Mount Catherine, Windy Pass - Mount Catherine Snowshoe — Thursday, Dec. 23, 1999

Snoqualmie Region > Snoqualmie Pass

One-Way Distance: 3.7 mi Elevation Gain: 2,500 ft High Point: 5,052 ft I dropped three friends off to do some down hill skiing at the Summit Central and continued on to the Hyak Ski Center. It was closed and there was a sign up saying something about dangerous skiing conditions. The parking lot was pretty much empty, but I parked there without any problems. I started the hike about 10:30AM. The ground was bare of snow in places by small creeks in the normal skiing area. The snow was very hard and icy and had a dusting of frozen fog on top. I climbed up to the top of Mount Hyak and then down and up again towards Frog Lake. I wore my snowshoes as I was always expecting to run into some softer stuff as I got higher. However, snowshoes were not required (or even really useful) for this entire trip. I finally took them off near the outlet of Frog Lake where I discovered a trail of blue diamonds high up in the trees. I followed the diamonds and they took me to Nordic Pass, which was exactly where I wanted to go. Right over the pass there was a radio-weather station. Here I turned left (south) and started heading up Mt Catherine. It took a little effort to kick steps since the snow was so hard. It was a great climb up the west ridge. It was well forested with some big trees. I climbed into, and then above, a cloud layer at about 4,100 – 4,300 ft. The ridge was pretty narrow so there were still nice views in between the trees when I got above the clouds. The trip up was pretty easy and safe. The summit had some rocky outcroppings, so I traversed to the north before ascending to the very top. It was treeless up there and the views were great! You could see just about everywhere. Down below was a sea of clouds with the tops of many familiar peaks poking up above. Rainier and the Olympics were completely clear. I could see all the way to Mt Stuart. The cloud sea was flowing in from the East and South forming some cloud waterfalls over nearby passes. I’m really sorry I didn’t bring my camera. The summit was only a few feet wide and there was a cliff to the south. Strangely, it was very still and warm up there. The snow was softening and melting off the trees. There was a big weather inversion going on. It may have been 40 degrees on the summit, but it was about 20 degrees and windy near the ski slopes. I had to hurry up to pick up the skiers at 4PM, so I decided to try descending the north side. It was really steep and there were some rocky cliffs to avoid. In one section, I made use of an avalanche chute. I’d never normally consider this, but the snow seemed very safe today. As I descended quickly it noticeably got colder. Soon I entered this winter wonderland where needle shaped ice crystals covered the trees. They made the foliage look like weird cactus-evergreen hybrids. Dead evergreen branches that had no real needles, instead had white ice needles replacing and simulating them. The descent went very quickly. Once safely down the north side of Catherine I could relax. After that, I only had a couple small creeks to cross as I made my way off-trail through trees back to the ski area and got to the car at 3:45PM. Mt Catherine is a great winter destination.