We left the Alpental upper parking lot at 7:30 am. A long and sunny day was waiting for us.
On the way up the snow is very very soft. My skis keep sliding backwards and sidewards. In order to climb the steepest slopes of our ascent we need to take off our skis and boot up.
Glacier peak.
Snoqualmie mountain.
After a lunch break at Milakwa Lakes we make our way up to Milakwa pass. Since we are climbing up the south side it gets very hot and I'm happy to have a hydration system with me.
After having reached Milakwa pass we ski down the north side passing along Gem Lake and getting ready to descend to beautiful Snow Lake.
Magnificient view of Snow Lake! The slope is very icy. There is a layer of hard crisp snow on top and we need to descend slowly. Conditions improve as we reach lower altitudes. Once we get down to Snow Lake we traverse the lake. Our guide, Ben, assures me that there are at least 12 feet of snow between the surface of the lake and me. It's amazing to cross such a big lake in winter which I have seen in summer. Crossing the lake was very impressive and very cold.
We take a short break on a sunny spot on the lake before we climb up the last ridge and make our way home.
The tracks bring us from Snow Lake up to the ridge. From there we ski our last descent of the day. There, we find excellent powder snow. We enjoy the last turns of the day despite our tired legs. Although the snow conditions were not always perfect we had a lot of sun and very beautiful scenery.
