Trip Stats
Trip Report
Tim, Maria, Sherri, Young Kenneth and I arrived at the Blue Lake Trail Head at 9am after leaving my car at the hairpin turn before the climb to Washington Pass. Since none of us had done this tour, we followed some tracks through the pine forest. Although it was starting to warm up, the shade from the trees kept it cool and the snow hard.
After emerging from the trees, we continued up the slope at a leisurely pace and eventually reached a flat spot below Blue Peak Col. A telemarker had just kicked steps up a chute to our left, and we watched him descend out of sight. From the Col, we made some nice turns down the slope, keeping to our left was we ascended, since the snow was firmer on that side.
Once at the bottom, we started our final push up the valley. I’m not sure the exact temperature, but it was hot! After going at our own speed, we convened at a notch which lead into the next valley. The entrance was a bit tight, and I choose for the more direct entry…
The ski down the final slope was interesting – the top layer of snow was heavy from the sun and we caused a lot of small slides on our way down. This would have been a nice area to really get some great turns in, but conditions forced us to proceed very carefully.
Once near the bottom of the valley floor, we traversed along the side of the mountain until finally reaching our car. We had to go back to Blue Lake to pick up the other car and then we proceeded to Mazama to eat and rest at a lovely cabin.
