Corral Pass at one time was going to be the main resort of the Central Washington Cascades. The original plan was to build a tram from Highway 410 all the way up to the ski hill. This idea went on for a few years before they found the terrain that would become Crystal Mountain. Being someone who loves history I was interested in what was up there. If it was good enough to become a ski hill then there must have been good skiing.

With Weather around Washington Looking Grim we decided to stay local but do something different. We started skinning up the Forest Service Road at 8:30 on Friday night. We had planned to build a base camp at the pass and get some rest for the long day ahead of us. As we made our way up I had gained a bit of ground on both Scott and Dan almost arriving in the alpine. Soon Dan arrived and let me know that Scott’s Alpine Trekers had broken. We made our way back down to Scott had decided since it was spring corn we would attempt to bootpack. Instead of going for our original destination we decided to stick around Corral Pass.

Waking up at Corral Pass

We woke up to the sound of rain falling on our tent. As we looked out side we saw the north face of the main bowl of Corral Pass. From our vantage point we could see that most of the snow was melted off. Not to be discouraged we made our way out and started packing our bags. Soon we were bootpacking up the ridge.

Once we made our way up to the ridge we were taken back by the view of Mount Rainier. In front of it was the Sourdough Range with its open east facing slopes. It was an area I was really interested in checking out and it was nice to see it from a different perspective.

With our original plans becoming scrapped we decided to start exploring around Corral Pass. We had no idea where to go but we were sure that we would find something good to ride.

Hot Laps Around Corral Pass

For our first run we decided to ride into the North Basin. It was a relatively small run but we felt like it was a good way to check out snow conditions. Below us the snow would both soft and smooth so we took a few laps while utilizing our bootpack.

For a few hours we found little hits to jump off of and work with the terrain. Since we were boot packing the trip was all about hot laps.

The snow was much better than we expected on the lower angled slopes. Soon we had layed down quite a lot of tracks in the upper basin and we felt it was time to move on.

Focusing Our Attention on the South Face

Once back on the ridge we started looking down the south face. It was both steeper and a longer line and drastically different then our previous run. It was made even better because it had an exposed rock ridge to its edge. We would be able to ride down in the snow then hike back up on rocks.

Dan decided he would go first as we spotted out a line between the rocks. Dropping in we could tell he was excited and he was making his way down fast. From what we could tell it looked like smooth slush.

When Dan made it to the steeper area he had caused a wet slide. It was behind him but fortunately he took a hard turn and barely made it out of the way. We could here the slide going for over 5 minutes and it traveled more then 2000 vert below. being spooked with the experience we made our way back to the mellow North side.

Heading Back to the High Point of Corral Pass

We decided to head up to the high point of Corral Pass. From there hopefully we could spot a nice final line of the trip. With the other faces out of the question it vastly limited our options in the area.

Arriving on the summit we could see Noble Knob to the north. It was our original plan for the day and it seemed like a fun line. Being southeast it is a wide open slope and one of the last alpinish peaks before the forested slopes before Snoqualmie Pass.

After hanging out on the summit a little bit it was time to get going. Dealing with the previous wet slide we decided it stick with mellow terrain. After a bit of hanging out on top it was final time to get going.

Time to Head Back to the Car

We rode back down the same bowl we had rode earlier. Being near the summit it wasn’t nearly as steep as the south facing slope. We just had one steep section before being back at camp.

By now even the north facing slopes were sliding. We had to be cautious with ever turn not to be dragged into trees. Before long we were back at camp and breaking it down. Though the plans hadn’t gone as we hoped it was a learning experience. Soon enough it was time to ride down the road to our car below.

At the time we were out touring with minimal experience about wetslide caused by solar radiation. Although we made a mistake we had ended up learning a lot from this trip and I was thankful that nobody got hurt.

Thanks to Scott and Dan for being such great touring partners over the years.

Thank you for reading this trip around Corral Pass. If you want to see more ski tours within Crystal Mountain Backcountry check out this link.