View of Mt. Logan, Spectacular Ridge and Dream Peak from Arriva Col.

Mt. Logan, Douglas Glacier via Easy Pass
May 2008

A few years ago, Lowell Skoog wrote on an internet forum that the trip from the North Cascades Highway over the summit of Mt Logan to Cascade Pass was the best ski traverse he had done in the Cascades (route),The route looked excellent so the trip was placed at the top of the list of extended ski tours. Since I had already spent some time skiing near Cascade Pass, I especially wanted to ski the section between upper FisherCreek and Logan. A skiable route with names like "Spectacular Ridge" and "Dream Peak" to the top of one of the largest peaks in the heart of the North Cascades was irresistible. Unfortunately, weather, snowpack and life beyond skiing all conspired against the trip. The biggest problem was the weather.In a typical Northwest spring, there simply are not that many multi-day stretches of good weather with a deep enough snowpack. Getting them to coincide with life beyond skiing is hard.

About the time the North Cascades Highway opened this spring I began to think seriously about the trip again. One morning before work I pulled out the map and started day dreaming over my breakfast cereal. I traced a continuous 5000 ft descent through the contours from the top of Mt Logan all the way down to the deep valley draining the Douglas Glacier. This long run linked with the route from upper Fisher Creek to the Douglas Glacier turned the tour into a nice loop and shortened it into two long days. Instead of waiting for a long weather window that may not happen, we decided to do the shortened trip.

There are two options for the initial portion. Lowell parties used the trail-less valley below Fisher Peak to access Fisher Creek. However, this involves crossing Granite Creek and may involve bushwacking and post holing through patchy snow right from the outset. We feared this could turn into a potential time and energy sink with heavy packs. On the other hand, the approach via Easy Pass uses a bridge and good trail through the lower elevation forest, then opens into easy travel for the 2000 ft below the pass. While it involves an additional 700 ft of elevation gain over the other route, it is easy skinning in upper Fisher Creek. We decided to take this route.

Top: Touring up to Easy Pass. Bottom left: Skiing across Easy Pass. Bottom right: Skiing into Fisher Creek from Easy Pass.

The first views of Mt Logan are from Easy Pass. Wow, it looked far away, especially since we would turn left and ski away from it once down in the valley. I tried not to think about the distance and remembered the all too common experience of arriving at a pass, seeing the first view of a distant objective only to ski for another hour to find the objective suddenly close. Maybe it just looked far away, I thought.

From the pass we skied down the south facing slopes to Fisher Creek. I was hoping we would find a continuous snow ribbon through the steeper section, but unfortunately it was melted out and we had to walk to skis for a few hundred feet.

Touring up Fisher Creek to the gully below Silent Lakes.

Upper Fisher Creek is beautiful. It is perfectly U-shaped with towering peaks on all sides and in the summer is filled with heather meadows and a meandering stream. It is no wonder that one of the last grizzly bears in the North Cascades was shot here in the 1960s. We filled our bottles at the last running water and toured up the valley, then up a gully to Silent Lakes.

After a break to recharge and look at Black NE face we skirted the upper lake and traversed across the south side of Mt Arriva to Arriva col. We stopped to plot the route and enjoy the view.For the first time,the middle of the tour is visible but the route is still partly obscured by the complex topography. This partial view was tantalizing. For the first time since leaving the car, crossing the col also felt like we really were skiing into the middle of the wilderness.

Skiing the south side of Mt Arriva to Arriva Col.

Descending from Arriva Col to the base of Spectacular Ridge.

From the col, we skied down a gully and traversed into a larch basin. The larches were interesting since we were on the west side of the crest. As one of our mutual ecologist friends/ski partners once explained (while relaying the results from another graduate students thesis): based on reconstructed fire histories, the terrain on the eastern side of Thunder Creek is drier then one would expect given its location. This suggests that the high peaks to the W-SW near Cascade Pass create a small rain shadow.

Touring along Spectacular Ridge with a view of Mt Goode.

L: Skiing along Spectacular ridge. R: Melt water drainage channels in the snow.

We toured up the snow slopes and skied onto Spectacular Ridge. We were not sure about the best descent to Fisher Pass so we skied over a few bumps until we found a nice looking gully that ended in a bench above the pass. The bench was flat, had easy access to running water, a nice view and the evening sun. Home for the night. The first day included 6000+ ft of gain, about 10 hours.

The next morning, we scratched our way down the frozen snow to Fisher Pass. Instead of following the higher route over the shoulder of Dream Peak, we dropped a few hundred feet down the west side of the pass and contoured through the forest into the open basin below Mt Logan. Just below Fisher Pass we saw some mystery animal tracks about the size of a Black Diamond pole basket. The claws are extended so they are not feline, but are too small to be a bear.

L: Unknown animal print near Fisher Pass. R: Touring up to the Douglas Glacier on Mt Logan.

We dropped the overnight gear and toured to the broad pass below the glacier fora second breakfast. The glacier was in good shape and was easily skinnable to the high col between the Douglas and Banded Glaciers. Here we cached the skis and booted up the snow slopes and over a quickly meltingmoat bridge to the top of the snow. Up the rocks and around the corner to the top of the... false summit. Darn. Even though the true summitwas only about 30 ft higher, it was a ridge traverse away. Our goal had always been to ski the route, not necessarily tag the summit. We had the same 360 view from where we were, but the most compelling reason to stop was because it was already noon and we still had a long way to go.

Telemark skiing down the Douglas Glacier on Mt Logan.

The 4000 ft descent back to our gear cache was very scenic and very fast. Unfortunately the snow had not yet fully consolidated on the glacier so itwas a little mushy, but it firmed up nicely as we descended. After picking up the gear, we were able to ski down to 4100 ft in the valley, just aboutwhere the huge slide path and continuous snow ended. Travel through the open forest was easy and pleasant in the shade as the remaining snow was mostly boot supportable. We found a nice log to shimmy across Fisher Creek andimmediately found the summer trail on the other side. Sweet!

All thatremained now was the six miles and 2500 ft back up to Easy Pass then the 3000 ft drop back to the car. No sweat right? Well, after an hour or so of booting through snow, I felt myself slowly start to bonk. Toostuborn to pull the food out the pack with the skis strapped on, my hands started to tremble slightly a half hour later. Angry with myself, I stoppedand scarfed down a sandwich, two bars, half a pack of shot blocks and a half liter of water. By this point, the snow was again continuous. Refueled and skinning again our pace picked back up and the miles started to click by. About an hour later, with Easy Pass still a ways up the valley, I realized the view of Mt Logan from the pass really is not all that deceiving and it is indeed far away. We finally crested the top at 8:30 and started down racing the sun, knowing that we had to find the summer trail at snowline before dark. Ross had run out of food on the final steep climb to the pass and by the time we were skirting along the last bits of continuous snow on the trail he was bonking. I gave him my last bit of food, a packet of Gu, and we motored down the trail. We finally arrived back at the trailhead at 9:45, some 6500 ft of climbing and 15.5 hours after leaving camp. Yea haw!