Trip Date: May 31, 2008

Cutthroat Pass Ski Traverse:  Porcupine Creek to Cutthroat Creek

Porcupine Basin
Cutthroat Pass
Cutthroat Knoll
Cutthroat Basin

Trip Report Summary

Region: Northeastern Washington Cascades

Sub-Region: Upper Methow Mountains

Area: North Cascades Scenic Highway Corridor

Starting Point: Rainy Pass pullout on Highway 20 (Elev. 4850 feet)

Way Points: Porcupine Creek / PCT-Northbound Trailhead & Porcupine Creek & Porcupine Basin & Cutthroat Pass & Cutthroat Knoll & Cutthroat Basin & Cutthroat Lake Trail junction & Cutthroat Creek & Cutthroat Pass Trailhead (snow hike & ski tour)

Ending Point: Cutthroat Pass Trailhead at end of Cutthroat Creek Road (Elev. 4450 feet)

Approximate Stats: 9 miles traveled; 2300 feet gained; 2700 feet lost; 7.0 hours elapsed.

Full Trip Report

This past weekend was slated for backcountry skiing in the Washington Pass area. On Saturday, Steve B, Anita, Oriol, Peter, and Eileen joined me on the Cutthroat Traverse.

Under sunny skies, we started from Rainy Pass and contoured (sometimes on skis, other times on foot) up the spur road and through dense forest into the Porcupine Creek Valley. Along the way, we passed an impressive avalanche that had originated high on Porcupine Peak and swept down to the creek and then back up the other side (it took us a minute to realize why all the trees were pointed uphill).

We crossed the creek on deep avy debris, then skied up toward Cutthroat Pass through ever-thinning forest.

On a broad viewpoint knoll (6910′) above the pass (4.1 hours from Rainy Pass), we met up with Randy and Linda, who had gone up separately. The views and lighting from this knoll were super.

Following a long break, we continued skiing eastward into the Cutthroat Lake basin. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the wide and smooth corn-snow slopes that we’d hoped for; the snow was badly runneled, and the treeline came up surprisingly high here.

This called for about 1500′ of survival skiing techniques to reach the Cutthroat Lake Trail Junction. We then performed numerous skis on, skis off, skis on, skis off operations to get down the partially snow-covered trail. We reached the trailhead and our awaiting vehicle shortly after 6:00pm.

Route Comments

We all had a fun and satisfying time completing this popular ski traverse, but it didn’t quite have the overall feeling of a classic. I think we were too late in the season and spent too much time negotiating dense forest. If I were to repeat this trip, I would do so in late April or early May to catch better snowcover. I would also reverse the direction (starting at Cutthroat Creek), because the best slopes seem to be on the west side of Cutthroat Pass, and I would descend Porcupine Creek Valley directly to Hwy 20 without traversing over to Rainy Pass.

Route Map

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Photo Gallery

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