What is considered the Cascade Crest proper?

[Chad_A]

Just wondering; when checking out weather forecasts, one might hear "east of the Crest" vs. "west of the Crest".

 

Rainier? Stuart? Forbidden? What draws the line? Obviously, it's not straight. Just looking for some insight, especially for when I want to get into the North Cascades, but want to try to stay out of the weather. Thanks for the input

[Blake]

Which way is the water draining? In the North Cascades, if the water eventually flows by the Tri-cities, it came from the east side. If it eventually flows into the saltwater north of Seattle, its from the we(s)t side.

[klenke]

What Blake said.

 

The Cascade Crest from a hydrology point of view is the thick red line down the middle as seen here. Albeit, in terms of meteorology and its influence on climbing plans, the meteorlogic crest is not necessarily equivalent to the hydrologic crest. For example, up north, I'd be more apt to define the meteorlogic crest as extending directly up Ross Lake where as the true hydrologic crest is roughly 12 miles east of the lake. I've noted in the past how Mt. Goode seems to demarcate the fuzzy barrier between crap weather to the west and nicer weather to the east. Also, the foul Puget Sound weather often extends a little beyond (east of) Snoqualmie and Stevens passes.

[Chad_A]

Or send a different link? Sorry, can't get it to work.

 

I understand what you guys are talking about. I also understand that it's not an exact science; but it is nice to have an idea of where the meteorological crest is, for weekends like mine that I have coming up (Saturday through Wednesday.) I'm hoping to sneak in the Ice Cliff Glacier on Stuart, if possible.

[Alex]

There are some common reference points.

 

In the granitic North Cascades, the crest isnt too well defined as the hydrology is more complex. Rainy Pass in highway 20 is probably the best reference point. Along the border, I think it would be Hannegan Pass. That makes Baker and Shuksan both West of the crest. Moving S, Stevens Pass is the clear hydrological apex along route 2. Moving S, Snoqualmie Pass is the clear apex of the crest on I90. This makes the Stuart Range and all its satellite peaks East of the crest. (I've heard that Stampede Pass is also used?) Moving S, Chinook and White Passes represent the crest of the Cascades in the Mt Rainier area. Mt Rainier itself is well West of the crest. Moving S, around the Adams and St Helens area, there are a heckuva lot of foothills and no roads that traverse the range until you get to the Columbia, but I think Adams might be East of the crest, while St Helens is on or West.

 

Its alot easier in Oregon, where the volcanoes more clearly demarcate the boundary.

[klenke]

Sorry, vw, not sure why that link didn't work.

Here is another URL to the same map:

 

As you can see, the Cascade (hydrologic) Crest starts up at Castle Peak east of Ross Lake (I'm not sure what Alex was getting at concerning Hannegan Pass), extends down through Rainy Pass (by the J on the map), then down to the various passes described by Alex. Glacier Peak is west of the crest. Stuart is east of the crest. Stampede Pass (SE of Snoqualmie Pass; left of the word "Amabilis" on the map) is on the crest. The Washington portion of the crest stops at Mt. Adams because it becomes ill-defined beyond there. That is, the drainages go southward to the Columbia.

 

For Oregon, the Cascade Crest goes south from the Columbia 15 miles west of Hood River, extends over Mt. Hood, then south over Mt. Jefferson, then Three Fingered Jack, then Mt. Washington where the vast flat expanse of lava fields makes things kind of ill-defined. However, the crest continues over the three Sisters but then west of Mt. Bachelor by about 7 miles. Diamond Peak is on the crest, as are Thielson, Crater Lake (Mt. Mazama), and Mt. McLoughlin.

[Stephen_Ramsey]

Paul,

 

Cool map. Thanks for posting.

 

-Steve

[Chad_A]

Thanks for bringing that up. Funny, for some reason, I thought Stuart would be farther east. Huh. Well, I'll have to save this as a reference point; I seem to get geographically confused