Distance: 4.3 mi.
Elevation Gain: 2000 ft.
With the avalanche forecast quickly notching up overnight due to widespread wind loading, we decided to head to Yodelin for some relatively wind protected, treed skiing. We left Seattle with Laura at 7:30 AM. On the drive up there was a consistent rainy drizzle so we resigned ourselves to a short day in yucky weather, but somehow once we crested Stevens Pass and continued east the drizzle became a pleasant light snow. We reached the Yodelin parking lot just after 9 AM and after a quick beacon check we began our skin up the road. There were plenty of tracks to follow and we could basically turn our brains off and cruise along. It wasn’t very busy out but we did pass a couple large groups with instructors of some sort.
Since we had a decent weather and time window, we decided to go a little farther afield than we typically do, and skin toward the summit of Welldiggers Ass (that’s real). For better or worse, we had a couple of our most fun turns of the day as we headed down toward the SW ridge of Welldiggers Ass on skins. We kept our eyes peeled to the left (west) looking for some nice open trees to ski down, and finally found a really nice, open slope to let rip. We transitioned on the ridge and then skied down on dense powder with just a few crusty areas. We met up with USFS 6970 and then continued southwest on skins until we reached our up track.
We transitioned back into ski mode and more or less followed our up track through dense trees. The snow on the lower portion was really heavy so it was the most fun to ski down on the road. In fact, it was one of my most fun road skis ever, with plenty of non-crusty snow on the slides to slow down. Here’s hoping we get to see that Ass someday!
(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: BUGU Brewing Big Bopper Stout
Gear:
- Avalanche beacon/shovel/probe
- Backcountry boots/skis/skins
- Glacier glasses
- Helmet
- Trekking poles
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