Skiing and climbing in one weekend
Posted by markhwebster on March 7th, 2018 • 0 Comments
Saturday Sue, Lisa and I skinned up to Pebble Creek above Panorama Pt. Then we dropped into the bowl above the top of Mazama Ridge, where a cloud rose up to meet us just as we got to the best snow. We skied blindly for half an hour, trusting in our previous trips there to know we weren’t skiing off cliffs. That was nerve wracking. Lisa is the best skier and was boldly leading out ahead. She’d do a few turns into the white out, holler up that it was ok and we’d follow.
Eventually we came out of the cloud but by then we were in the flats on top of Mazama. Another half hour brought us to Clints snowcave. He, Craig, Tony and Mike had skied up with overnight gear and were well into a 4 man snow palace.
It was getting on toward 4 PM by then and we couldn’t stay long as the car was several miles down and away in deep cement snow. It was a lovely day with the family, but we were very glad to get to the car. Sue and I were exhausted but Lisa could have probably done it all again.
I got up early Sunday and drove to Vantage with Vitaliy, Christine and Julia. We met Vladi and a few other gym friends there. I got up Air Guitar and Pony Keg cleanly, but had to hang on Whipsaw and Sunshine Buttress. My absence from the climbing gym has made my fingers weak. It was great hanging out with so many good climbing friends. Even Chad was there and we talked about Indian Creek.
When we got to Ellensburg there was a roadblock on I-90. The pass had shut down due to snow. It took us a total of 8 hours to drive home from Vantage, including waiting at a restaurant for an hour. We took 97 over Bluit Swauk Pass, then Stevens Pass, and 203 down through Carnation to Julias car at North Bend.