[TR] Turns Above Wenatchee - Castle Rock and Saddle Rock Linkup 2/3/2008

[telemarker]

Trip: Turns Above Wenatchee - Castle Rock and Saddle Rock Linkup

 

Date: 2/3/2008

 

Trip Report:

Travis Hammond, Mike Toigo and myself considered the avy conditions and decided to ski local. It's rare that Wenatchee gets enough coverage for quality turns, but it does happen. Wenatcheeoutdoors.org has documented the skiing to be had around town. #'s 1 and 2 Canyons both offer good skiing, if you're not too squeamish about a few core shots.

 

We decided on Mt. Wenatchee, so named because we just wanted to name the hill. The approach is off 5th street and Western, by a huge water tank. We were able to park in a cul-de-sac right below Castle Rock without any problem, though I anticipate this won't last too long considering the rapid development in the area.

Overview of the route

We traversed (booted) around the pointy knoll behind Castle Rock on great coverage, and followed the ridge up to the top of the bowl in about 50 minutes of hiking.

Mike at the saddle overlooking Wenatchee

 

Trav and Mike on top, looking north.

 

Me, looking back southeast over Wenatchee

 

Trav and I skied the bowl, hitting the occasional rock, but overall there was great coverage for at least 800 feet. There was a nice natural halfpipe that had pillowed snow. I had to take a couple laps on that one.

 

The descent, with the pillowed snow on the left.

 

From there, we skied down the knoll behind Castle Rock. I chose a line that was north facing and had to jump the barbed wire fence halfway down. But it provided the best skiing of the day.

 

Trav and Mike decided to call it a day, but I had energy to burn, so I chose to head up to Saddle Rock and farm a few turns up there. The coverage was EXCELLENT in most areas, great turns, with the powder turning heavy quickly as the temps increased. I took 8 laps on the knoll, and had a final 500 foot run down to the car.

 

A few photos of the fun:

 

 

 

So, sure, there's a lot of burly skiing to do out there in the Cascades. But it's great to think we can drive 1/2 mile to some unique skiing. It's been a great winter so far.

Edited February 6, 2008 by telemarker

[rbw1966]

Awesome!

[AlpineK]

That is some pretty cool stuff just out of town.

 

It's not like that every year.

[lancegranite]

Nice TR, I was eyeballing the good coverage from Pangborne field today.

[plexus]

Nice. Nothing wrong with hitting places you wouldn't normally hit. Hell, I did it here last year after our big dump. Why drive that far when you can find the same kind of skiing closer?!

[skitchmo]

Looks sketchy to me. Is that a fracture line I see on the right ridgeline? I think you guys oughta be more careful next time!

[telemarker]

Looks sketchy to me. Is that a fracture line I see on the right ridgeline? I think you guys oughta be more careful next time!

 

Funny....actually, the coverage consisted of about 8 inches of unconsolidated powder over about a foot of crust over bedrock and grass. We skied some (very) isolated spots of pillowed snow of about two to three feet. The avy danger Sunday for the Cascades was possible suffocation from stepping off a trail, shoulder to head deep unconsolidated snow. Don't think we had that danger here...

[gapertimmy]

Very nice!

[telemarker]

Okay, here is important information (that we did not have prior to our tour) that needs posting from local Andy Dappen of Wenatcheeoutdoors.org, for future reference. Mr. Dappen encouraged me to paste his response to this TR:

 

Cool trip. Nice pics, too.

 

A note of caution about where you ski in the foothills, and especially about what you publicize: Some of our open spaces in the Wenatchee foothills (and some with very tempting ski lines) don't have legal public access. The Castle Rock area you feature in your TR is one of these. Some of our foothills areas also have winter closures (this applies to the Sage Hills area).

 

Regarding the Castle Rock /Chopper area that you feature, if you know the landowners you can get permission to visit the parcel. Indiscriminate public use of the area, however, could jeopardise future public access. Currently the Land Trust is very close to cracking the nut with one landowner who owns property at the base of Castle Rock allowing access to the area, as well as with the landowner who actually owns all the open space you feature...so it's quite likely we'll have legal access to the area in the future. However, this is an inopportune time to promote non-authorized skiing here.

 

Likewise, encouraging use of the Sage Hills area when the PUD has it closed for the winter (it's managed as mule deer wintering grounds) is not recommended.

 

Even with Castle Rock and Sage Hills out of the picture--there are plenty of legal options for skiing in the Wenatchee foothills around the Saddle Rock and Dry Gulch (Asamera mine area). You can also drive about 1.5 miles up Canyon Number 2 (just past the Gun Club) and ski some north-facing lines on the opposite side of the canyon from the Gun Club (there is a parcel of public land here).

 

Or you can drive two miles up Number 2 Canyon and access the 'One-Two Divide' and yoyo various north-facing slopes as you tour up toward Twin Peaks ( access info to the One-Two divide is in the WenatcheeOutdoors 'Snowshoeing'--you'll have to hike up to the divide because you're obtaining the divide itself on S-facing slopes). Or you can drive 4.5 miles up Number Two Canyon Road until the end of pavement and access plenty of foothills skiing on various flanks of Twin Peaks (lots of Forest Service land up here).

 

Andy