Seattle Locals Ski Alta!

Ruff and I skied Alta Mountain on Saturday. We found the deep, blower powder that's so legendary for the Alta of Little Cottonwood Canyon fame. It was nice to drive only an hour from Seattle to get it, though. Now about that approach...

Ruff reaches for refreshment from Gold Creek.

Where are we, the Wallowas?

We skinned about five miles up Gold Creek, not including multiple detours and a loop through the private property cabins in the lower part of the valley. The steep, northwest-facing gully on Alta looks like a very sweet and sustained line. The avalanche debris bridging Gold Creek below the gully corroborates its relentlessness. A steep, slabby looking rock band right in the middle of the thing convinced me to look for another line farther up the valley.

Wading up wild windpiles near timberline

Alaska Mountain's South Face, in the background, looks like really fun skiing.

The topo map showed a steep, wooded rib on the NE side of the mountain. Lots of fresh snow made the protection of the trees seem like a good idea. Knee-to-navel-deep snow, even in the trees, offered ample exercise. Ruff and I switched the lead many times. Assiduous showers and arduous snow-trenching cast aspersions on the ascent.

The weather finally broke just as we approached the summit. The upper portion of Gold Creek offers extraordinary terrain and views. Ruff and I raced to reach the summit before the sun hit the horizon. The race was cancelled due to the snow's abrupt transition to a dangerous windslab within one hundred vertical feet of the summit.

The clouds finally lift. One of the Snoqualmie Pass ski areas and Kendall Peak are visible in the background.

So close to the top, we stopped for a windslab.

Views down the gut of the gully to Gold Creek and the avy fan, a vertiginous thousand vertical meters below us, siren-songed us into shenanigans with rocks and ice atop the gully. In the end sunset, some good sense, and blower powder around the corner had us sidestepping up to regain our trench. Ruff, looking for a short cut, was cut short of the corner by more ice. I had to watch him slide a few times on the ice, finally once onto his side, which made me yell, "Casey, cut it out! You're giving me Liberty Ridge flashbacks."




The best I could do to show the epic ski conditions

Around the rib, we enjoyed dreamy faceshots over forty-degree rolls on our descent. Lots of gliding, skating, and sidestepping returned us to the road at 7:45 pm, more than twelve hours after our departure. Tecate added to the afterglow of exercise, adventure, and some excellent skiing.