Ok, so it may be a bit earlier to ski Mt Rainier (at least from the summit) but I can’t help but think spring ski touring is right around the corner. Of course, if you were out last weekend enjoying the deepest snow of the year, spring feels a long long ways away.

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Depending on who you ask, the weather in the Pacific NW has either been really nice (lots of sun), or really crappy (little snow.) Regardless, the goods are still out there. This backcountry ski photo was shot during an epic week-long trip to the Fairy Meadows hut in the Selkirk mountains of British Columbia.

Making the below photo your desktop wallpaper is easy:

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What a finicky winter we’re having here in the Pacific NW. Early on we had more snow then we knew what to do with. Last weekend, for this ski tour to Harding Mountain, we enjoyed spring-like corn near the summit and about 4-6 inches of hoar-frost powder in the valley and more shaded spots.

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Harding Mountain tops out at 7173 feet. The summit provided a remarkable vantage point of the central Washington Cascades, including nearby peaks such as Mt Stuart. With the help of snow mobiles, we accessed the peak from the Salmon La Sac entrance (think Roslyn & I-90), but once at the top we could see all the way to Asgard Pass, which is typically accessed from the town of Leavenworth.

Below is quick look at where Harding is located.

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Sometimes you forget why. The other day I was reminded. Below is a photographic journey into the central Washington Cascades for a day of backcountry skiing.

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Everywhere else in the Washington Cascades was dry. Overcast skies, minimal amounts of precipitation. Little did we know, or expect, that our trip deep into the backcountry of the central Washington Cascades was experiencing near blizzard conditions. Not that this was necessarily a bad thing. Washington State isn’t doing very well with snow right now. Sure there were some huge storms in December, but January was very quiet. And recently, fluctuating temps have wreaked even more havoc on the snowpack. So needless to say our expectations for this ski tour were pretty low; hopefully uncover some powder stashes on some north facing slopes, but otherwise nothing out of the ordinary was anticipated. Were we mistaken…

With snowmobiles loaded, we departed the Salmon La Sac pit area (about 13 miles out of Roslyn, the town where Northern Exposure was filmed) before the throng of other sled-necks (all w/out skis thankfully.) About 30 minutes later and 3000 ft higher, we were amazed to find 6+ inches of fresh powder, up to a foot in some places. Ok, where did this come from??!?!?

Skins on, snow falling lightly, off we went…

Winter ski traverse - central Washington Cascades

As we continued to climb, the snowpack varied from deep powder in the trees to dust on crust near the alpine. For our second lap we managed to ski (via braille) a great little couloir, with strong winds blowing any and all snow directly into our faces. Once down at the bottom of a large alpine bowl that faded in and out between sucker holes (spots of blue sky that never amount to anything) and sideways-driven snow,  we realized it was time to make a decision. The easy (and safe) route would have been to simply ski back out the way we had come. Instead we decided to head up and over a nearby ridge, uncovering an admirable-looking couloir that was just begging to be skied. Not this day unfortunately, but the anticipation remained. And the fact of the matter was, we had just discovered a very worthy ski line (and massive alpine bowl for that matter) that we had no would offer up such potential.

It kept snowing…

…and despite feeling like crap I knew we would be back for this. It’s not often, as a backcountry skier, you discover something like this, something that may actually have never been skied before.

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Below you’ll find a growing selection of backcountry skiing photos, all of which are available as fine art photography prints.

View photos at SmugMug

Watch a slide show of these images

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I just posted a quick update on our trip up to Whistler on backcountryskiphotos.com. No ski touring was had, but we did manage to spend a bit of time skate skiing at the new Olympic Park nordic center. And, I was able to capture this one shot before the weather turned, again.

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The first ski tour of the year is always filled with a bit of anxiety. Like any other adventure, you’re constantly doing a mental checklist of gear on the drive, despite making the effort beforehand (even the night before!) that everything you need is in good working condition and ready to go. I laid all my backcountry gear on the floor, taking note of what I had, and didn’t have.

Let the games begin

Due to relatively little amounts of snow, the destination for our first ski tour was, wherelese, Mt Rainier. With sunny skies predicted and about half a foot of fresh snow, our expectations weren’t all that high but instead hopeful. Arriving at the Paradise parking lot around 9:00 am, we were quite pleased to see most of the ground covered in fresh snow, with the possibility of skinning from the car looking high.

Before I really had time to think about it, our small group began the skin up towards Camp Muir. No matter how many times I ski on or around Rainier (which is a lot) I am always blown away by how beautiful a mountain it is.

Taking very few rest stops, I found myself quickly gasping for air and the legs tired as I attempted to photograph “The Mountain” while keeping up with my buds. Soon I fell into a rhythm though and the Muir snowfield unfolded into a massive powder field. This was going to be good I thought…

My legs kept trying to tell me this was the first ski tour of the year, while my brain was just too enthusiastic about the current conditions (which are rarely that good towards Muir Camp at 10,000 ft) and the fact that despite a very slow start to the ski season here in the NW, we were looking at about 3000 – 4000 ft of very good turns.

And very good turns we did have. So enjoyable they were, we opted for two. Sooner or later though we had to listen to our tired bodies and so the adventure back to car began. A bit of walking here, some survival skiing there and our first day of backcountry was deemed a success.

There are a lot of folks in Washington who tire of hearing Mt Rainier stories, myself (sometimes) included. But on this day, the first turns of the year, it just didn’t matter.

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Just wanted to post a quick update about a sister-site I’m in the process of developing. The website, dubbed, creatively, www.backcountryskiphotos.com, is something I’m working on for displaying backcountry ski photos from myself as well as others. There are also links and videos about avalanche education, stories etc. Furthermore, I’ll be offering the option to download digital copies of all the ski photos that appear on the site, as well as professional prints.

As much as I love mountain biking, sea kayaking and hiking, backcountry skiing is truly a passion of mine. So please, check it out!  Don’t forget to subscribe to the RSS feed below or Subscribe by email

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For those of you who live in the Seattle area, next Saturday, Nov 8th, is the NW Snow & Avalanche Snow Summit. The day consists of talks from various folks in the know about avalanches (Martin Volken from Pro Guiding Service for example), ski touring in the Cascades and, for all you backcountry skiers, some useful discussion on stability tests. So, check it out! Following the summit is the Friends of NWAC’s annual Snowbash fundraiser at the Tractor Tavern.

You can buy tickets online for both:

• Avi Summit – http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/44301
• Snowbash fundraiser – http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/47281

All in all, it makes for a great day of avalanche awareness and of course, kicking off the ski season with some friends and a couple beers.

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