Silver Star and Delancey Ridge

Silver Star, the bread and butter of the North Cascades Heli-skiing

Early Winter Spires, Liberty Bell, and Porcupine

Cutthroat Peak

Porcupine Peak

The Needles

McGregor and Glacier in the distance

Kangaroo Ridge

Gardner

Silver Star massif

The Delancey Ridge

The Wine Spires

The Wine Spires (Pernod, Chianti, and Burgundy (one of the hardest summits in the NW))

Mounts Rideout and Silvertip (Canada) in the distance

Mike skinning up within view of where we parked under the avalanche chute in the background. A long way down.

The view off the south side of Silver Star at Snagtooth Ridge

Glacier Peak

McGregor NE face

Dome Peak

Bonanza North Face

Maude, Fernow, and Copper

Mount Robinson

"Silver Star, the alpine climax of the Methow Mountains, is a grand mountain fortress of magnificent diversity. Despite a chaotic appearance, Silver Star has a finished design--on an immense scale. Gables of rock strike and dip in seemingly planned directions, each in some manner imitating the others in a repetitive scheme." Fred Beckey, the first guy to climb everything there is to climb on Silver Star, and the same for the Cascades pretty much.

Mike and I left Seattle at 4:30am to get to Mazam by 9:30. Looking up the Delancey Ridge from the Silver Star carpark, we thought we'd get in a quick 2,000 foot run and maybe do another lap. It was a beautiful sunny day and the slope was corning up very nicely. We didn't want to get too tired though for the big day tomorrow: Silver Star. Delancey took longer than we thought, even though we skinned straight uphill, not needing to switchback because the snow gripped well enough on the 30-35 degree slope. After a few hours we made it to the top, took in the spectacular alpine scenery that surrounded us, seeing mountains we rarely see from the other side. Then we were excited to ski the corn down.

The downhill took a long time. The corn was great and easy to ski, but man did we have to stop a lot to catch our breath. And the downhill kept going and going. Consistent, smooth corn the whole way down, what a run! We couldn't believe how long it felt. It was definitely the longest 2,000 foot run I've ever had. We asked a guy in the carpark how long it was: 2100 feet-ish. Looking it up on Google Earth today, I see that it was 3,400-ish. Now that's more like it!

Then we found the Early Winters campground parking lot, pulled out our thermarests and sun bathed and drank beer. At first we wished we had brought cards, or something to read, or even a laptop to watch a flick. Nada. But with the help of the beers, the tales unfurled and we laughed until the sun went down. Then popped some sleeping pills, 3X the dosage, and were out cold for the next 11 hours. Now that's what I'm talking about!

Woke up at 7, drove to the TH, met some other Seattlelites gearing up for the tour. I ripped a foul one, "Have you guys had beans this morning?" asked one of the dudes. I burst out laughing and said no.

"Do you want some?"

"What? Beans?"

"Yeah. You know, coffee."

"Oh, hell yeah."

A great start to the morning since we had had our cup of joe.

One of them had already done the tour and knew the way, so we just followed their track pretty much up the 5 miles and over 5,000 vertical feet to the summit col, marveling in the unbelievable scenery around us. The Wine Spires felt like a little Cerro Torre, Standhart and Egger, or something in Chamonix. The views of the Cascades south from the col were spectacular and unusual for us. Bonanza, Maude, McGregor, Dome. Wow! The Snagtooth Ridge below looked incredible too. Right as we were clicking into our skis, a North Cascades helicopter came in like a bat out of hell. "Comin' in hot! Comin' in hot!" Two of the guides and their two little kids and a wife hopped out. Tomorrow is their last day. Lucky kids.

The snow was a mixed bag: Windpack to powder to corn to slush. Hell of a tour.