In 2007 Sky and Dan skied a loop at Cascade Pass that I've wanted to do ever since. Over Cache col, around Magic Mountain, up Hurry Up Peak, down the S glacier, up to the Pelton-Magic col, down the Yawning glacier and out Cascaded Pass. Sky called it the Magic-S-Loop, or Da Magic Sloop. http://skisickness.com/CascadePass/SLoop/. You can get a good sense of the loop from this photo, taken by Bob Bolton and posted on summitpost.com:
I left Twisp a little before 3 am on Sunday morning. At 5 I saw a cougar jump onto and off the road about 50 yards ahead of my truck (30 feet in one bound). At 6 I was walking from the gate at milepost 21. I knew I was in for a good day.
As I was walking the road my mind drifted, as it usually does, to Monika. I imagined her walking in front of me with perfect posture, strength and grace. I tried to emulate her body mechanics. The pain in my lower back went away. The weight of my pack fell more easily on my shoulders. My pace quickened but my heart rate slowed. She was with me. She's always with me, I've learned. I felt at ease for the first time in a long while..
When I got to the pass I had reservations about taking Mixup arm to Cache Col. In 1999 I lost a friend, Eric, to a frequently used short cut/high traverse beneath the Aiguille Verte and have been leery of such things ever since. I'd already seen a cougar. I had a stove and journal in my pack. It didn't matter how the rest of my day unfolded, as long as I continued enjoying it. A picture of my niece Gwendolyn popped up in my mind and I thought to myself, "I want to feel like that:
No brainer. The slopes down to Pelton creek held perfect corn. Yum. More please. I traversed to under Cache Col and started skinning upwards. I booted one short section but made it the col on skis. I've wanted to look over that col for 10 years.
My timing was perfect. More hero snow down to Kool-Aid lake had me charged for the short climb to the col by Arts Knoll.
Beneath the col I had that moment that most great outings have. It's that moment where another step forward makes continuing into the unknown the quickest way home. As the sun continued to rise I knew that if I got to the top of Hurry-up and didn't like what I found I'd have to wait until sun-down for the slopes to refreeze and make retracing my steps a safe alternative. I found myself excited by either alternative and set out looking for the Plan B couloir. http://www.cascadecrusades.org/SkiMount ... te2005.htm
The sun had begun to work its magic by this point (around 11:30 I think) and I found myself kicking significant steps for most of the way up Hurry-up. Near the top I veered to the right finger of the "Y" in Jason's photo to avoid mush cookies that were beginning to fall. It's amazing how a slight change in aspect can make all the difference in conditions.
After enjoying the magnificent views I stepped into skis and took a deep breath. I've never dropped in blind on a route I've only ever seen in a photo. Changes the game a bit. The S Glacier is a brilliant ski that rolls away lazily off the summit before turning into a steepish no fall-zone head wallish kind of thing. Then it eases off into more moderate terrain above cliff bands that require route finding. I thought of Dan before I made my first time. If there's a smoooother turner out there I've yet to meet him (or her). If I skied like him I'd fall alseep. Anyway, my hats off to Lowell for skiing this back in '02 with Carl and Andreas. http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthr ... Up_and_Ski (I wish those to be good memories for you, Lowell, if you read this.)
I was borrowing a friend's camera with a messed up light meter. This is the best I could do:
and 1600' of silky smooth summer snow to Pelton Creek. Yumminess on the Yawning.
Back up over Cascade Pass and a continuous ski to the parking lot. Made it back to my car in a little over 10 1/2 hours.
This has to be one of my all time favorite tours, and I can't recommend it enough. Nice one Sky.
Oh yeah, if anyone has upgraded cameras recently and has one to unload.......
