping a steep, narrow chute directly below instead of taking the standard righthand line down a steep face and, after making a hard ski cut above it, the guide gave me a go and told me to meet the rest of the group in the knolls below. I made a few heavy cuts of my own and then pointed it through the choke, ripping out into the soft snow below and hammering a couple deep slashes before joining the rest of the group to traverse the knolls then reap another thousand or so feet of chuted terrain below. As we reached the bottom the weather started to close in and since we'd gotten all of our guaranteed runs in, the decision was made to start sending everyone back to the barn.
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After a good hot tub & beers session we got cleaned-up and headed down the road to Kelly's for dinner. Out of sheer luck we happened across an all-you-can-eat buffet as the owner was closing the restaurant down for a few weeks to head to South America and spend time with his wife there. Bacon cheeseburgers, carnitas tacos, some sort of incredible curry, chili, shepherd's pie, mac & cheese and more were up for grabs followed by a dense cake and ice cream for dessert. Paired with a few cocktails and beers, we left stuffed and satiated. Back at the Freestone, we were too tired and full to do much of anything so we turned-in early and enjoyed a full night's sleep in comfortable beds.
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Sun. 3/20
The first day of spring brought with it high overcast skies and temperatures which hadn't dipped below freezing overnight. We packed-up our gear, ate the leftover's of yesterday's breakfast and headed back down Highway 20 to Twisp then up Loup Loup pass for closing day at its namesake ski bowl on its north side. Parking was easy as we were one of a dozen cars in the lot at 10am, grabbed discounted tickets and hopped on the area's sole, fixed-grip quad chairlift. The chairs themselves feel very similar to those at Crystal Mountain - fitting since the lift originally served as the Midway Shuttle (C11) lift at the southern resort. Under high overcast skies, we did a lap down every single marked trail before breaking for lunch and then exploring the zones between the signed and groomed runs. For being an area with a single lift, a few hundred acres of terrain and about a dozen trails, the Loup served-up an excellent experience with zero lines, affordable grub, tasty ales and fun terrain. Basically a Hyak-equivalent in the NE Cascades. After last chair reached the summit, we shared last run with the locals and then set out for a 4.5 hour drive back to the west side via Highway 2. As we approached the summit of Stevens, light rain began to fall which intensified as we made our way down the west side through the tiny hamlets along the Skykomish River until finally abating in Monroe. Back in Seattle at 9 pm, the moon shone brightly and the stars twinkled under the clear spring night sky.
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