Trip Date: March 5, 2011

Zorro Point Ski Tour

Granite Creek Valley
Zorro Point (4642 ft)

Trip Report Summary

Region: Central Washington Cascades

Sub-Region: Lower Snoqualmie Range

Area: Middle Fork Snoqualmie Natural Resources Conservation Area

Starting & Ending Point: Mailbox Peak Trailhead parking pullout on Middle Fork Snoqualmie River Road (Elev. 800 feet)

Way Points: Granite Creek Bridge & Upper Granite Creek Road & Zorro Peak summit (snow hike & ski tour)

Summit: Zorro Point (ski ascent via West Slope; ski descent via South Ridge)

Approximate Stats: 16 miles traveled; 4500 feet gained & lost; 10.0 hours elapsed.

Related Post

>>> Thompson Point Ski Tour via Granite Creek – February 25, 2011

Information Sources

The following links provide helpful information for planning this snowshoe hike or ski tour. Even these information sources, however, should not be taken as a substitute for having the fitness, knowledge, equipment, and clothing required for snowshoe hiking or ski touring.

>>> WSDOT road reports for Interstate-90 and Snoqualmie Pass

>>> National Weather Service weather forecast for Snoqualmie Pass area

>>> Northwest Avalanche Center avalanche forecast for Snoqualmie Pass area

>>> Other easy to moderate ski tours in the I-90 / Snoqualmie Pass corridor

>>> Other easy to moderate snowshoe hikes in the I-90 / Snoqualmie Pass corridor

Full Trip Report

On a whim, I returned to the Granite Creek valley, where Fay and I had encountered wonderful skiing last weekend.  My goal this time was to ski up the switchbacking road that ascends to (or very close to) the summit of Point 4642—locally known as Zorro Point.  Although this road and summit are rarely visited, they have been seen by pretty much everybody who has traveled east on I-90.  As seen from North Bend, the long road switchbacks form a huge “Z” cutting across the forested mountainside to the northeast—looking like the mark of Zorro.

Starting from the Mailbox Peak parking lot, I carried skis for a mile before gaining adequate snowcover for skiing.  Beyond that point, the snowpack increased quickly, and the past week’s fresh snowfall completely covered over our tracks from last weekend.  I didn’t realize just how much snow had fallen this past week (about 24 inches at Elev 3000′) until I reached the Granite Lakes Trail junction and found the sign almost buried!

Shortly past the junction, I turned left off the main road and headed north up a long contouring road (the bottom leg of the giant “Z”).  Things began ok, with picturesque alders lining the road, but conditions soon degenerated into a maze of saplings and, later, dense brush.

Admittedly, defoliated wintertime brush is less annoying than leafy summertime brush, but the problem is that I continuously found my skis and my body to be on opposite sides of the inclined trunks!  Adding to this frustration was the constant bombardment by wet snow being shaken off the limbs, and the trail-breaking through heavy, unconsolidated snow.  It took nearly 2 hours to get past these brushy zones and onto open slopes at the first big switchback.  Thereafter, I had relatively pleasant travel and sunny skies all the way to the summit of Zorro Point (5.6 hours from car).

While eating lunch on the summit, I decided that descending via my up-track was sufficiently unappealing to prompt other options.  I decided to continue southeasterly along the ridge crest leading over to Thompson Point and then try to catch the main road.  This involved an extra mile of climbing and traversing, but the terrain and views made it worthwhile.

One notable view was of the enigmatic log cabin perched high on the ridge crest.  At every vantage, I was struck by how implausibly out-of-place this cabin seems.  Perhaps I read too many Hardy Boys mystery books as a kid, but I am certain that a gang of counterfeiters is running a printing press inside.  In fact, I’ll bet the cabin has a disappearing floor and a secret tunnel entrance and a short-wave radio and footprints under the window.  What if some of my missing chums are tied up in the cellar??!!  But I have digressed.

My traverse took me across the top of a long, inviting snow chute that dropped a thousand feet straight downhill.  The urge to ski down this chute was pretty strong, but I held back long enough to dig a test pit and check snow stability.  I observed a very weak layer—probably a buried surface-hoar that had formed last weekend—about 14 inches down, and it sheared easily in a shovel test.  The underlying snow was pretty well bonded to a hard, older crust at 30 inches down.  The shallow weakness was worrisome enough to keep me on a conservative descending traverse that eventually intersected the main road.

I followed this road down to the Granite Lakes Trail junction, breaking trail through sun crust and heavy snow the whole way, then picked up my up-track for a faster 5 mile glide, crash, and headlamp hike back to the car (3.6 hours from summit).

Photo Gallery

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