Methow, Winthrop, Twisp bc in the Winter?

You do not need a snowmobile to enjoy BC skiing in the Methow. Save Wa Pass for spring. The snowmobile works to your advantage by taking so many local skiers far from nearer good tours. Look carefully at the Mazama and Silver Star maps. Gardner, Silver Star, Driveway Butte, Varden Ridge (both), Sandy Butte, DeLancy Ridge, the Needles, and even Cutthroat are within ski range. In a good snow year like this one there are opportunities on both sides of the valley, both sides of Hwy 20, and, to make things easier, the low level forest can easily be travelled. Twisp River is a harder nut to crack but Canyon Creek Ridge would be a good start. Also Lookout Mtn. There are also excellent short, light gear tours in the Sun Mtn to Elbow Coulee area. Ask Don at the Sun Mtn ski shop for recommendations. Loup loup has less snow (but enough this year) and shorter tours.

Spent Prez weekend out in the Methow. With no snowmobile, and no significant new snow in the valley, we didn't really get to any good skiing. Right now, Highway 20 is closed at the valley floor. However, I spoke to a guy working at D tours in Mazama and he said that next year, WSDOT was talking about plowing Highway 20 up to the "gate" in the winter, which is about halfway from the valley floor up to Washington Pass. If they did that, the amount of backcountry terrain that can realistically be accessed from your vehicle in a day would be greatly expanded. If you do happen to have a snowmobile, the skiing out there looks unreal. People snowmobile over Washington Pass all the way to the west side closure. Harts Pass looks to be equally fantastic.

I also spent Prez weekend in the Methow and thereabouts. Sunday was raining so we headed to Loup Loup. We found sunshine. We had the intent of finding some backcountry turns in the south crosscountry. It was a breakable crust. I could turn on the traverse without breaking through but pressuring enough to cross the fall line made my skis dive.