We arrived at Smithbrook Rd. north east of Steven’s Pass at 9:30 am. Much to our surprise it was a bright, blue-sky day.  That morning we had traveled through snow and sleet starting in Mount Vernon and we were ecstatic about the clear weather we found at the trailhead.  We followed the road out of the parking lot (3200 ft) and headed west, following in the track of snowmobilers.

While the avy reported there to be considerable avalanche danger we decided we would be safe at lower elevation (< 6,000ft) and stay off steep open slopes.  The road switchbacks were not ideal, but the two new feet of new snow made the direct route up through the trees hardly worth the effort.  However, at 3900 ft our trusty snowmobile track ended which required us to break trail for the remainder of the way up. Luckily with five of us we could take turns frequently. 

We arrived at Rainy Pass (4600’)at 1 pm. After a brief chat with some rowdy snowmobilers and a bite of lunch, we took a quick ski down the north slope.  With snow up to our thighs, a 20 degree slope and minimal trees, it was a safe and steady first run down to the creek bed (500 ft elevation drop).  This would be a good area to do laps in the future for an easy and protected afternoon of skiing.  As we came back up to the ridge the clouds came in and the snow began to fall; we were also at our turnaround time of 2:30 pm.  We agreed on a fairly open route through the trees to the southwest. As we dropped into the trees the pitch was steeper than our northside run (~30+ degrees) which gave us the speed we needed to cut through all of the snow.

This was a great ski with powder spraying up on all sides.  We passed over the road once on our way down and glided our way back to the lower part of the road.  We did not encounter any exposed rock, but we did find some holes as we approached the lower part of the road and headed back to the cars.

A fantastic day and an awesome first outing for the club!  Thanks Corrina!