Mount Rahm - Upper Skagit

[mattp]

Mount Rahm has been on my "hit list" for ten years. There is a tantalizing picture in the Bruce Fairley guide to Southwest BC, showing a viable ski route right from the summit, and it is a high peak in one of the more interesting groups of peaks in the North Cascades, the Redoubt/Spickard area on the Canadian border north of the Pickets. To further pique my interest, the old Becky map shows a logging road system relatively close to the foot of the run, so it has always appeared that it might make a good weekend outing. Despite the forecast for marginal weather and snow conditions over this Memorial Day weekend, my friends John and Kurt (that's "AlpineK" to you) were up for a ski trip so off we went.

 

The logging road up Maselpanik Creek was used for logging over this past winter, and the road is in good shape for about 5 miles, though new water bars may discourage some drivers. After we reached the end of the line at a washed out bridge beyond which the road was infested with alders, the boys were raring to go and could hardly contain themselves as I tinkered with my pack and ski boots. Mr. K took off at a gallop, and John and I set off behind him. About an hour into the slash, I realized that I was no longer following K. What to do? If I go back, will I figure out where our paths diverged? Will I then be able to follow Kurt? What about John, now behind - I didn't notice any turn-offs and unless I find him first I could end up following Kurt while John goes the way I did. After pondering my options, I decided to continue on to the camping area we had discussed. All three of us were quite capable of wading through the brush and creeks and rotten snow those few miles on our own, and I figured I should just high-tail it up there and build a smokey fire so they could find me. The hike to the end of the valley where the creek comes down from the Maselpanik Glacier went fairly well, and we all ended up in the same campsite before dinner time. If you go, expect alders, logs, creek crossings, and very little that resembles any kind of trail.

 

On Sunday we skied up Mt. Rahm in fog. Relatively friendly trees led up the hill to the right of an avalanche track still filled with enough snow to make the track itself a viable option, and soon enough we found ourselves in some small snow bowls and passed onto the Maselpanik Glacier. After traversing left, we found the north couloir/glacier that led directly to the summit at a relatively moderate angle, with a few short rolls perhaps reaching 40 degrees. There were no crevasses visible, and the steeper slopes were mostly pre-avalanched for us, making for somewhat clumsy travel but allowing us to feel relatively safe from the threat of being swept over the edge of what was really a diagonal snow-slope perched over a cliff. It cleared briefly as we sat on top and eyed Silver Lake below, and Ross Lake something like 7,000 feet WAY below. Glad we didn't come up that way, we thought -- 7,000 feet of pure unadulterated trail-less North Cascades hell. Nearby Mt. Spickard towered into the mist, and we could make out the Pickets in the distance. The summit register revealed that only one or two parties a year reach this summit, with a recent entry noting that someone had dragged their sorry ass all the way up there from Ross Lake!

 

The ski down was somewhat unnerving. Just as on the hike in, the boys got tired of my dithering with my pack and Mr. K took off into the fog. John followed, and I ran third, skiing the left-overs. John and Kurt didn't seem to have much problem with it, but I found it difficult skiing the steep avalanche debris and, with cliffs below, I was well aware that a mistake could indeed be a BIG MISTAKE. I took it slow, a few turns at a time, both because I wanted to be careful but also because each time I linked more than six or eight gorilla turns and crashed over a dozen more death cookies, my legs reminded me that I hadn't been exercising very much lately.

 

The next day, we climbed back up for another run on the Maselpanik Glacier. Surprisingly, we found some good corn which was a definite bonus-run on what we had expected to be a mediocre ski weekend. The hike out went without incident though a couple of ski-boots got filled with water, and back at the car we agreed that it had been a pretty good weekend - with a favorable fun-to-misery ratio. I would highly recommend this tour, but if you don't like brush it would be better to go earlier in the season -- or maybe just go somewhere else.

[AlpineK]

Skiing in a white out kicking off slushy avalanches above cliffs is a little spicy

 

 

Mt Rahm

 

Mt. Spickard

 

Matt at the summit of Rahm

 

Looking down from the summit

 

 

[Toast]

Nice TR mattp... and pix too Mr. K

Edited May 27, 2003 by Toast

[JoshK]

nice job guys, looks like it was a fun trip. The north cascades were great this weekend, despite the sometimes iffy weather. It's awesome to head out on memorial day weekend and not see any other people.

[Stefan]

Sounds good guys. Looks like they let you back in the U.S. -- that surprises me.

[klenke]

What was your process by which to get access to the logging road up Maselpanik Creek? I've heard it requires a key to get past a gate early on.

 

A.) On what day did you enter the road and on what day did you leave the road?

B.) Was there a gate in need of a key or was it open?

C.) Any other administrative info regarding access which would help me out this summer since I intend to make a visit?

 

Thanks -- Paul

[AlpineK]

We saw a gate, but it was wide open. There were some tree planters working up there but no active logging, so I guess you don't need a key.

 

We went in on Saturday and came out on Monday.