Hannegan Pass Skiing
At the trailhead
Dec 16, 2020
I was looking to scout out a winter approach for some upcoming objectives, so Weds morning I drove up towards the Baker ski resort, then turned off on NF-32. There were lots of cars racing to get to the resort but luckily I got out of their way in time. I was able to drive up about 3.5 miles to 2,700ft before the snow got deep enough that I pulled over at a pullout. I then put on skis and skinned the remaining 1.5 miles to the Hannegan Pass trailhead. Truck tracks went almost to the trailhead, but turned around early in the deep snow. I saw one set of snowshoe tracks that turned around at the trailhead.
I continued up the trail, pushing through deep and sticky mashed-potatoes snow. After a few hours I made it to 4500ft just below the pass, but reached my turnaround time and started heading back. The snow had stuck to my skins quite a bit, but luckily didn’t stick to the skis once the skins were off. I had a fun ski down, reaching the car just as it started raining. Then it was a long drive back to Seattle.
© 2020, egilbert@alum.mit.edu. All rights reserved.
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