[TR] Washington Pass Area - Kangaroo Ridge loop and Frisco to Lake Ann loop 5/1/2010

AlpineK · May 3, 2010

Trip: Washington Pass Area - Kangaroo Ridge loop and Frisco to Lake Ann loop

Date: 5/1/2010

Trip Report:

David Parker and I left Seattle Friday afternoon and headed towards Mazama with thoughts of skiing. On the property, one car and tent were already set up. Apparently, we had missed the prefunction events. The skiing crew describes snow conditions as variable.

Eventually a couple more people returned from their prefunction climbing Prime Rib on Goat Wall. They had had a long day. Climbing was good, but unsticking rap ropes on the route added time to their day.

We talked around the campfire and picked our ski route. New ski routes are a good thing. At the 2009 Ski In we skied Willow Creek and looked over at Silverstar to the Northeast. Upper Willow Creek had good skiing, and the north side of Silverstar had good skiing. Why not mix the two.

Other folks arrived. Some wanted in on our plans, but others had different ideas for Saturday.

Saturday morning we positioned vehicles. One at Silverstar Creek and the other at the hairpin turn east of Washington Pass. There were five in our crew. Since I and one other member of the group are part of Cascade Backcountry Ski Patrol, we even had emergency care. We did not need emergency care thankfully, but it was there should all hell break loose.

The ski up revealed some of the variable snow waiting for us. Wind packed powder in some spots on top of an icy spring crust. There was a mix of gear in the group. Never the less everybody ended up booting the last section to the notch. At the notch, the wind was pumping. We were all decided we did not have enough time to finish our originally intended route. Debate ensued. Skiing back down our uptrack was an option, but we all wanted something else. Eventually we decided to ski down a ways then traverse to Snagtooth Ridge. From there we would be on familiar territory since we would then be in Willow Creek.

Liberty Bell Group

[img:center]http://lh3.ggpht.com/_rxgbPHdbZ9I/S98dHbPeCFI/AAAAAAAAAVc/-RYlEv0UL_8/s912/4-Liberty-Bell-Group_Panora.gif[/img]

Looking back to our high point on Kangaroo Ridge

[img:center]http://lh4.ggpht.com/_rxgbPHdbZ9I/S98dH5MNP5I/AAAAAAAAAVg/Tkyxzew-au4/5-Back-towards-Kangaroo-Rid.gif[/img]

Gardner Mountain

[img:center]http://lh4.ggpht.com/_rxgbPHdbZ9I/S98dITO_eLI/AAAAAAAAAVk/4KIhACE_ucM/6-Gardner_Panorama1-copy.gif[/img]

Silverstar

[img:center]http://lh6.ggpht.com/_rxgbPHdbZ9I/S98dI_9LbKI/AAAAAAAAAVo/ioJOKtYu8PE/s912/9-Siverstar-from-Willow-Cre.gif[/img]

2009 Ski In high point

[img:center]http://lh6.ggpht.com/_rxgbPHdbZ9I/S98dJQ5pChI/AAAAAAAAAVs/7wO_vBWPUaA/10-Notch-for-2009-Ski.gif[/img]

Skiing down was challenging due to the variable snow. We even reached a point where descent looked possible, and two of us started descending. Part way down the slope I got an uneasy feeling about cliffs below. Eventually booting back to the crest seamed like the safe move.

Backtracking took a bit, but soon we followed the other smarter people’s tracks down. Below the section we bailed on, we saw a few lines that would have gone, but figuring that out without a preview is not easy.

Willow Creek

[img:center]http://lh4.ggpht.com/_rxgbPHdbZ9I/S98drScbbDI/AAAAAAAAAV4/yQwyaqHf5M0/12-Willow-Creek-Skiing-2.gif[/img]

The rest of the ski was uneventful. Snow conditions in the trees were better than they had been in 2009. A river crossing and a skin up lead us to the road. One team member hitchhiked to collect one of our vehicles.

Wine Spires

[img:center]http://lh3.ggpht.com/_rxgbPHdbZ9I/S98drvM5C9I/AAAAAAAAAV8/fmtvUMbIQOY/s912/14-Wine-Spires_Panorama1-co.gif[/img]

Silverstar

[img:center]http://lh4.ggpht.com/_rxgbPHdbZ9I/S98dsWu3lzI/AAAAAAAAAWA/KWKfT3tVF8Y/s912/15-Wine_Silverstar_Panorama.gif[/img]

Map of the route

[img:center]http://lh3.ggpht.com/_rxgbPHdbZ9I/S98f3VwKPPI/AAAAAAAAAW4/kJCncmrYdTE/s576/Kangaroo-Willow-Loop.png[/img]

The campsite

[img:center]http://lh6.ggpht.com/_rxgbPHdbZ9I/S98dtD5ejsI/AAAAAAAAAWE/eT0HCxER8Fk/s912/17-Ski-In-Camp_Panorama2.gif[/img]

More folks arrived Saturday night. A few skied the Birthday Tour, and one group had dropped the couloirs on the north side of Mt Hardy.

Sunday

We were kind of beat after our Saturday ski, so we picked a loop to ski at Rainy Pass. At the crack of 10 AM, we left Rainy pass and skied to Rainy Lake. From there we followed a ramp to a plateau then skied to a high point on the ridgeline west of Frisco.

Near the top of our climb

[img:center]http://lh3.ggpht.com/_rxgbPHdbZ9I/S98ecmzFHII/AAAAAAAAAWI/EpHWyB-Jui4/20--Upper-Frisco_Panorama1-.gif[/img]

Cutthroat, Whistler, Silverstar,...

[img:center]http://lh3.ggpht.com/_rxgbPHdbZ9I/S98ec8E4jbI/AAAAAAAAAWM/T3U4eqhZJ80/s912/21-Whistler-Cutthoat-Silver.gif[/img]

Looking down to Rainy Lake

[img:center]http://lh3.ggpht.com/_rxgbPHdbZ9I/S98edXcyAKI/AAAAAAAAAWQ/h_wKSg-3FTA/22-Down-to-Rainy-Lake_Panor.gif[/img]

Incoming weather

[img:center]http://lh6.ggpht.com/_rxgbPHdbZ9I/S98edmO8kAI/AAAAAAAAAWU/P8ALGo99MVU/23-Incoming-Storm.gif[/img]

Corteo Peak

[img:center]http://lh4.ggpht.com/_rxgbPHdbZ9I/S98eeI5IjbI/AAAAAAAAAWY/2uHgQysa9JU/24-Corteo-Peak.gif[/img]

We had a killer ski in POWDER, or something close to powder back down to a bench. From there we skied west to the ridgeline over Lake Ann (East of).

POWDER

[img:center]http://lh5.ggpht.com/_rxgbPHdbZ9I/S98fTCAd2fI/AAAAAAAAAWc/v0llwo5wQQE/s576/25-Monika.gif[/img]

View back to our high point on Frisco Ridge

[img:center]http://lh4.ggpht.com/_rxgbPHdbZ9I/S98fTkUaxvI/AAAAAAAAAWg/kaJx9SyWOPs/28-Back-to-Frisco.gif[/img]

A cornice at the top of the ridge made us both nervous and talking about hucking it. Eventually we managed to find a way around it, but the warm temperatures were messing with the new snow. We triggered a couple point release avalanches near the ridge crest. Eventually with careful route selection and good communication, we made it down to Lake Ann. From there we followed the creek bed out and to our vehicles on HWY 20.

Looking up from Lake Ann

[img:center]http://lh5.ggpht.com/_rxgbPHdbZ9I/S98fUQwsEGI/AAAAAAAAAWk/gBqe9vROVA0/s576/30-Descent-to-Lake-Ann.gif[/img]

Sketch of our route (Red is up, blue down)

[img:center]http://lh6.ggpht.com/_rxgbPHdbZ9I/S99O7T4NvuI/AAAAAAAAAZA/8YO9rTUcD04/s576/Frisco-Loop1.gif[/img]

Party moves to Rainy Pass

David Parker, Dave Perkins, and Monika Johnson

[img:center]http://lh5.ggpht.com/_rxgbPHdbZ9I/S98fU9ieqJI/AAAAAAAAAWo/rco5wPFp910/32-End-of-Ski-In.gif[/img]

Ski In 2010 provided fun times and fun people. We did not do everything we talked about doing, but we had a blast doing what we did.

Gear Notes:

Snow sliding stuff

Approach Notes:

A big heat wave could be a bad time to be in the mountains right now.