Mount Catherine

Tim, Dale and I were skinning up Hyak shortly before 8am, enjoying the nice corduroy laid down by the groomer. We headed over to Union Junction by way of the Nordic trail and to begin our climb of Mount Catherine. There were quite a few tracks and a snow cave, and we hoped into an existing skin track and followed that through the lower woods.

The going was easy, as the skin track was well worn. There must have been at least 15 different tracks down various parts of Mount Catherine. On top of Catherine, we took in some spectacular views of Snoqualmie Pass, including Commonwealth Basin and Good Creek Valley. The ski down was fantastic – the trees had sheltered the steep slope from the wind and sun, leaving good quality snow for us. We came out above a cliff band, but found a way down through a small chute and continued our ski to the bottom. Getting home proved a little interesting, as we didn’t want to take the dogs on the trails. So we broke trail most of the way back to Hyak, before hoping on Creek Run with the dogs for the final ski down to the bottom.