AlpineK Posted May 19, 2009 Share Posted May 19, 2009 Trip: North Gardner - NW Couloir Date: 5/17/2009 Trip Report: Way back in the 70s I heard about ski area plans for Big Sandy over in the Methow. After hearing about the plans I decided that someday I was going to build my own ski area there. The obvious way to plan a ski area, for me, was to start looking in my dad's Beckey books and find a place much cooler that Big Sandy. I Settled on Gardner Mountain as the site and managed to talk my folks into a backcountry ski trip over there to check it out. The end result was a cool weekend overnight ski with some funny backcountry ski gear (skins and downhill ski gear). We all skied up to Cedar Creek below Gardner but not much further. In The end I ditched my ski area plans a lot faster than Aspen Corporation did. Being a young teenager I quickly moved on to the next thing without loosing sleep. I still wanted to ski Gardner though. Recently at the 2009 Ski In I got some good views of Gardner from the Big Kangaroo area. It was time to actually ski up the peak. North Gardner looked to be the most convenient section of the Gardner area for a weekend trip. With some recruiting I managed to get tanstaafl psyched to ski in there. Early on May 16th we left the Cedar Creek parking lot and started hiking with our ski gear on our back. Cedar Creek is pretty cool, but the first big challenge was to cross the creek. Crossing took a bit of scouting to finally settle on the least sketchy spot to wade. Creek crossing location After crossing we changed into ski boots and started step kicking through the remaining snow. At about 4500 feet we found enough snow to take the skis off our packs and start skiing. Looking towards our objective down low After skiing more and debating the best route we reached our camp site. After a rest I skied up a ways to check out the best ski line. This is what I came up with The next morning early we started skinning up. Everything went smoothly. View west to Silverstar Our ski line gave out a ways before the summit. Here's a view above our ski line to the summit. After scrambling we reached the top of North Gardner. Here are two photos. Towards Glacier Peak Big Kangaroo and the Washington Pass Area. After hanging out on the summit it was time to ski! We scrambled back to the skis and got psyched. View down the mountain. Cedar Creek is in the distance. Turns at the top of the ski line. Looking back at the route. Back at the tent we were pretty happy, but then the crazy skiing started. After packing we skied down the creek constantly plotting the best line. This was too nutty for photos. Of course eventually we had to pack our skis to get back to the creek and find our approach shoes. The water was higher this time across, but we made it back to the trail. Heavy packs sucked, but it all ended at the car. Finally it was party time! It's quite a slog to get into North Gardner, but I'm happy I finally got to ski there on a nice sunny weekend! Gear Notes: Bring snow sliding stuff. Approach Notes: Crossing Cedar Creek was a tricky part. We did a bit of scouting before picking the point to cross. Try to find flat water. When you head up the creek we found better schwacking on the climbers right side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tanstaafl Posted May 19, 2009 Share Posted May 19, 2009 Thanks for a fun trip, Feck. Full value Cascades: trail hiking, creek wading, hours of dense schwacking, a nice couloir, and scrambling up a big pile o' choss to the summit. Definitely stay on climbers' right of Shelokum Creek; it was much much better than the left. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lunger Posted May 19, 2009 Share Posted May 19, 2009 Nice work you guys, sounds like "fun." Too bad you've not built that tram yet. Looks like you had some pretty good ski conditions up high. I've wanted to climb Gardner for years, looks like a cool place and a high peak w/ unique views into the Cascades. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tazz Posted May 19, 2009 Share Posted May 19, 2009 nice feck! Nice area! Lunger it is worth the long drive and long trail approach. When we did the gardeners we saw no one else the entire time. You get a great views of Abernathy the entire time too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tanstaafl Posted May 19, 2009 Share Posted May 19, 2009 If you do climb it be sure to do it when you can ski it; from the top section I would guess that it may be an even bigger pile than Boston Peak. The views are stellar though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete_H Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 Sweet. I look at that line everytime I drive west from Mazama. Looks fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmncwrtr Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 Fun times! And loved the story about the area Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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