Where to go spring skiing?

[Slim]

I am trying to think of how to get more backcountry ski time, and the best idea seems to be to add some spring skiing.
We are doing a family trip to Utah ending at Easter, so some time after that.

Who has recommendations for backcountry destinations for a short spring trip, let’s say May 9th or later?
Somewhere with typically good conditions for spring skiing.
Anyone know of any huts that are quick access, either hike or Heli, from the airports?

The destination(Webster hut or day trips) has to be close to an airport with direct flights from Minneapolis.

Airports I can think of are:

• Denver
• Salt Lake City
• Bozeman, MT
• Calgary, Ont.
• Vancouver
• Seattle

 

[Jim Kenney]

Go to Summit County, CO during the PugSki Gathering in early May. Gotta be some decent backcountry there in the higher elevations and you could do a few days of lift served with the gang too. A-Basin and Breckenridge should be open, maybe Loveland too. All three have good stuff to hike above the lifts.

 

[Tom K.]

Beartooth Pass near Red Lodge MT? You can drive there from Duluth.

I've never had the pleasure, but Baby Sister used to sing its praises when she was at MSU.

 

[Slim]

Beartooth Pass near Red Lodge MT? You can drive there from Duluth.

I've never had the pleasure, but Baby Sister used to sing its praises when she was at MSU.

You can also drive to Anchorage, but I still don’t want to do it for a long weekend.
Seriously though, you are right, it is beautiful. I have been there in summer, and they certainly have good spring conditions typically, they even have the little lift served area.

 

[Analisa]

Spring skiing is prime in the Cascades in May. The Camp Muir tour (get a permit & camp. Huts are an option, but invariably have climbers coming and going at all hours of the night) is a classic. Looking down on the St Helens crater is pretty wild (also requires a permit & closer to Portland if that’s an option).

Ruth (in the Shuksan/Baker area), Hidden Lake Lookout, Mount Ellinor, and Green Mountain Lookout are other pretty straightforward day trips, and a little longer drive East towards the Birthday Tour at Washington Pass is a good backup if the west side ends up with weather.

 

[Winks]

I have to say that Bend Oregon probably has one of the best spring skiing experiences. You can tour the Tumalo and Sisters areas for your backcountry needs.
Mt. Bachelor does a $199 spring pass, unlimited skiing April and May.

 

[cantunamunch]

Pay attention to snowpack conditions. It would suck to fly to tour and be faced with unstable layers all around.

 

[Mike Rogers]

Spring skiing in the canadian rockies is better if you are prepared for glacier travel.

It's tough to beat a spring day on the Wapta Icefield. Stay at bow hut.

 

[Slim]

I should have clarified what I meant by ‘short trip’ and ‘close to airport’
I meant a long weekend. Fly out in the evening after work, drive to destination next morning. Ski 2.5 or 3.5 days, drive back to airport, fly home.
I have done this in Salt Lake City and Summit Country Colorado.

So, that pretty much limits me to about 2 hour drive time max, less is much better.
Would not plan to ski inbounds unless forced to by weather/avalanche conditions, except maybe on departure day, depending on travel schedule and resort location.

 

[Slim]

Spring skiing in the canadian rockies is better if you are prepared for glacier travel.

Better than what? Better than another time of year in the same destination? Or better than a different destination at the same time of year?

I have essentialy no glacier travel training, would love to learn, but several days of private guiding with 2 people starts to add up, and doing so with an overnight in a hut, even more.
Might consider a day tour onto one of the glaciers with a guide, then some easier terrain by ourselves.

 

[Slim]

Just checked, Portland is also a direct flight, so if there are good spring destinations close to that city, that would work too.

 

[Slim]

And if anyone knows of any guiding operations that run an open group tour or course in May, let me know. That way it could be an option even if my wife couldn’t make it.

 

[Slim]

@Analisa , can you give me some town/trailhead names so I can look up areas and travel times for those places?
Both Mt Ellinor and Green Mtn lookout, google only knows of ones in the Olympic Peninsula, , not the cascades.

 

[Analisa]

Camp Muir - leaves from the Paradise Visitor Center. ~8 miles, 4.5k of gain, huts at the top. Maxes out at 10k elevation. Permit required for camping (lottery opens in Februaryish?), but May isn't the peak climbing season, so they're usually available whenever.
St Helens - Leaves from the Marble Mountain Sno Park. ~12 miles, 5.5k of gain. 500 permits available per day. May is peak season, first-come-first-serve in Feb. Mother's Day weekend is particularly grand since there's a tradition in the memory of guide Kathy Phibbs who skied it in a dress on Mother's Day after the post-eruption travel restriction ended. You'll need to go dress shopping. You could hit Hood up to illumination saddle the next day.
Ruth - leaves from the Hannegan Pass Trailhead. Similar stats to Helens. Technically has a
Hidden Lake Lookout - Leaves out of the Hidden Lake Lookout trailhead. 8 miles, 3,300 ft of gain for the summer route. Lookout is first come, first serve. Just across from the Isolation Traverse & Klawatti Ice Cap - beautiful area with a 50 classic climb & 50 classic ski descent. This route lets you leave the technical climbing gear at home.
Mount Ellinor - 6.2 miles, 3300 ft of gain. Olympics might be a gamble by May based on the last 2 years.
Green Mountain Lookout - Leaves from the Green Mountain Lookout trail, 8.5 mi, 3,300 ft of gain.
Birthday Tour - leaves from Washington Pass. Can't recall stats, but probably 4 miles, 2k gain for the main variation. Lots of other options in the area though.

Skiing in the Cascades in spring is all alpine, above treeline, usually steep (Muir's the mellowest and skis like a blue groomer with the exception of a 200ft steep section. Helens is slightly steeper. Black groomerish?). Alpine-ish starts are necessary for the longer/steeper routes, so I'd find a base camp rather close to a base if you don't go the hut route, and finding multiple tours in the zone. Ellinor is the only one that doesn't have something else with similar accessibility right next door. Washington wilderness area coverage makes lodging interesting. Most of these, the closest major hotel chain is an hour away, mom & pop places closer, and in-park lodging or alpine club lodging with a more communal lodging experience (shared meals & chores) within minutes for a few.

If you want something with some glacier travel & guided, Mountain Madness does family trips and I'd recommend requesting Mallorie Estenson, or Lyra Pierotti if Mal ends up on Shasta (she also says put that on your consideration list). What they'd guide for minors totally depends on their experience, but in Mal's experience, their program manager Jaime generally does a good job sussing out a good fit.

 

[Slim]

Thanks @Analisa , very informative!
No kids. Besides interest and ability, they don’t have vacation in May, except for Memorial day, when we often try to do the first mtb ride of the year.

 

[James]

Camp Muir - leaves from the Paradise Visitor Center. ~8 miles, 4.5k of gain, huts at the top. Maxes out at 10k elevation. Permit required for camping (lottery opens in Februaryish?), but May isn't the peak climbing season, so they're usually available whenever.
St Helens - Leaves from the Marble Mountain Sno Park. ~12 miles, 5.5k of gain. 500 permits available per day. May is peak season, first-come-first-serve in Feb. Mother's Day weekend is particularly grand since there's a tradition in the memory of guide Kathy Phibbs who skied it in a dress on Mother's Day after the post-eruption travel restriction ended. You'll need to go dress shopping. You could hit Hood up to illumination saddle the next day.
Ruth - leaves from the Hannegan Pass Trailhead. Similar stats to Helens. Technically has a
Hidden Lake Lookout - Leaves out of the Hidden Lake Lookout trailhead. 8 miles, 3,300 ft of gain for the summer route. Lookout is first come, first serve. Just across from the Isolation Traverse & Klawatti Ice Cap - beautiful area with a 50 classic climb & 50 classic ski descent. This route lets you leave the technical climbing gear at home.
Mount Ellinor - 6.2 miles, 3300 ft of gain. Olympics might be a gamble by May based on the last 2 years.
Green Mountain Lookout - Leaves from the Green Mountain Lookout trail, 8.5 mi, 3,300 ft of gain.
Birthday Tour - leaves from Washington Pass. Can't recall stats, but probably 4 miles, 2k gain for the main variation. Lots of other options in the area though.

Skiing in the Cascades in spring is all alpine, above treeline, usually steep (Muir's the mellowest and skis like a blue groomer with the exception of a 200ft steep section. Helens is slightly steeper. Black groomerish?). Alpine-ish starts are necessary for the longer/steeper routes, so I'd find a base camp rather close to a base if you don't go the hut route, and finding multiple tours in the zone. Ellinor is the only one that doesn't have something else with similar accessibility right next door. Washington wilderness area coverage makes lodging interesting. Most of these, the closest major hotel chain is an hour away, mom & pop places closer, and in-park lodging or alpine club lodging with a more communal lodging experience (shared meals & chores) within minutes for a few.

If you want something with some glacier travel & guided, Mountain Madness does family trips and I'd recommend requesting Mallorie Estenson, or Lyra Pierotti if Mal ends up on Shasta (she also says put that on your consideration list). What they'd guide for minors totally depends on their experience, but in Mal's experience, their program manager Jaime generally does a good job sussing out a good fit.

What are the chances of Mt St Helens blowing up again? Is it still active?
We’ve had people killed in the Japan volcano, the NZ one, and I can’t remember what else.

 

[Pako]

While in Utah Grizzly Gulch next to Alta (technically Alta owns most of the property and runs a cat skiing operation in it but they don’t mind people touring in it. My avey 1 class field portion was in it as many of the avey classes are) is very easy access for backcountry skiing. As far as guides in Utah, I would recommend Utah Mountain Adventures. I took my avey courses through them and have hired their guides to take me to areas I didn’t feel comfortable going alone for the first time too.

I don’t know about the direct flight part but Jackson airport outside Jackson Hole is an easy drive to Teton Pass. Cool thing about Teton Pass is you can park at the top of the pass, hike out on a ridge where you have a lot of options for lines, ski your line then hike back up to your car or take 2 cars and park one lower and shuttle back up the pass. I believe Exum mountain guides operate in the Jackson area (among other operations) if you want to hire a guide. Of course always make sure you check the avey report and have the gear, etc (I’m sure you already know that but I would feel wrong not to say it).

 

[Spooky]

I recommend Cascades too.

But......In a good year......Minneapolis to Montrose or Durango, CO and go ski the San Juans. I've ridden the San Joaquin Couloir, Alta Lakes and Silver Chute in early May before. Slay_The_Gnar skied Silver Chute on July 4th last year ha.

 

[Analisa]

@Slim - ohhhh omg. I was like “this guy doesn’t seem the least bit concerned about a kiddo skiing into a crevasse, but I guess they’re 2-3 times older than Angel and Johnny when their parents had to hide them from the park service on Rainier.”

Keep Helens, Ruth, & Hidden Lake on the list. Muir too, but there’s a steeper variation called the Nisqually Chutes. And a glacier ski would also be prime this time of year - Baker is a great place to start. Eldorado is one of the most breathtaking summits.

@James there have been some micro-earthquakes in past years. It's ironically one of the safer volcanoes to be on since it's still rated as the 2nd most high risk peak in the US. It's pretty covered in 22 seismograms, and were able to close down climbing from 2004-2006 in advance of activity in the lava dome, and that was with a total cluster in forecasting gear (the 20 year old, post-blast gear was insufficient and only partially operational, so equipment was borrowed from other observatories, but they also had to resolve compatibility issues with the borrowed gear - over the course of a week). This led to close to a decade of research, which led to a bill passed last March for a National Volcanic Early Warning System, improves seismogram coverage, and also provides grants to encourage research based on all the new data that will flow in from additional monitoring. For comparison, currently Rainier's the next most risky volcano, only has 15 seismograms, yet 4 times the land area and Baker and Glacier are on the high risk list & only have 1 each.

 

[Slim]

@Analisa, , although we did talk about glacier travel and watch a movie, now, they want to practice crevasse rescues, and Prussiking.
Off topic, I took them ice climbing for the first time recently.

@Pako , funny, I also did one day of my avalanche course in Grizzly Gulch.
I have toured in the Wasatch several times now with John Lemnotis, an AMGA splitboard guide, great guide.

Jackson Hole is change planes in SLC, I have looked at it and it’s a hard one to do in a short trip.

@Spooky , Yes, San Juan’s seem beautiful , and full of options, but hard to get to, as far as I know there are no direct flights(even places like Aspen and Steamboat only have direct flights once or twice a week).

i wish I had two weeks for a road trip, there are so many great places out there.