Ski camp location ??

Okay I know it' still only September but part of the fun is the anticipation and planning for the coming season.<br><br>My question is this, what in your opinion would be the best place in WA to set up a base camp where you could access multiple tours over a two or three day period.<br><br>Criteria are that the slog in should be not too bad, say 4-5 hrs with heavy load?<br><br>Since going to Sunrise for the first time during this year's Chute-fest I was wondering what it would take to set up a camp up there.? Snow-mobile to White River then skin up road. Is it feasable or even allowed?<br>Advice please?

Yup, you're allowed to snowmobile into White River CG. From there, it's about 4 hours (assuming winter conditions) to Glacier Basin... that would be a great spot. I'm not sure how good Sunrise itself would be in winter - I think GB would have more options. In stable conditions there would be some amazing lines in there.<br><br>I did just this last year:<br> staff.washington.edu/gregm/glacierbasin.htm

www.mtnphil.com/GlacierB/GlacierB.wmv

It's not in Washington, but I have always wanted to go into the east side of the Three Sisters Wilderness and base camp there. You would have access to tons of terrain; Middle Sister, South Sister, Broken Top. The only thing is winter probably wouldn't be the best time, maybe in the spring.<br><br>Aaron

Wow, Philport thats one hell of a great video. Thanks for sharing. The skiing looks fantastic. MRNP is so underated IMO.<br><br>I need details.<br>So you snowmobiled to White river then skinned to Glacier Basin and where did you camp?<br>Can't wait!<br>I was realy impressed with the potential at Sunrise but think skinning the road could be very prone to avy from slopes above.<br><br>

Yes, we snowmobiled to White River... we just camped where the trees opened up in Glacier Basin. We followed the open terrain along Emmons glacier moraines, and then on the south side of the stream out of GB.<br>They plow the highway from the crystal mtn turn-off to the white river road (even though it's gated) - so we were lucky that 5 inches of snow fell the day before, or else those 5 miles would have been bare pavement.<br><br>There's an old sno-park a hundred yards up the crystal mtn road, where we parked. It doesn't get plowed (kind of ironic). You can't park at the turn-off, even though there is tons of room there, and it gets plowed.

<br>They plow the highway from the crystal mtn turn-off to the white river road (even though it's gated) - so we were lucky that 5 inches of snow fell the day before, or else those 5 miles would have been bare pavement.<br><br>There's an old sno-park a hundred yards up the crystal mtn road, where we parked. It doesn't get plowed (kind of ironic). You can't park at the turn-off, even though there is tons of room there, and it gets plowed.

<br><br>There is a reason that they plow this road and it has to do with the Ranger at the WR station. Let's say he does not like skiers getting access to the area in or out on the road. They use it as access to the station, so plowing only one side of the road would work! I would not be surprised if they are not working at blowing the snowmow allowance out soon. Low elevation at the entrance ussually eliminates snow accumulation for a way up the road, but not all the way to WR ranger station.<br><br>Since the cat is out of the bag. I volunteer my services to be a (unofficial) guide for anyone who can pull the snowmow deal together and can pull their weight in climbing skills/ personal compatibility.<br>I have spent years placing waypoints and routes for Winter use without a snowmow to reach my skiing goals.<br>Ideal would be a 3 day trip on cold smoke clear days. <br>These types of trips are well planned and very spontaneous because the conditions are so difficult to time with the road BS.<br>Joe<br>BTW-Great shots Phil!