Background
Where to begin…
An abnormally long high pressure ridge over most of the contiguous US has made January feel more like Spring. Well, at least in terms of snow surfaces. Coverage…different story.
Nick, Lane, and I were psyched to get out into the hills for an extended period of time with one main goal: explore terrain we wouldn’t normally be able to from the car. We waffled, extensively, about where/what to do. After a few days of semi-stressful text message chains and phone calls, we settled on checking out deeper zones out of Cascade Pass. Our ‘core’ route would be the Magic S Loop (credit to Sky Sjue and Dan Helmstaedter for the vision). We would make a base camp at Arts Knoll and explore terrain around Formidable, Spider, Pelton, and Trapper peaks.
We had 4 days and great weather to explore. With heavy packs and spring skis, we set off…
Day 1: Approach to Arts Knoll
We met up in Everett in the morning after Nick got off work and drove out to the MP20 parking lot. Temps were brisk in the valley as we donned tennies and walked up the road. We ditched shoes at MP22 and began skinning up towards Cascade Pass.
Snow conditions were…variable, to say the least. With heavy packs loaded with 4 days of food, the ‘pigs’ as we called them, the climb up to Cascade Pass was a bit of a beating. Winds were ripping out of the valley…seems like when temps are super cold over in the Methow, Cascade Pass can be a wind tunnel.
Travel over to Cache Col was pretty run-of-the-mill. We saw one other party skiing over at Cache Col, other than that nobody else out and about. At Cache Col we stared over at our terrain for the next few days: Formidable, Spider, etc. Our stoke began to build.
We ski traversed over to Kool-Aid Lake and debated over where to set up our camp. We settled on just below Arts Knoll, a location we felt would be pretty central to Spider and Formidable. Sunset from camp was lovely, staring over at the backside of Johannesburg, Cascade, and Mixup.
Unfortunately, on night one I found a leak in my sleeping pad. I searched anxiously, trying to find the hole…but to no avail. A few cold nights would ensue :(
Day 2: Formidable North Ramp
Our main objective for our first ski day was the north facing glacier on Formidable Peak (documented by Sky Sjue). I’m not sure the name of the glacier (I don’t think it’s the Formidable Glacier) but it weaves down approximately 2500′ on the north side of Formidable Peak. It’s accessed from below the Middle Cascade Glacier, easily using the Ptarmigan Traverse route. From afar, it’s striking.
My day got off to a faff-y start; sleeping pad hole, then I found my water bottle had frozen and the threads weren’t sealed, leading to a large leak in my pack. Great.
From our camp, we evaluated ways of getting over the Red Ledges. We opted to ski below the Ptarmigan Route proper, using an access couloir approximately 500′ below to get around the Arts Knoll ridgeline. From there, we ski traversed over to the base of the Middle Cascade Glacier. The Spider-Formidable cirque is massive; its size and position completely dwarf you.
From the bottom of the cirque, we began ascending the ramp system that leads up the glacier. We didn’t quite understand the size of the seracs above until we were below them. Massive debris piles below were a pretty quick reminder. We booted the first 500′ or so, then skinned once we had gained a lower angle section of glacier. We opted to rope up once on the glacier proper. Around 1500′ up the glacier the pitch steepens as you get into the more fall-line part of the line. We transitioned back to booting, roped up. The position at this point is impressive; we noted how Alaskan it felt. Maybe that’s an insult to the scale of the Cascades…if so, apologies Washington. Grinning from ear-to-ear, we topped out at the col just to the east of Formidable Peak at 7800′. The position, once again, is impressive.
While the snow may not have been the best, the ambiance of the line is everything. The pitch is steep at points but not sustained. We party skied once past the steeper roll-over, soaking in the scale of the cirque.
We had spotted a cut-over to the Middle Cascade Glacier at around 6000′. This saved us from weird, moraine-y terrain gaining the Middle Cascade via the typical Ptarmigan route. A quick little tunnel through a wind lip and we were skinning on the Middle Cascade up towards Spider-Formidable Col. We wanted to check out south facing terrain to see if corn was setting up yet. A quick ski down from the col towards the south side of Spider showed that while snow was solar-softened, it was not corn. It lacked sufficient consolidation to make us feel confident on getting into steeper, solar terrain.
A quick booter back up to Spider-Formidable Col brought us back to the Middle Cascade Glacier. We took a party lap on the glacier, before heading up towards a saddle to the NE of Spider Mountain at around 7200′. Lane had spotted a couloir/ramp on the map that we could access from the ridgeline between Spider and Arts Knoll that would bring us around the moraine-y terrain on the Middle Cascade that appeared more enjoyable skiing.
This was my first time up-close and personal with the north face of Spider Mountain. Staring over at it from only a few hundred yards away, its scale was humbling. Some day I’ll check out that north face…
We traversed on the east side of the ridgeline to access the couloir/ramp, then skied the couloir/ramp NW down back into the Middle Cascade cirque. The ‘sneak’ was an excellent way to get us back into the cirque with very fun skiing. Great eye Lane!
We waffled over whether to skin up to Arts Knoll or to just re-trace our route towards the lower access couloir. We thought we had seen a sneak off the Arts Knoll ridge above the Red Ledges we could use to get back towards camp. With some time left in the day, we agreed to skin up to the summit of Arts and see if we could find that sneak. With waning daylight, we topped out Arts as golden hour began. Some afternoon corn turns on Arts Knoll ridgeline felt quite special. I spotted the sneak off the ridgeline skier’s right; it was 200′ or so of steep skiing that brought us 300′ below our camp.
Back at camp, we reveled in a smooth, special day. While the snow may not have been much to remember, the position and scale of the mountains around us was remarkable. I spent 15 minutes with my ear peeled to my sleeping pad, trying to find the leak. “I FOUND IT!”
Day 3: Spider SE Face, Spider Glacier, Plan B Couloir
I’ve found that I’m a little slow with early morning activities. On morning two I rushed to keep up with Nick and Lane, especially when it came to putting on frozen ski boots. On morning three I gave myself 20 extra minutes and enjoyed my cold breakfast of granola and protein powder in peace.
For day three we headed out towards the Spider Glacier, both to ski the glacier and also to check out the southeastern environs of Spider Mountain. Remote skiing in a place we can’t normally access from the car…that was our mantra for the trip. We had an easy ski down from Arts Knoll to the base of the glacier, now below the looming Spider North Face. One day I’ll be here, looking up with a slight knot in my stomach at the steep lines with an intent to ski, I told myself.
We opted to boot to gain the toe of the glacier; there’s some moraine-y cliffs near the bottom that we didn’t want to have the exposure to on skins/ski crampons. Once on the glacier we skinned with ease; we opted to not rope up, but instead have the rope easily accessible.
From the Spider Glacier col, we ski traversed over to the SE Face of Spider, entering springtime warmth and…CORN. We were impressed by the looks of the southeast face, which we had only seen on satellite imagery and topography. There were a few interesting lines to choose from. We started booting, to find that there was not as much consolidation below the surface crust as we may have thought. Booting was a bit arduous but we still had hopes that on skis it’d feel like corn.
Up the ridge we went, soaking in the position. Looking over at Le Conte, Bonanza, Dome and the rest of the Ptarmigan Traverse, we felt the remoteness we were looking for. We giggled, envisioning our corn turns and picking out our pictures/shot placements. We transitioned just 30′ or so below the top, giving the large cornices plenty of respect.
Nick chose the skier’s right ridgeline close to our ascent route, giving me the opportunity to get some shots of him skiing with exposure off his righthand side. I skied the middle of the face, Lane followed. We all had our own dose of January corn, teasing us of Spring.
Elated, we took a long break at the bottom of our run. Good snow in an exceptional position…cups filled. We tried to melt some snow water in our bottles and climbed back up to the Spider Glacier col for our return to camp. Skiing the Spider Glacier was okay, the position was great but the snow…not so much. In boot-top powder it’d be an incredible run. We punched the climb back up to Arts Knoll and quickly packed up our things.
It was time to move camp. After two nights at Arts Knoll, we planned to move along the S Loop towards either Hurry-Up’s summit plateau or Trapper Lake. We envisioned skiing around Trapper and Pelton on our last day and either would put us in a good spot. With cold temps in the valleys and with such a low sun angle, we thought Trapper Lake might be a cold, dark hole; sleeping on the summit plateau of Hurry-Up, as long as it wasn’t windy, sounded a more interesting and memorable option.
With that plan, we thought we might have enough time for a hot lap of the Plan B Couloir. Nick had skied it before, I’d only climbed it as part of the S-Loop, Lane had never been in it before. It’s a worthy line, beautifully plumb and with good pitch, but most only climb it as part of the S-Loop. We pushed up it with our overnight packs, deeper and less consolidated booting (again) than we hoped for. We dropped our packs atop Hurry-Up and took a lap. The wet sluff was definitely a hazard to manage, not the ripper corn we had wished for. It still skied well enough and we were happy we took a lap. One more time up…
At this point in the trip, I was quite depleted. We underestimated our fuel consumption, I had put too much faith in my inflatable sleeping pad, and I was also a little on the lower end of food. My body was telling me about it too. Nick and Lane had an energy I couldn’t quite match that last night on Hurry-Up. Our camp position was exceptional: looking over at Pelton, Trapper, and towards the Chelan. Alpenglow from atop Hurry-Up was not something I will soon forget. My body was drained, though. I poured warm water into my macaroni and cheese, knowing it would not fully cook, prepared for the crunch crunch. Nick was gracious and gave me some instant potatoes he wasn’t planning to eat. My plans of eating well cooked food and instant coffee were a bit misguided…ha.
We melted water as efficiently as we could, playing the game of how much fuel does this can have left? I tried and tried to stay out with Nick and Lane but I was just getting too cold. My body wasn’t generating heat like it normally does and I could have done a better job of packing some warmer clothes. My 52L pack was filled to the brim….but with what? My camera I guess…haha. I guiltily snuck into my sleeping bag to warm up as the gentlemen finished the water melting procedure. Everyone had just enough for our last day; we’ll call that maximum efficiency.
Day 4: S-Glacier, Pelton SE Face, Trapper Bail, Exit
My coldest and worst night of sleep ensued. I feared turning over my watch face, as I should have. 2AM…dammit. Winter camping often has those nights, when you hope you’re going to look at your watch and see 20 minutes until you can get up, restlessly lying on your pad, waiting for the sun. Well, that was me.
At 530AM I couldn’t take it anymore and noisily slithered out of the mid with my foam pad and sleeping bag to lay outside. I munched on instant oatmeal rehydrated with nearly frozen water and watched the morning glow begin to backlight the peaks to the east. When light finally did light up the sky, the sunrise was stunning.
Feeling like a zombie, the S-Glacier was quite the morning wake-up, an overcompensation for our lack of instant coffee you could say. The snow variable and the overnight packs heavy, we did our best to link turns and make it look somewhat aesthetic for each other’s cameras. The S-Glacier has a surprising pitch at the start, maybe 40 in spots, and it’s an impressively long run. We enjoyed pockets of inconsistent snow, either windboard or firm powder.
We dropped our overnight gear in a flat spot between the end of the S-Glacier and the climb up to Alliteration Col. Lane had a vision for the SE Face of Pelton Peak via a ramp system just out of plain sight. Morning corn on Pelton, then if time allowed we’d check out the north couloir of Trapper Mountain.
We ski traversed over to the base of SE Pelton and as soon as we took our skis off we post-holed to above our boot-tops in refrozen garbage. Exhausted from multiple nights of poor sleep, I won’t lie that my stoke was low. I felt zombie like, scraping just enough to keep up with Nick and Lane on this climb. From below, the ramp system looked improbable but Lane’s vision and stoke held up. He launched upwards, guiding the way impressively. As we ascended, the route got more and more impressive. Not overly steep but with interesting position and improbability, we began to get quite psyched.
The stoke train came to a pretty abrupt ending on the final climb to the summit. The summit block of Pelton, from the south at least, is slabby and craggy. Nick, leading the way, began to posthole to his waist in spots and behind him I nearly fell in a moat to my waist as well. We quickly waffled and opted to flip: no need to mess around with rock holes on our last day. We each dug out a platform, clicked into skis, locked our toes, and skied down.
The bottom half of the run features a ramp system right around 35 degrees but with Trapper Mountain set right in the background. I had to try and snap some shots. I radioed up to Nick and Lane once I had found my position and smashed down on the shutter as they slid by.
Flipping just before the summit didn’t quite feel like a bail. None of us had really expected the line to go as well as it did. It was a weird in-between of bail and success. We debated going over to Trapper or exiting; I made a point of discussing not wanting the trip to end on a sour note. With enough time and the we’re right there mentality, we opted to go give it a poke. As we ski traversed through pretty gross trap crust, doubts began to pop through our heads.
More waffling…we opted to climb up to the base of the couloir at least. Maybe the snow will be different in the couloir itself. The apron was not great snow and after 3 days of variable skiing and the thought of the car within grasp, our collective tolerance for poor snow was lowering. I led us booting up to the base, where I found some pretty snice-y conditions. I quickly grabbed my second ice axe and poked around to see if the surface texture that looked uniform felt the same everywhere. At least within the vicinity I could quickly explored, it appeared so.
Could we get up and down this thing? Absolutely. Do we want to? That was the question. Ultimately, we didn’t. It’s a beautiful line and I’ll come back for it in better conditions, conditions that won’t make me immediately want to go back. The vibe was a little somber after a true bail, kind of exactly what I had feared.
A quieter than normal climb back up to our overnight gear gave each of us a bit of mental reset time to wrestle with our thoughts. By the time we had loaded our overnight packs back up and donned ski crampons for the skin up to Alliteration, the small violin had stopped playing.
One final ski down the Yawning in better-than-expected conditions and we were just 500′ below Cascade Pass. A quick final skin, then some of the worst skiing of the entire trip down from Cascade Pass and we were back at our shoes walking towards the car. Surprisingly, the NPS had closed the gate at MP21 and opened the gate at MP20??? We were momentarily afraid maybe they had gated us in, but quickly enough we found that was not the case. We drove down into Marblemount, each bought multiple beverages at the reliable Shell station, and sped back to our civilian lives. Thanks January for a memorable 4 days out.
Some final, albeit random thoughts:
- The Extreme Battery Saver mode on Google Pixel is amazing. I put it on EXTREME mode at the start of the trip and didn’t charge my phone once for 4 days…and still had 55% battery by the end.
- Pack an 8oz can of isobutane per person, per day to be safe.
- Do yourself a favor and check your inflatable sleeping pad before leaving home.