Teanaway Butte 3.31 .06

I was on my usual tight schedule so I picked something I had done before. The day was started out with a overflowing toilet and was followed with the dogs eating my sandwich when I stopped for gas. To make it a trifecta of bad luck Highway 18 had a 20 minute backup just after Tiger Summit. I knew I would have to really hustle if I wanted to make it back for my 5pm appointment. I was hoping to ski the road approach to Teanaway Butte due to the 7+ mile approach. I was suprised to see bare road at the bus turnaround on the Middle Fork Road. There was a snow berm to block any further driving so I parked the truck and decided to keep the skiis in the truck. Trying to make up some time I ran for periods on the well packed road. I switched to snowshoes around 3800ft and soon found myself at the end of the road with only a few hundred feet of elevation to go. The snow was untracked and somewhat deep as I made my way to the summit. I very thankfully reached the summit and only stayed long enough to see a nice squall coming my way. As I made my way back to the road it began to snow quite hard progressing to some fun stinging hail. I again ran portions of the descent making it home at 5pm on the money.




14+ miles 4:45 car to car

Kachess Lake Road 3.23.06

The goal for the day was to get out and get the dogs a good run. I had never been on the road that runs along the east side of Lake Kachess, I was hoping for a summit attempt of Kachess Ridge Pt. 5525. I was unsure what the road condition might be so I brought skis in case the road was snowbound. The road was was not driveable so on went the skis. I have not been on skis in many years, why not ski the 7 miles to where the climb begins? Much to my suprise I got a good rythym going and made to the junction of road 4824 in 2.5 hours. Here I switched to snowshoes which probably are not needed. The road is quite well traveled by snowmobiles. I pressed on until around 3800ft where is was quite apparent that I would neither have the time or the energy to make it to the summit. The return seemed like it would never end, by the time I made it back to the truck I was quite fatigued. The dogs are both feeling the effect today, as I feel quite guilty for nearly incapacitating both of them. 18+ miles 7.5 hours car to car.

Teneriffe Road 3.10.06

With the recent wild weather I was sure to find plenty of new snow. Crossing Snoqualmie seemed like an iffy proposition , so I decided to stay close. I was sure to hit some deep untracked snow so I brought extra floats for my snowshoes hoping this would allow me a summit of Mount Teneriffe. I arrived at the trailhead about an hour later than I had hoped but remained optimistic that I would have enough daylight to achieve my day's goal. The weather was calm, much to my suprise. I switched to snowshoes at around 1600ft and added extra float at around 3000ft. Above 3000ft it was a real grunt the snow was deep heavy and untracked slowing my pace. I pushed on to the flats around 4000ft where the Beagle struggled to keep pace. I felt a little bad for the little guy so I called it a day. On the descent it began to snow increasing in intensity as I grew closer to the truck.