Thread: SNOW IN THE PNW 2010!

Originally Posted by samthaman

based on that, I think baker could go into the next season without having to wait for a storm...

As of Sunday 8/14, Artist Pt. and Table are still skinnable from Heather Meadows. Herman Saddle is probably also do-able, but getting a bit thin and rocky below the saddle. Lake is also thinning, but not even close to melted out. Most aspects are heavily sun-cupped and/or runneled, but there's still tons of snow that should stick around for a nice early season base, especially around Ptarmigan Ridge.

Originally Posted by regct

CW- Just started fly fishing. Love it. I know its not the fishing forum, but care to share which lakes you prefer to fish up high? Also, I can't catch shit on the bigger rivers around here. Trying the Nisqually tomorrow. If I come home skunked I'm sticking to the creeks from now on.

/rant

Hey, sorry I didn't see this 'til now - pretty much stopped checking in on this forum for awhile.

Big rivers around here are tough and I haven't fished them much. I really prefer the smaller, higher mountain creeks. Smaller fish, but much more productive fishing and never any people around. I don't want to give away any secrets, but look for tributaries to bigger rivers like the Cascade, Skykomish & such that drain large areas and have multiple tributaries of their own and lakes feeding them.

Two bigger rivers that everyone knows about are the Entiat below Ice Creek and the Methow. Eastern WA fishing rules!

Just about any of the alpine lakes have fish in them. Some more and bigger than others. Stay away from anything close to I-90 and you should be golden. It's a tough game this year, some of the really cool high mountain lakes aren't even thawed yet in mid-August and I'm afraid there may be a lot of winter-kill this year.

I just got back from a 7 day trip into the North-Eastern Pasayten Wilderness area. Some good fishing in the lakes up around Cathedral & Remmel Mts. but the price of admission is a long walk in. I'm taking a buddy of mine and his boy up to my "secret" lake near Leavenworth in two weeks. I've been tracking the fish up there - they've been growing about 1.5"/year and should be in the 14" range now - lots of fun on ultralight gear. Pretty good for a 7000 ft. lake.

Okay, back to skiing. I need to get some August turns in. Thinking Baker or Rainier is the easy way to do it.

I figured this has a place in here, too. I love the PNW...

Managed to finally convince the girlfriend to join me on a tour. Did an easy skin up to Artists Point to take in some views and get some August 28th skiing in. All in all, not a bad day.

Originally Posted by alto

Jesse that's seriously f-ing awesome you got the Success. I've long wanted to ride that line. How was the rock step up high?

Hi, Drew, and anyone else wondering. I just saw this and I really appreciate the props. We had a section in that top rock band that was a sliver of ice btwn rocks that required cramponing/ tools on the uphill and a little bit of a "huck" (by how it feels at 12-13 k standards) on the way down. It's the obvious section that looks like it cliffs out in the photo above.

That said, we did it in July, and even with the fat snowpack, I think this is a lot more accessible of a line than people always seem to say. Not as steep as I'd expected. The Kautz HW and other Success Glacier Couliors are the real gems in that zone in my opinion.