Distance: 10.6 mi.
Elevation Gain: 2200 ft.
We were looking through our old 1990s-era ski tour book from Washington State and wanted to find something that was both low-key and low avalanche risk. We came across Amabilis Mountain, which was surprising because we had never heard of it as a ski tour destination. They did mention in the book that it was perhaps best suited to cross-country skis. We ignored this red flag and headed out the next morning. We arrived at the sno-park parking lot at 7:45 AM and crossed the highway to begin our tour. Not surprisingly, we saw a lot of folks on cross-country skis (this is a groomed XC ski area) and also a few people on snowshoes. We continued to ignore the red flags as we began our ascent. From here, we skinned on extremely low-angle roads for about 6 miles. The long slog lead to a couple blisters on our feet 🙁
We did a small loop to the top so we were hoping to find some open trees to ski on our descent. The summit was easily navigable and very beautiful on this crystal-clear day with views out to Mount Rainier.
We had lunch and a couple brews and then switched to ski mode. We began skiing back down the road, hoping to find a place to drop off the road into the trees. On the entire way down, we only found one suitable slope to ski. Otherwise we did a cross-country ski on the wrong equipment 😛 It’s a great destination for an easy and safe winter summit, but not a go-to backcountry ski locale. We did the research so you don’t have to suffer. Unless we missed something – please let us know if you have the inside scoop!
(Download the free Gaia GPS app on your phone to view tracks and then get a Gaia GPS membership if you want offline access. Discount below!)
Recommended brew: No Boat Go Off and Rye
Gear Used:
- Avalanche beacon/shovel/probe
- Backcountry boots/skis/skins
- Day pack
- Glacier glasses
- GPS
- Helmet
- Trekking poles
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