March 30, 2003

Knapsack Pass Ski Tour & Snow Climb

Mowich Meadows
Mowich Lake Ranger Station
Knapsack Pass

——————– Trip Report Summary ——————–

Region: Southern Washington Cascades

Sub-Region: Mt. Rainier Massif

Area: Mt. Rainier National Park

Starting & Ending Point: Paul Peak Trailhead parking lot at winter gate on Mowich Lake Road (Elev. 3700 feet)

Way Points: Mowich Meadows & Mowich Lake Ranger Station & Knapsack Pass (ski tour & snow climb)

Approximate Stats: 13 miles traveled; 2500 feet gained & lost; 4.7 hours up; 2.6 hours down.

——————– Full Trip Report ——————–

Sunday’s forecast called for warm and reasonably dry weather in the South Cascades, so I decided to head for the Mt. Rainier area.  Jon and Megan met me in Issaquah, armed with no-wax skis and skins.  The broken clouds overhead but didn’t look too threatening.  We loaded up my vehicle and drove down to Enumclaw via Issy-Hobart Road and Highway 18.

Blue skies to the south put is in good spirits, and everything was looking good for a ski tour.  Suddenly, somewhere between Hobart and Maple Valley, one of my skis and one of Megan’s skis decided to take an unscheduled flight!  In my rear-view mirror, I saw both skis bouncing across the pavement of Highway 18.  I quickly pulled over, and Jon ran back along the highway to retrieve our gear.  Miraculously, nothing appeared to be damaged.  A brief conference revealed that none of us could actually remember fastening down the ski rack on the passenger side!  I hoped that the ski incident would be our only glitch for this day’s mission.

Beyond Enumclaw, routefinding became a bit tricky through Buckley and Wilkeson, but we eventually found the Mowich Lake Road.  We proceeded up this road, hoping to drive all the way to the winter gate without being stopped by snow.  As the miles went by, our concerns about being stopped by snow became concerns about not finding any snow at all:  there was not a trace of snow anywhere in sight!  Fortunately, all of these concerns dissolved as we encountered snow patches near the Park boundary and eventually bogged down in 12-inch-deep snow only 1/8 mile before the winter gate.  (Thank goodness…I hate walking in ski boots!)

Opting to start without skins, we skied up the road on a nice cover of corn snow.  The weather was delightfully mild and sunny, while snow condtions were excellent for waxless touring.  Wiihin the span of 1 mile, snow depths increased from 12 inches to 36 inches.  We reached Mowich Lake just in time for lunch.  Surprisingly, no other parties could be seen there.

After lunch, we attached skins and headed eastward through open forest in a series of zig zags.  Terrain ranged from gentle to steep, but snow conditions remained good for skinning.  We finally popped into the wide-open bowl below Knapsack Pass.

Jon and Megan decided to stop here for the day, while I continued carefully upward on steepening slopes, ever wary of snow stability conditions.  About 100 feet beneath the pass, I stashed my skis in a fir grove and kicked steps in slightly crusty snow up the remaining distance.  My arrival at the pass (4.7 hours from car) neatly coincided with the arrival a howling westerly wind.  I took off my pack to add more clothing but worried that my pack might actually blow away!

Retreating back to my skis, I buckled in for the descent and managed to crank a dozen shaky tele turns before reaching Jon and Megan.  The snow was getting a bit too soft and heavy for good turning.  From there, we telemarked, sideslipped, traversed, schussed, and kick-turned our way back down Mowich Lake.

The next 5 miles of road went pretty quickly, but it felt long and tiring.  Because the gradient was rarely steep enough to coast, we had to kick-and-glide nearly to whole length.  We reached the car about 5:00 pm (2.6 hours from pass) under ominously black cloudcover.  On the way home, our faces were beaming from the afterglow of a nice backcountry tour…or was it our late-March sunburns?

——————– Photo Gallery (click to enlarge) ——————–