Over the years I have fallen in love with self supported long distant travels. There is something special about traveling long distances through the snow covered mountains. With all the silence you become in tune with your surroundings. Over a decade I’ve been piecing together a traverse through the Washington Cascades. The Crystal Mountain to Stampede Pass section was a trip I had been putting off for years. The area consisted almost entirely of tree covered peaks, clear cuts and logging roads. This is one of the only areas in the crest of the cascades that’s not in Wilderness or National Park.
Why the Crystal Mountain to Stampede Pass Traverse
I had arrived in Washington March 2016 with the intent to do a few on trips on my “tick list”. This became a problem as the forecast was filled with wet and cloudy days. The same forecast came up nearly the whole months and a half while being in town. Jason Hummel and I scanned the forecasts almost daily and finally a forecast called for clear skies for 2 days. We knew this was the only opportunity and decided to attempt the Crystal Mountain to Stampede Pass Traverse. The last two days would be wet but as they say “you work with what you get”.
The Logistical Nightmare of the Crystal Mountain to Stampede Pass Traverse
Ski traverses are a logistical nightmare if you don’t have two cars at your disposal. We came up with a plan to leave Jason’s car in Kent, take the train to Sumner. From there my friend Rick Kadar was kind enough to drive us up to Crystal Mountain. When we made it to I-90…who knows but we would figure it out when we got there.
Taking the train………this is something I have gotten used to over the years. It goes no where near the actual ski resort. BUT is on the route from Tacoma to Crystal so it allowed me to have options for carpooling. I have used metro buses on so many trips, taking multiday gear on 2 buses through the heart of Seattle. Only to meet up with my friend Ben on Fridays for a weekend adventure. So like so many of my trips this adventure started with local transportation this time being the Seattle Sounder train.
I would lie if I said I was excited about this particular traverse. It had very little downhill snowboarding and we would be in forests instead of high mountains. With the second half being on logging roads it had a different feeling then other ski traverses. When we arrived at Crystal the forecast called for clear skies but that wasn’t the case. It was cloudy with limited visibility as we said good by to civilization for the next few days.
Day 1 From Crystal Mountain to the Pacific Crest Trail
Winds were howling and snow was falling sideways as we made it on top of our first ridge. With the biggest climb of the route over with we pushed forward and hoped for the best.
Here was the one part of the trip that I was truly looking forward to and here we were. There was nothing to see but walls of white. Not only would it be somewhat challenging navigating but the weather had turned for the worse. By now there was strong winds and blinding snow. We pushed forward through the forests with little ups a downs in areas familiar. Leaving our travels to a mixture of trust, intuition and occasionally a GPS system.
It was a catch 22 as they say because the alpine always delivers but the trees providing shelter from the winds. It was in these sheltered sections that we could take a breather. We would look about to what was in out limited view, the trees plastered in ice and rime.
After a few hours we were at the end of the zone which I would call myself familiar with. Now we were heading out into an area that barely saw foot traffic in winter traffic during the winter months.
Leaving the Crystal Mountain Backcountry and on to the Pacific Crest Trail
For the rest of the day we were plowing through dense forests attempting to follow the Pacific Crest trail. It was buried under feet of snow with only the occasional marker to confirm we were going the right way.
For hours and hours we wrestled with thick forest making our way north slower than anticipated. We were happy to have Gps systems checking it every few minutes. We would have been fine without but it was nice to confirm we were heading i the right direction. Finally we found a suitable camping spot just a half hour from sunset. If the forecast proved correct we would have a clear view of Rainier. That is if the projected forecast turned out to be accurate.
Day 2 A Sunny and Wet Day on the Crystal Mountain to Stampede Pass Traverse
The next day we awoke to clear skies are rested for a few brief minutes before heading out. We knew we had a lot of ground to cover and this was our only clear day. It was vital to make it to the logging roads as it would make travel easier the coming day. According to the forescast a nasty front was coming in and we expected white out conditions.
We had around 30 miles of travel ahead of us and 10 behind. Some of which was dense forest and the rest was logging roads. This was the only real time that I got a good view of the North Cascades firmly in the distance. There is something awesome about looking at Mountains 100 miles north and knowing you had snowboarded many of them. Each one is a story, each one an adventure.
I was excited about having a sunny day and the opportunity to dry out wet clothes. It was above freezing level and the trees were coated in new snow as we skinned through the old growth.
A Wet Day in the Forests
For the first half of the day we were going through the and getting constantly drenched by a downpour of melted snow. The day that I had predicted to be nice and invited turned out to be the wettest. I had not planned for this experienced in the trip but the forest beautiful.
A few hours into the day I decided to take a less traverish and more direct line up and over a hill while Jason sidehilled along the trail. It was once I met up with Jason back on the trail that I realized I had dropped my dry bag. Inside of it was my heavy duty pairs of gloves a Gimbal and a Gopro. It was very costly in the end but we didn’t have the time to head back and look. From here on out I would only have a small inner liner gloves that was already soaked. It would be cold but I would have to deal with it.
Out of the Forests and on to the Logging Roads
Before long we were out of the woods and onto forest service roads. Finally we were making a good pace from Crystal Mountain to Stampede Pass.
By the end of the day we decided to set up camp on the side of the road just past a burned section. The forecast called for rain for the rest of the trip starting in the night. We set up camp and enjoyed our last hour of sun on the trip knowing it was going to be nasty weather from here on out.
Day 3 A Day of Rain of the Crystal Mountain to Stampede Pass Traverse
I woke up to the sound of rain pelting the tent and ferocious winds outside. Running around we got our gear into our bags, forcing our selves to stay motivated. By now we were halfway done with the Traverse from Crystal Mountain to Stampede Pass. We had a few miles of logging roads before heading up and over Blowout Mountain and back into the forests.
At first my hands were numb from wet gloves but I felt the best antidote was to keep moving. My body would warm up soon enough. By the time we had made it back into the forests my Pomoca skins were almost completely useless. They had no stick at all and the only thing holding them somewhat onto my board was 4 Voile straps. It was fine when on flats but any sidehilling caused them to slip off and for me to stumble. It made me go about half my normal speed but going forward was the fastest way out so on we went making the best out of the situation.
That afternoon we just kept our heads down and pushed forward connecting Forest service roads. Piece by piece we pushed forward and each push forward felt like a victory on its own. At one point I had to climb about 200 vertical feet through insanely dense trees without the use of skins. It was a challenge but in the end I was able to do it.
Finally a ski Descent on Day 3
Near the end of the day we finally made it to our first downhill ski run. It was more 7 miles of slightly downhill riding with ski poles in hand. It was at the bottom of the hill when the end was in sight. Just 3 more miles of uphill on forest service roads and 5 miles of flat road. After that we could finally descend to the Stampede Pass trail head. We set up camp at a small creek on the side of the road and slipped into our bags. The hope was that we would be out by mid day the following day.
Day 4 Heading out to I 90
We woke up to about 3 inches of snow on the ground and my food scattered around camp. It turns out there was a mouse who became interested in my food and found it under the vestibule. He had a snack here and there but there was easily enough food to go on. We packed our gear and started skinning up the road now covered in about 5 inches of new snow. It was right at the top of the pass that I had one last gear issue. I was testing out a protype pair of Karakoram bindings and had the touring pivot break. These rendered skinning impossible from here on out. I would be boot packing the final stretch before one last downhill. It seemed this traverse was just not going my way.
On a side note the abuse I put gear through far and exceeds the normal amount of abuse. This allows companies to find and fix weaknesses before putting there products out to consumers. AKA the problem has been fixed.
Finishing the Traverse on Foot
In all I had been fortune because someone had groomed the last bit a few days earlier. My foot penetration only went to my ankle making it somewhat slow. Jason was able to skate ski this section but I had to go one foot at a time. Soon enough we were at the final downhill stretch where I switched over to snowboard. Riding down we made it to within a mile of the trailhead. From there on out I was hiking the last little bit to our exit point. Luckily Jason was about to do a few days riding with our friend Lexie who were heading over the Cascades. We were able to hitch a ride back to Kent with them. We had finished a traverse I wasn’t exactly looking forward to and was happy to have it over with.
In Conclusion
In the end I am glad that we did the trip from Crystal Mountain to Stampede Pass though I wouldn’t say I would do it again. The forests were amazing and it breaks my heart that we lost them this summer to fires. At least I had the opportunity to see them one final time. This trip threw so many curve balls but we kept level heads and worked with the situation.. I have to say thank you to Jason for being such a great partner over the years and congrats to him finally pulling off Baker to Rainier one traverse at a time.
Thank you for reading this trip from Crystal Mountain to Stampede Pass. If you want to see more ski tours within Crystal Mountain Backcountry check out this link.