ANYONE FAMILIAR W/ OVERCOAT OR BIG SNOW MT?

Areas that hold snow longer into the summer than others are good to know about. I'm sure it's too late to be a good ski, but I saw a huge snow patch/mini glacier on a mostly north facing slope in the Middle Fork Snoq. area. I'm thinking it's Overcoat Pk since it's taller than many in the area at 7432'. I'll keep searching until I find it. This thing might have been a good ski a month or two ago, and in a good snow year it might be good even later into the summer. <br>thanks everyone!<br>Karl

You might have been looking at the Overcoat Glacier, which is on the northeast side of Overcoat Peak. I believe Martin Volken includes this area in his Snoqualmie Pass guidebook. My impression is that this would be a nice late winter or early spring ski trip, but not so good in summer. The approach is brushy. You might enjoy this old story about the area by Kathy Phibbs:<br><br> www.alpenglow.org/themes/subalpine/enigma-range.html

Also, the Middle Fork road is scheduled to be gated soon, I've heard. I think Mt Daniel would generally be a better destination for late season skiing, if you want something between Stevens and Snoqualmie Pass. It is accessed from Salmon La Sac and the Cle Elum River.

I agree with Lowell, a good ski in spring. I carried skis into La Bohn Gap via the MF trail in July and it looked like when snow covered, there would be many great lines to be found (I yo-yoed a small snowfield up at the gap). Most of the permanent snowfields/glaciers are gray ice at this point. When the road is gated, it'll take significant hiking to get there. In addition to Mt. Daniel, Mt. Hinman looks to have some good late spring/early summer skiing.

Lowell,<br>Thanks for the helpful info! Yeah, now that I look in my BC Skiing Sno Pass book Overcoat is in there. Also, great story by Kathy Phibbs. Ironically humorous, given the weather report, that my friend wants to backpack/over night up there and explore around. We have gortex, so we likely still will. I've always been curious about the Enigma area. For how close to Seattle it is, it's amazing how lightly traveled and rugged it is. Even at Bare Mt, I've seen people 1/5 of the time I would calculate. It was from the top of Bare, last weekend, that I saw and was inspired by what likely is Overcoat Glacier. For over 20 years in this area, we've done our 'favorites' such as Daniel many times. It's great to see I have a close by area I don't know much about! Thanks for being another source of knowledge helping me get acquainted to this area. One must crawl before walking.<br>Karl