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| Jolly Mountain-Sasse Mountain skiing, Salmon la Sac, Cle Elum River, Washington
Turns All Year: Previous Home Page Galleries | This is a gallery of photos from a backcountry skiing trip which appeared on the Turns All Year home page in the past. Thumbnail images on this page can be clicked to view the full-sized photos, and lead into a slide show sequence for the gallery. The photos are from a backcountry skiing trip to the Salmon la Sac area of the Cle Elum River valley, in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State. A loop was skied over Jolly Mountain and Sasse Mountain, via Sasse Ridge.
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from May 8, 2006:
Jolly Mountain - Sasse Mountain loop, Salmon la Sac, Cle Elum River, Wenatchee National Forest, Washington, April 26, 2006
Jolly Mountain
from Sasse Ridge | 
Cornice on Sasse Ridge | 
Looking northwest | 
Sunlit Fortune Mountain with
Ingalls Peak lurking behind | 
Looking north to
Hawkins Mountain | 
Upper slopes of Jolly Creek | 
Northeast facing slope at
the top of Jolly Mountain | 
Hawkins Mountain and Mt.
Stuart from Jolly Mountain | 
North Fork Teanaway Peaks:
Earl Peak and Navaho Peak | 
Stuart Range from Jolly
Mountain, with Dragontail Peak | 
Looking up the Waptus River
valley from Sasse Ridge | 
Traverse across upper west
slopes of Point 5610 | 
Forest in snow just
north of Sasse Mountain | 
Charles enjoys the view
from Sasse Mountain | 
Looking across the
Cle Elum River valley |
Photos by Charles Eldridge
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View map of the Jolly Mountain-Sasse Ridge area on topozone.com (opens in new window)
| Backcountry skiing trip report:
April 26, 2006, backcountry ski touring, Jolly Mountain - Sasse Mountain loop, Salmon la Sac, Cle Elum River, Wenatchee National Forest, Washington
I combined John's and Larry's Jolly Mountain and Sasse Mountain trips from last weekend into a loop via Sasse Ridge connecting the two. The snow had not refrozen as solidly as last weekend, I think, and the length of the trip (plus my relatively late start) meant that I didn't have as good snow. The ongoing marine push meant that it stayed mostly cloudy and cool, a good thing since I wasn't going to be "starting down early".
I followed John's rib route up from road 4315 and met Larry at his camp (great views, I can see why you like the place, Larry), then continued up the rib to Sasse Ridge. Skinning all the way, but then skins off at the ridge and never used them again.
Followed Sasse Ridge and old tracks northward to Jolly Mountain. In tree shade there was from 4-8 inches of newer, large grained not-corn, but nice consolidated snow or a fairly strong crust elsewhere. Not very nice on top of Jolly - windy and cold - so I snapped some photos and left. A few good turns where John got them, then mostly gliding back down Sasse Ridge.
From the low saddle where the 4315 road comes up I kept going south, climbing toward Pt. 5610. Mostly dense trees all along the ridge (icy in the densest), and lots of wind humps which often made staying right on the ridge a poor choice. I should have stayed just east of the ridge top around Pt. 5610, but thought I had a better idea and went west, traversing steep slopes that fell down into gullies. The snow was the most corned yet, and I was tempted to ski down, but didn't and regained the ridge past Pt. 5610. Stayed east of the ridge to the top of Sasse Mountain.
Decided to skip west Sasse and just skied NW down into a basin leading to the big clearcut basin. Some good turns along in here if I used a light touch so as not to break through the crust. Hit the logging road around 4400 feet and just went down it, as the shortcut straight down looked to be breakable crust. The road was not especially fast but OK, now with 3 short carries and about 5 very short all-terrain ski sections. When I got to the paved road (903) I was glad I had stashed some shoes. Changed, stashed skis, poles, boots, pack behind some trees, and walked back to the car. TOPO says about 17.5 miles (including the walk) and 5800 vertical. I must be getting in better shape because I'm not sore today, just a little tired.
Charles |
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