My two good friends Troy and Hannah needed to go skiing. They just didn't know it yet. It was my job to convince them. First I dangled the carrot and then I went in for the kill. First plan of attack: the call. I open with, "Let's go skiing, the weather is perfect and you don't have anything better to do."While, of course, they counterattack with an excuse, my personal specialty, "Well, I want to go rock climbing." This is where I pull out the carrot, "Ulrich's Couloir is a going to be perfect and it is going to be 80 degrees! There isn't that much road and we can take two days to climb Stuart. Plus, it will be too nice for rock climbing. This is an easy ski - perfect for you!" I hear silence for a few moments before hearing, "Okay, I'll go." And, just like that I've tricked them. Remember, it's for their own good because they needed to go skiing.  It was imperative for their long-term health. Didn't you know skiing is healthy for the soul?

****push on photos to enlarge.

Another good friend of mine; Mount Stuart wasn't going to play any tricks. I shouted to him in the middle of the night, "The weather is going to be good and the snow is going to be great. Isn't that right, Mr. Stuart sir? No funny business!" He agreed and I left with Hannah early Friday morning, meeting Troy at the Teanaway Cutoff just out of the city of Cle Elum.  

My excitement led me too far up the road. It is always, always, ALWAYS a bad idea. Once I committed, I had to continue. I scolded myself but it did no good. Hannah reached for the "Oh Shit" handle, long since torn from the ceiling. Her look of horror as I floored the accelerator and shot over a bridge, explained it all. This was crazy. There was snow nearly to the bridge rails! If it wasn't for hard snow I would've never made it. I was stoked!

There were 3 miles of road to Beverly Creek, and another mile beyond there to the end of the road.  The climbing up past Bean Creek was very pleasant. I could get used to these wide open-forested eastern Washington slopes. This is so much better than the North Cascades!

Troy then thought it was a good idea to climb up to the wrong pass. I yelled, "Troy that's the wrong pass!" But he didn't hear me. No matter, we had all day, so I took photos and enjoyed it. We eventually traversed from the wrong pass and climbed up to the correct one. We were happy to see more open trees and a long downward traverse to camp, and I'm telling you, the weather was incredible. Several times on the traverse down, we would just stop and simply marvel. It was difficult to loose altitude into the dark valley, but we were tired and needed to make camp next to Turnpike Creek.

"Let's go get your couloir on guys!" Troy and Hannah hiked back to the top and skied down to me. I had been waiting lower, and found the wonderfully tilted slope I had seen so many times before and yearned to ski waiting for me. I bounced turn after turn and hollered like a fool until I was just above the gut of Ulrich's Couloir. I set up the camera for Troy and had him take photos of me before catching him lower and taking the camera back.

This couloir was great and the snow perfectly softened. I really liked the rocky walls and how you jumped in and out of narrow sections to wide open. I skied down to a dead end couloir and was forced to climb back up and traverse. We down climbed a few feet before getting back on snow. These turns were great and I again skied myself to a dead end. This time I climbed back out and traversed back toward camp. It was a long way, but fast snow and just enough vertical helped us coast all the way there.

We hurried to sort gear. None of us were looking forward to the hike back up to the pass. It turned out to be quite a pleasant hike, much like the day before. Several times when we had gotten higher up and could look back and see Mount Stuart, I'm sure we were all feeling the same thing - satisfied.

We stormed down from the pass all the way to the road. From there we put on wax that didn't seem to help anyone but Hannah. I passed her by where the road flattened and eventually met up with my brother who had climb up Earl Peak that day. He was bummed that he couldn"t get the day before off, but said he had fun. He also said, "I was bored waiting for you guys, so I was hiking back up the road. All of a sudden a Cougar is coming toward me! I backed up and started my back! (laughing)"  At least he wasn't hungry.

Finally we were back at our cars. It was dark. On my hood were chains. My brother had parked further down. Shaking his head he pointed, "I brought the chains. What the hell were you thinking driving this far?"The snow was soft and I knew I was in for a challenge. Hannah decided to walk the rest of the way rather than ride with me. I put on my seat belt, chains, and fired up the car. "Let's get it on!" I floored it and didn't let up. You could see between the bridge pavement and the top of the snow. It was waste high and I was smiling.

I reached safety and waited for Hannah, Troy and Josh. We were all tired as we had each had a long day, but that's good! Ski mountaineering should be about work and effort. That's how you earn the payoffs. Even when the effort entails a grimace, we all had smiles. This trip was perfectly balanced. Not too steep, long or burly and it had all the classic characteristics any ski mountaineer looks for: big peak, great scenery and nice line. My advice, check up on your friends. Make sure that they are getting their weekly requirements of skiing in. It's up to you to keep their souls healthy. If you must, dangle a carrot in front of them. Tell them the weather is going to be perfect. Tell them the powder is going to be deep. Tell them and they'll appreciate it. I know Hannah and Troy did.

Thanks for coming guys!!!

See Alpine State OF Mind. Or CONTACT ME. If you enjoyed your visit, tell us about it, go to the GUESTBOOK.

>>>>Go to Chronological