Lonely Cathedral
A Spring Ski Loop in the Pasayten
The idea of a long ski traverse across the Pasayten Wilderness has been stuck in my head since sometime this winter. I pictured an east-to-west-then-south traverse constituting roughly one hundred miles with all the winter-time approaches, mainly through the northern tier of the Wilderness. That is still on the books for the future, but timing, the lack of a partner, and mediocre ski skills suggested a shorter solo objective this spring. I headed to the Cathedral area on the sunny first weekend of May.
Amphitheater, Cathedral, and unnamed northern neighbor
The route was a counter-clockwise loop of 40-45 miles, starting with an afternoon road walk from the Andrews Creek trailhead up the Chewuch valley to Thirtymile, continuing up the Chewuch trail (camp one), then up the Tungsten Creek trail to the old tungsten mine area, west over Apex Pass, across the Cathedral Creek valley, through Cathedral Pass, then down the gentle slopes to Spanish Creek (camp two), up to Andrews Pass, and finally down the Andrews Creek valley returning to the Andrews Creek trailhead.
This route is low-angle, with a couple short exceptions (e.g., the steep, heavily treed descent from Apex Pass to Cathedral Creek) where I removed skis. Generally, in the daytime sunny snow conditions, the patterned base on my skis was sufficient for most of the climbing I needed to do. Only on some particularly hard-crusted slopes (prevalent in the morning, but lasting all day in places) did I need to boot it. (I did not have skins.)
Cathedral Peak
I met a pair of bicyclists along the road walk. Their tracks turned around at Thirtymile, the last visible signs of post-autumn human presence. I was probably a dozen or more miles from the nearest humans once I was out in the high country. It was easy to imagine I was the first human to visit these parts in months. Sweet solitude.
The lack of human tracks was offset by plenty of others: elk or moose, bear, coyote (I think, since I also saw a coyote, though the tracks were melted enough to be plausible as any range of possibilities and I am not knowledgeable enough to know sizes: wolf? lynx? wolverine?), hare, and plenty of smaller company.
Rough seas at Cathedral Pass
Having spent the spring largely indoors rather than practicing lugging so much weight on each foot, the trip was harder work than expected, and I skipped a couple optional extensions out to Horseshoe Basin and Bald Mountain. Melted, burned, and deadfall-choked approaches with skis on or off the pack no doubt helped slow me down. Snow level varied dramatically depending on aspect and tree cover, but in the two major valley floors (Chewuch and Andrews) mostly-consistent cover started at 4200-4500 feet.
Remmel looms
The striking mass of Cathedral Peak brought a certain Debussy prelude to mind. (Here's a recording if you don't have a favorite.) The Cathedral-Amphitheater-Remmel area offered sweeping views. The long gentle descent in the upper half of the Andrews Creek valley (especially after finding the trail) was the most fun. The snow-free, deadfall-choked Chewuch and the snowy, muddy, loggy, brushy, and soupy flat miles in the middle of the Andrews Creek valley were the most taxing.
Andrew Peak
The Pasayten in a thick coat of white is company worth revisiting. Next time I will aim for fuller snowpack (earlier in the season) and less deadfall (non- or less-burned routes) on the approaches. The altering power of fire is stunning. As physically unforgiving as a burn is, there is a stark, strident beauty in the truth left behind, intensified by scale and the awaited transition to living forest. A desolate burn is an imposing gatekeeper for what lies beyond and a vivid cautionary tale for the visitor.
A less sloggy section of the flatter miles midway down the Andrews Creek valley