Looking for suggestions

[Alisse]

I would like to go skiing on Saturday. Do you have any suggestions for me with our current conditions?

- Summit 

-  More than 7,000 feet of gain 

- North of Highway 2

- Carrying for awhile, even through alder no problem

- Few humans +10

 I know something on Baker might be obvious, but I'm looking for other ideas! 

 

Thanks :-)

 

[Alisse]

@JasonG Have you ever skied the North Face of Maude (in Volken)?

Edited June 13, 2018 by Alisse

[JasonG]

I haven't @Alisse, but I have climbed it.  I tend to stick to descents that aren't very consequential, where I can stop and take pics frequently.  It would check most of your boxes.

One of my favorite big days is to go up the White Salmon , thru hell's highway, hit the summit of Shuksan (time permitting), around the summit across the Crystal, and then ski down the Hanging and White Salmon back to the slide alder hell below the ski area.  That would tick most of your boxes, except you will run into teams around the summit.   Or you could vary it by climbing the NF with skis and doing the reverse of that orbit. 

[Alisse]

@JasonG

Thanks for your response. I actually skiied about 1/4ish of the WSG route two times earlier in the spring but decided to bail both times (uncertainty about snow stability)....  That creek area would indeed be hellish now!

Enjoy the good weather this weekend!

[Alisse]

@JasonG + others: I know this one doesn't meet my requirements, but what do you guess I'd find if I went up to look at the Gunsight on Pilchuck? I'd get a bit more elevation gain to do with the road being gated down below...I'm just curious about the snow coverage. I'd bring a short rappel setup for open waterfalls, etc. as I'd be interested in trying to do the full descent down to Heather Lake. Thoughts?

[Kameron]

Alisse, Maude would probably require a lot of walking but the N face could be good! Let us know if you hit that. I would skip climbing it, personally, since it was kind of unpleasant when I went and did a stupid traverse in, but YMMV.

[JasonG]

The snow is going fast at those lower elevations @Alisse,  but  I've never done that Pilchuck to Heather Lake tour before so you probably won't get any reliable info from me that you can't get from TAY TRs.  I would guess it would be a bit melted out?

I am old enough that I remember skiing at the Pilchuck ski area in the early 80's though....riding the tails of my parents skis. 

[Alisse]

8 hours ago, Kameron said:

Alisse, Maude would probably require a lot of walking but the N face could be good! Let us know if you hit that. I would skip climbing it, personally, since it was kind of unpleasant when I went and did a stupid traverse in, but YMMV.

Had to look up YMMV, good one to know.

I like walking, and I'm interested in a Maude/7FJ thing, but I think I'm going to go do something shorter to have more time with my folks this weekend. May have found some partners to go check out/adventure/maybe get scared on Pilchuck!

I'll report back :-)

@JasonG Pics or it didn't happen!