Cayuse Pass to Crystal Mountain has always been a ski tour I was interested in. Heading North I wanted to link the best lines covering 8 miles and 8000 feet. With the opening of Highway 123 and less than desirable visibility predicted, I thought it might be fun to pull off another traverse in my … Read more
The Big Chiwaukum Couloir is one of those lines you can see on a clear day at Stevens Pass Ski resort. Being the high point of the Chiwaukum range the line can’t help but grab your attention. Scott McAlister and I put together a plan to in which we would make it out there via a traverse. We would go fast and light with an early morning approach so we could make the most out of the day before exiting around sunset. While the tour was going to be long it would be worth it for the views alone. Snowboarding down the Big Chiwaukum Couloir was going to be a nice bonus.
With the end of the lift accessed resort season coming up fast I decided to make the most out of the powder and daylight. It had been a few days since it had last snowed but conditions were still good if you worked for it. Seeing that there were skin tracks everywhere I decided to link them up. I would do a full traverse from 3 Way Peak all the way to East Peak and ride the main lines along the way. It was ambitious but time and energy was on my side as I set a goal to ride all the lines in the Crystal Mountain Southback.
The idea to do a Picket Range Ski Traverse was the brain child of both Jason Hummel and Forrest Mcbrian. Basically I was a passenger and this is how a trip that would change my life came together.
February 17th 2010 presented a rare weather window indigenous to spring in the Cascades—6 days of clear skies and, most likely, stable, predictable maritime snowpack. The infrequent opportunity called for something long and arduous in the backcountry. Like most other mountaineers in the area, this was what I had waited for—a big weather window, and the opportunity to do something big with it.
As a splitboard mountaineer, finding touring partners often means looking beyond snowboarders toward the truly elite in sliding tool mountaineering (yeah, that often means skiers). Jason Hummel, though a skier, was a frequent traveling partner, good friend, and talented photographer. Traveling with him was a given for the upcoming window, but where we would go was yet to be determined. Jason had considered the Picket Range Ski Traverse many times before, and was knowledgeable about the area. He and I had talked for a while about doing a trip in the area.
The Dakobed Traverse is a high alpine route from the Boulder Pass trail in Glacier Peak Wilderness to White Pass and the Pacific Crest Trail in Washington state. The trip starts off forest road 6400 and the White River Trailhead and can be coupled with Glacier Peak. Following the Dakobed Range it is one of the more scenic areas within the Cascades.
The Dakobed traverse had been a dream of mine for years and to end it off with Glacier Peak. Compared to other volcanoes this is by far the most isolated within the Cascade Range. For instance any approach to the mountain is a minimum of 30 miles compared to the parking lot on the lower slopes of Mount Rainier. Glacier Peak Wilderness is above all what I consider to have the most stunning scenery in all of Washington.
I had always looked at the Dakobeds (translated to mean Great Parent) in a sense of mystery. Studying the contour lines of the massive peaks hosting several glaciers lingering on the edge of granite cliffs. The Dakobed Traverse to Glacier Peak were to me as Mt Olympus and the Valhalla’s was to Jason Hummel. From the tiger striped gold tinted rock to the never ending crevasse filled glaciers. Glacier Peak Wilderness is easily one of the most amazing places I have ever set my eyes upon. We decided the perfect way to climb Glacier peak would be via the Dakobed Traverse.
So this is my perspective of Jason and my 7 day trip out to Mt Olympus and the Valhalla’s for a much better written report check out Jason’s version at http://www.cascadecrusades.org/SkiMo…ympics2009.htm
Jason was kind enough to let me use his photography which can all be purchased at http://www.alpinestateofmind.com/It had always been a goal of mine to make it out to Mt Olympus the highest point in Olympic National Park but for one reason or another I never made it out that way. Jason Hummel and I had been communicating back and forth about putting together an epic trip in which we would head out to Olympus and climb deep into the Heart of the Olympics via the Valhalla’s a remote sub range.
After looking at the weather forecast it seemed we had a two day break in between unstable weather patterns. John and I decided to take advantage of blue skies and corn in the Snoqualmie pass area. We passed a few ideas back and forth. Both Kaleetan Peak and Granite Mountain kept coming up and in … Read more