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Trip Reports
Here's where you peruse WACer trip reports and post your own for everyone to see. Remember: Never let the truth interfere with a good story! | Trip Reports |
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| GuideBook | Backcountry Ski Snoq Pass, Volken |
| Weather | 4 season |
| TrailConditions | variable |
| Owned By | dempsta |
| Mailed to WacList | 05/24/2010 |
| RowId | 487 |
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| Mountain |
Elevation |
Summitted |
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| Catherine, Mt. |
5052 |
true |
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| Report |
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It all started with plans for a ski ascent of Mt Shuksan, but the weather was not having it. Most of the Cascade Range was in a weather funk. We thought about climbing at Vantage, Squamish, or anywhere we could avoid the weather. But contemplating wet rock is no fun, so we finally decided to hedge our bets and stay local. Soaked or blind, we figured we could probably ski Mt. Catherine. What we expected was about 6 hours of wet exercise without redemption. What we got was an exciting surprise.
We departed the city at a civilized 7am, skipped the usual Starbucks stops, and arrived at Hyak to a deserted lower parking lot. We strapped our skis, and ventured onto the trail by the Nordic Center by 930am. We felt ridiculous—the sole car parked in the muddy lower Hyak lot in the sprinkling rain. The upper mountain was obscured by clouds. The lower mountain presented no visible snow. We could feel the smirking eyes of condominium residents, peering out at us from the windows across the lot. Look at those skiers with skis on their packs—where are they going? Mud-skiing?
It took about 45 minutes and 1000 vertical feet to find what we were looking for. We whooped for joy, for it ain’t fun carrying 10lbs of skis and skins on flimsy daypacks through mud and runnel streams. The rain turned to sleet, and then to beautiful flakes as we ascended. As we passed out of the Summit ski areas and into the back country, a sunbreak lifted our spirits. Following the x-country trail under the power lines to the north side of Mt Catherine, Lake Kechelus was visible in the distance, looking grey and treacherous under stormy clouds. “Looks like a Scottish loch,” we decided. “Look at those dark clouds behind us.” “Look at those dark clouds in front of us.” So who’s the optimist now? Small blue sucker-hole above us, we tucked our hopes in our packs and skinned on towards Mt. Catherine.
We skied down to Mill Creek in the open, new-growth forest and then left the road, bearing southwest towards the older growth forest on the west flank of the mountain. In the thin remnants of snow that we were traveling on, tree wells were plentiful and hazardous. (Fred managed to take a soil sample in one of them, but no trees were harmed in the process.) We took a 225-degree bearing in preparation for the next weather change ETA 5 mins. It did not disappoint, we were soon welcomed by big fluffy snowflakes. Yet even as it snowed, we noticed that the sun seemed to be following us.
Having reached the heavier timber, we wanted to stay below 4000' and head SW around the cliff band in order to reach the west ridge. The old growth was pretty, but the snowcover was littered with deer poop, pine cones, and downed trees. It made for a bit of ‘extreme skinning’ (skin-cross?). After picking our way through the woods for an hour, crossing thin snow bridges, cutting through brush, and crossing a stream on a downed log (on skis), we finally slid into Nordic Pass. Just as we were like, ‘Are we there yet?’ Fred spotted a marker and a sign identifying “Nordic Pass.” Water and slush dropped down on us from the trees in the filtered sunlight. The sun had continued to follow us, but now we are wet because of it, and cold. There was nothing to do but have lunch and layer up. 11:30. We wolfed down our sandwiches.
After some food and a wise decision to don the 2nd of 3 pairs of dry gloves, the world seemed just a little brighter. The sun was out again, with blue skies peeking through. What initially seemed like odd luck to have a little sunlight during a storm was now just plain weird. The sun had been with us now intermittently for almost 2 hours. We wrapped around SW at about 3900’ and found the summit ridge. Skinning up was fun on that mellow ridge, and we were beginning to hope for mountain views through our omnipresent sucker-hole. The ridge itself goes on and on, with the cliffs and chutes on the left, and a steep slope on the right. A 5-minute snowstorm blew in and then vanished. Eventually, we topped out on a lightly forested summit with some bare rock poking through the snow. The sun came out! We sat on our packs, finished the rest of lunch and dessert (wafer crisps which were now wafer chews but still delicious), and gazed down at the Pancake House near I-90, some 2000 feet below us. You know, sometimes it just happens: you pack all of your rain gear, mentally prepare for the worst, and end up eating dessert on a sunny summit.
Now for the ski. Right from the summit, we began collecting freshies on a short open slope that led us back to the west ridge. We scoped out the gullies we had seen on the way up and dropped into the second one after checking that there were no visible cliffs. (Invisible cliffs can’t hurt you right?) We spotted each other and made it down the gully. Snow was pinwheeling and we set off a tiny wet sluff in a small sun-exposed area.
From there, we skied back through the section previously known as extreme skinning (downed trees, creeks crossings, pine cones, deer poop). We argued about the preferred method of crossing a log on skis—in-line or side-step? We learned that on late-season snow bridge stream crossings, you have to drop in hot, high-point the far bank, then flip sideways to keep from sliding backwards into the stream. We each had our “oh shit” moments, but no one fell in.
By skiing the gully descent, we bypassed at least a mile of our ascent route, which we rejoined at about 3:00. We followed our tracks back to Mill Creek, the x-country ski trails, and the lift area. Our descent of “Blowdown” was rudely interrupted by an absence of snow. The weather turned foul again, completing the picture of insanity as we carried our skis down the last 900' and loaded them into our lonely car. We had seen no other tracks all day, so it would seem that we were the only ones that knew there were sunny summits and fresh turns to be had on Mt Catherine in mid-May this year. All-in-all, this lowly peak in back of a commercial ski area makes a surprisingly nice tour: both open and forested areas, dramatic cliffs, great views from a long summit ridge, a choice of descent gullies, and plenty of free parking. What more could you ask for, so close to home?
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