Barron Yurt Inauguration

[pipedream]

Not only were we the first group of customers to use North Cascade Heli's Barron Yurt for the season, but our trip was timed so that we could enjoy the lack of communication with the outside world surrounding the inauguration of a certain toupee-festooned orangerangutang in the other Washington (D.C.). Our group consisted of myself, my friend Luke and both of our dads, who originally hail from the same region of the NEK. My friend Luke was due to return from a business trip on Tues. morning so he and his dad, Brad, wouldn't be departing for the Methow Valley until Wed. With a weather forecast calling for a little bit of everything, my dad and I left town Tues. and headed over Stevens Pass to Wenatchee to stay with family for the evening.



The skiing at Stevens wasn't particularly great - boilerplate "off-piste" due to a bout of freezing rain in the early morning. Visibility was tough with intermittent freezing drizzle glazing everything along the ridgelines but sleet and even a little snow falling at lower elevations due to a waning temperature inversion with a warm front incoming made the lower half of the backside worth tolerating. The resort was not operating their steeper terrain served via the 7th Heaven & Southern Cross / Double Diamond chairlifts and I was glad my dad decided he'd rather sit this one out in the lodge for a few hours while I did some "product sampling" with the season pass I'd received free with the new Subie I'd purchased on New Year's Eve Eve. The lower you went, the better the turns got, but with a locked-up corduroy foot massage at the start of every run, it was easy to pull the plug at 12:30 when the precip really started coming in. We boogied down to Leavenworth for imported German beers & sandwiches at a Bavarian-themed deli and were back on the road to Wenatchee by 2:30, just as the freezing rain began to fall in earnest and made it into town before road conditions became hairy in the evening.



We awoke early Wed. morning to the pleasant discovery of 3" of snow on top of Tues. night's mess of freezing rain and sleet. The plow trucks had been out working and we were able to hit the highway at 8, headed towards Loup Loup Ski Bowl between the Methow and Okanogan valleys. The Loup was reporting 4" of new overnight but it was easily double that when we arrived at 10:30 and it continued to pound snow all day, only briefly letting up in the afternoon and resuming just before closing. We drove into Winthrop and checked-in to our quaint accommodations nestled along the north bank of the Methow River just upstream of its confluence with the Chewuch. Our cohorts Luke & Brad had made it through Wenatchee and we agreed to meet-up at the Old Schoolhouse Brewery for dinner that evening. Two pints and a hearty burger later, we parted ways, with Luke & Brad driving through a heavy snow shower to their accommodations in Mazama, while my dad and I simply walked back across the river to get everything ready for the next four days of backcountry skiing.



Thurs. morning we left Winthrop early enough to give us time to join Brad & Luke for breakfast at the Freestone Inn before arriving at the heli barn at the requested time of 9am (most yurt trips load out in the afternoon, but since the yurt was empty and they had no alpine groups we got to go out early and get an extra day of skiing). The skies were partly cloudy with just a skiff of fog in the valley - there were no concerns that we wouldn't be able to fly to the yurt that day. After a brief safety briefing on helicopter riding and skiing, we went outside for an extended amount of beacon practice. Finally, around 10:30 we climbed into the heli and flew directly over Harts Pass, buzzing Slate Peak, to the yurt where we unloaded everything, did some setup and had lunch before heading out to ski around 12:30.



The Barron Yurt is located just south of Windy Pass in Indiana Basin. It has two stories - the "main" level has three sets of bunked beds along about 1/3 of the outside, two futons in the middle with a coffee table in between, a picnic style table for eating and a kitchen area spanning another 1/3 with a propane range & oven, sink, and storage cupboards for dish- and cookware. A single wood stove located in the middle of the main level provides heat and is used to warm up water for cooking & cleaning. The lower, "basement" level has a wood storage room (accessible from the upstairs via a trapdoor in the floor), a storage closet for yurt things (TP, propane lanterns, generator, shovels, tools, etc.), guide's quarters (a fairly small room with a bunk bed and a standalone propane heater), then two bathrooms - one with a sink, shower stall and toilet to be used exclusively for pee, the other a more outhouse-style setup for solid waste only (you're shitting into a sealable bin that gets changed-out a few times each season). For those unable to separate their #1 & #2, there is an old, hand-hewn log privvy outside a short distance away referred to as "The Rustic", colloquially.

[pipedream]

Now, to get to the stuff you came here to read about - the skiing! Nestled at the head of a creek valley draining to the south (Bonita Creek), the Yurt is surrounded by 270° of consistent fall-line terrain. To the NE is the prominent Tamarack Peak (T1) with a summit elevation of 7290' and two smaller bumps extending along its ridgeline to the SSW referred to as T2 & T3. To the east is Buffalo Pass ridge with a high point called B1 of 6980' and two slightly lower bumps to the SSE referred to as B2 & B3. The faces opposite these ridgelines offer excellent skiing as well - you can drop off the other side of B1 or B2 and head down towards the Pasayten River or the other side of T2 or T3 and head down to Barron Creek. If you drop off the north side of Tamarack Peak you can make your way to Oregon Creek in a vast above- and at-treeline zone referred to as Oregon Basin. The aspects of the ridges surrounding the yurt afford descents of around 1000 vertical feet - dropping down to the Pasayten adds a few hundred more of mellow tree skiing and Oregon Basin affords easy turning down to about 5800' making for almost 1500 vertical feet. Some groups push further out, but most find quality snow nearby and little reason to venture too far away.





As I mentioned earlier, we were greated by partly sunny skies on Thurs. morning with about a foot of new snow on the ground at the yurt's site at the head of Bonita Creek. This afforded us a good view of the terrain available to ski but by the time we finished our first lap from T2 to Bonita Creek the weather had moved in and it was snowing lightly. Exhausted from traveling, the dads opted to hang-out in the yurt while Luke and I recycled our skin track to the top of T2 and desdenced the ridgeline that guards the entrace to the main SE facing bowl of Tamarack Peak, making use of the last few hundred feet of our skintrack to coast right back to the front door. After stoking the fire in the wood-burning stove we snacked on chips, salsa and spreadable spicy cheese while the guide heated up the oven and popped the first night's prepared dinner of veggie curry inside for about 50 minutes of reheating. Despite a variety of reading material, foam swords and funny costume accessories, we found ourselves ready for sleep by 9:30 so the four of us climbed into our beds while the guide prepared the futon for himself since there was no reason to sleep downstairs in the guide's quarters where it was well below freezing.





On Friday, we arose at dawn and heated up water on the stove for coffee. The yurt is stocked with a Costco quantity of ground Blue Star coffee and a large pour-over system for placing into an urn which has a pump functionality. Breakfast was individually wrapped, pre-prepared egg, ham, bacon and cheese bagel sammies which we heated-up in the oven while filling-up the gravity filtrating coolers with water from the water line that diverts captured flow from the creek. We were out the door by 9 o'clock, heading-up towards B1 in moderately snowy & windy conditions. We dropped off the NE ridge near the top of B1, each slaying our own private gully filled with bottomless, dry powder. We regrouped at the bottom and returned to the ridgeline where we summitted B1 and pushed over to B2 to ride the "Money Line" - a 1200' E-facing descent all the way to Bonita Creek. The tight trees in the exit proved difficult for my dad on his teles, but other than that, the line was amazing. We skinned back up the creek to the yurt for a lunch break then recycled our skin track up B1 for a shorter line ("B short") back to Bonita Creek which everyone agreed was the best thing we skied due to the relative ease of access, fall line consistency and easy return up the creek to the yurt where the cold ones were waiting. Apres snacking included chips & salsa but also featured crackers and wood stovetop-warmed brie and dinner was a hearty beef lasagne prepared by the culinary experts at the Mazama Store before our trip departed the valley.







Saturday was forecasted to bring a break in the weather, which didn't materialize until the afternoon. After a breakfast consisting of a bacon-rich quiche and ample amounts of coffee, we skinned-up to treeline on Tamarack Peak then rode down its NE side to roughly the PCT which we followed up to Oregon Pass. The snow in Oregon Basin was amazing and with the sun coming out we decided we'd eat our lunch down at Oregon Creek. After lunch we skinned out to Oregon Pass where we had to make the tough decision to pass on a second lap to Oregon Creek as it would make our timing just a little too tight getting back to the yurt before evening. So instead, we traversed across the NE bowl of Tamarack Peak and dropped into a sweet line I had eyed in the morning, "Champagne Brunch". Using our skin track to get back to the site of our transition from the morning, we transitioned back to skinning and with ample time, pushed up to the top of Tamarack Peak where we descended the SE bowl to the front door yet again. The familiar chips & salsa made another reappearance but instead of brie we had grapes & hard cheese to pair with the crackers as an appetizer for the evening's dinner of a hearty chicken pot pie & warm beets.













Sunday was supposed to be our last day in the yurt but with weather moving in quickly in the morning, it became a game of wait and see. After completing our yurt tasks (wood re-stocking, sweeping, general cleaning) and a breakfast of granola and yogurt with fresh blueberries, it became apparently that conditions were worsening and so after a quick satellite phone call to the barn we were cleared to go out and ski on the condition we stay nearby in case the weather lifted. As forecasted, the weather grew stormier (although not as stormy as Friday), so we skinned a quick lap up B1 and rode the same line we had ridden at the end of the day on Friday - except there was no evidence that it had even been skied We had lunch at the yurt and took a break to dry out our skins and gear, then headed back out for a lap from the top of T2. From the top of T2, we made radio contact with the barn and they told us we'd need to hold tight in the yurt on Sunday evening and wait to see what the morning brings. This gave us the freedom to get a third lap in as well, making our way mostly up to Tamarack Peak to hit the "Night Line" - named so because it's typically getting dark by the time you've finished transitioning and it descends right back to the yurt making it ideal for day's end.

[pipedream]

After scraping together the leftovers and having a smorgashboard of options for dinner (after which no one was left hungry), the wind calmed and the clouds parted, revealing bright stars as the waning crescent moon rose over Buffalo Pass ridge later in the evening. We confirmed via sat phone that the heli was coming for us first thing in the morning, to bring an AIARE 3 class in and haul us back out to civilization. All in all, it had snowed at least another foot while we were there and we had surprisingly good, stable conditions (not a single natural slide observed and bottomless, blower powder to play in). As we packed-up at dawn on Monday morning we took a break to enjoy some coffee outside while taking our surroundings in. The purples turned to oranges and pinks as the sun rose over Buffalo Pass. As promsied, at 9am our dual-rotored chariot arrived and we were back at the barn before 10, giving high-fives and stoking the four loads of alpine heli groups who'd been hanging around for days hoping to fly.













Exhausted and gross we dug out the cars and made our way down the highway, stopping for a shower at a cabin rented by a group of other friends who'd been in the area for the weekend then brunching hard in Winthrop before taking one last look around and leaving. The drive home was easy with mostly bare & wet road conditions (although we did note numerous wet, shallow slides on steep ESE-facing terrain above Hwy 97). My dad & I took the slightly longer route past Lake Chelan and then made our way over Blewett Pass where the afternoon light complemented the roughly 5" of snow which had accumulated the previous evening. With a quick stop at the Aardvark for soup and curry, we made it back to the Seattle area by 6pm. After dropping my dad off at his airport hotel it didn't take long to unpack and fall into a nice, long sleep in my comfortable bed.

[Kopi_Red]

Sweet!

[AK47bp]

Nice work!

[irratator]

Great tr! Thanks!!

[MakersTeleMark]

Thumbs way up!

[nutmegchoi]

Refreshing! Thank you for sharing!!

[Norseman]

Nice, dood! Deep winter yurt trip!

[Zeedashbo]

Thumbs up! Perfect timing dood

[2FUNKY]

Damn! Well done!!

[wyeaster]

way to go, man!

[NW_SKIER]

Awesome!

[PNWbrit]

Well done. Love that place!

Who was your guide?

[mall walker]

Looks amazing, nice write up.

[rudy]

Good to see some quality TRs back in this joint. Thanks for sharing.

[ACH]

Great TR, thanks for posting.

[pipedream]

Well done. Love that place!

Who was your guide?

Scott. Who according to the two-plankers in the group skis too fast downhill. I found his turn radius and celerity of descent to be just fine when pointed sideways downhill

[Jong Lafitte]

Wow, great pics! Looks like a great time out there! Way to go!

[pipedream]

My dad is finally getting around to going through and editing his photos from the trip

[CCconcrete]

Rad!

[Tryingtostaywarm]

This looked like an awesome TR until I saw somebody tele'ing in that video.
Looks fucking great tbh.

[TEXASS]

Damn, that looks like a hellava good time. Thanks