Snovember at Rainy Pass

We have been blessed with a snowy October, especially in the North Cascades. Many locations are near record snow depths over the last few decades for this time of year. While I have skied extensively on Highway 20 in the spring, once it reopens, I have long wanted to ski there before it closes in the fall. This year seemed like a great opportunity!

Logan, Chris, Doug, and I made a long day trip to ski around Rainy Pass. With a snow depth of about 3 feet at nearby Washington Pass, we expected the snowpack to be thin down low, but plenty adequate around and above tree line. Starting at Rainy Pass allowed us to use the popular trail network of the Heather Maple Pass Loop to get into the alpine. We started by skinning up the eastern part of the loop. Just a few weeks ago, this trail would have been teeming with larch seekers. It was incredible how fast the mountains have transitioned this year.

It was a dazzling bluebird day up high. Once out of the trees, there was bottomless fresh powder. It made trail breaking hard work, but it was a good problem to have. We even measured a snow depth of 140cm atop the ridge!

We were all eager to ski, but I also found great joy in returning to the art of setting a skin track – thinking about terrain, angles, and efficiency. Setting a good skin track demands constant decision making and attention to detail. Few things make me feel as present.

For our first run, we descended to the south through mostly mellow terrain towards a small lake above Rainy Lake. The powder was bottomless and light – maybe the best first turns of the season I have ever had. Early season conditions meant there were some small cliffs to navigate, but we were surprised how even boulder fields were pretty well covered.

Our goal was to ski the open post glacial slopes beneath Frisco Mountain, adjacent to the defunct Lyall Glacier. Interestingly, the Lyall Glacier is likely named after the same “Lyall” who the “Lyall’s Larch” (the subalpine larch that everyone flocks to in the fall in the North Cascades) also bears the name of.

We skinned up beneath the steep north face of Rainy Peak. It was windy up high, but we hoped the snow would still be good for skiing.

We stopped a few hundred feet from the ridge because of cold winds. Despite the wind effect, the powder was still good. And as we got lower into more protected areas, it became excellent. Not just good for November, but good any day, anywhere.

Enthused with the excellent skiing, we went back up for a second lap. The wind was less aggressive, so we decided to continue all the way to a 7400 ft saddle. Here, we basked in the sun, gazing into some remote mountains from Spider Mountain to Goode to Logan.

After our next run, we skinned back up to the ridge separating Rainy Lake and Lake Ann. Broken high clouds had moved over the mountains, like dimples in the sky.

Honestly, it had been a disappointing fall for me – the first time in almost a decade I didn’t go on a proper “larch march”. Life has been very busy. But for years I’ve yearned to experience this incredible terrain in powder, and today I got that wish. I feel very grateful for this opportunity. With the mountains, you can’t always get what you want, but you can usually get what you need.

While we could have followed the trail back down the way we came up, we thought it would be more fun to ski directly down to Lake Ann. The initial north facing bowl held the best snow yet – deep, light powder, with no wind effect.

In the lower half of the descent, we navigated through some steep cliffs, bushes, and open creeks. As Doug said, it was the only part of the day that wasn’t completely blissful. Once at the lake, we followed the summer trail back to the car.

This was a fantastic start to my ski season, and a great ski day at any point in the season. Skiers who frequent Highway 20 in the spring usually only get to dream of the incredible terrain in the cloaked in powder. If Highway 20 was open all winter, it would truly be a world class backcountry ski destination. The combination of access, snowpack, and terrain is special. But the fact ski days up here before the winter closure are so elusive makes days like these all the more special.

Notes:

• While this could work as a spring tour, the terrain next to the Lyall Glacier that we skied is east facing and not super quick to access, so it would require an early start. In powder, it is nice, relatively mellow terrain to lap.
• While the route we took up follows a steep, narrow ridge, it actually works well in a shallower snowpack because of the summer trail. It had mostly low avalance exposure, which is good for the start of a tour. The other trail up to Heather Pass has much more exposure.
• There was a lot less variation in snow depth on different aspects that we expected! Perhaps that is because we have not had extended high pressure since the snow started falling, and also because of the relatively low sun angle at this time of year.
• For reference, the NWAC station read 36 inches at Washington Pass. There was more than enough snow up high to ski. We’ve had multiple rounds of snowfall, producing a strong base. We measured 140cm (55 inches) on a flat ridge at 6500 ft.