Gunbarrel Ridge in the Silver Basin of Crystal Mountain is one of those places that’s easy access and steep and relatively anchored. Being that you can find safe and open treed slopes it is great during storms. With a northerly aspect it holds great snow while other places get cooked by the sun. This was not one of those days as the storms were raging in the Pacific Northwest. Travel would be limited by the distance we were willing to break trail. With well over a foot of snow overnight John and I went through our options. Wanting to get a great line that wasn’t far away and semi stable we set our sights the north facing slopes of Silver Basin.

Breaking Trail in Silver Basin up to Gunbarrel Ridge

We were halfway into a front with over three feet of freshly fallen snow in the past few days. Overnight we had an additional foot of new snow and there was no sign of the storm ending. In every direction all we could see was a sea of white as we broke trail. Struggling with every step we made our way towards Silver Basin. It would be the best terrain with the least amount of effort. Soon we had made it to the base of our line and skinning through the trees of Gunbarrel Ridge on the side of the line.

 

Battling the front we made our way up as the winds buried our skin track behind us. Making low angle switchbacks we made our way from tree to tree before reaching the final section. There was one final spot that we had to get into the open terrain to access the ridge. Soon enough and with one well placed kick turn we were finally on top of our line.

 

Dropping into Gunbarrel Ridge in Bottomless Conditions

Transitioning was a pain with the howling winds as we made sure our skins wouldn’t fly away. With numb fingers we hastily threw our gear into our backpacks and got ready to drop into the line. Looking at all the new snow we made sure to carefully make it down the steepest part. After a few carefully placed ski cuts and a few jumps we tried to make the slopes slide. Once we felt the slope was stable so we went down the line one at a time. John dropped in first and made his way towards the well anchored trees of Gunbarrel Ridge

 

Once John had made it safely over to Gunbarrel Ridge I dropped in and with a few turns made my way over there. It had been exceptionally deep turns and we were still less than halfway down our line. After a few seconds of chatting it was time for our final descent. From here on out the snow would be a bit safer as we ripped down the open slopes.

 

Once at the bottom we looked back at our lines with grins on our faces. We were covered with snow from top to bottom. Looking back at our tracks we knew they would be buried within the hour. With it being so deep we felt we made the right call going down this area compared to the main gut.

 

Our Exit via Silver Basin

By now our skin track was already buried from all the wind loading. Knowing that it had taken us hours to get up we didn’t have enough time for another run. While we were only able to take one line we were happy with that. We didn’t want to test our luck again and not willing to go down the main gut. Making our way down Silver Basin we were happy with our decision as well as the run we had. It had been some amazing storm riding and we were happy to come back another day. Soon enough we were back at the Crystal Mountain Parking Lot with a foot of new snow on his car. It had been a great day riding Gunbarrel Ridge.

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