On the fourth of July, Jason Hummel, Andy Traslin, and I completed the “Magic S Loop” above Cascade Pass. Good snow, high mountains, 12 hours out, about 8,000 feet of human powered vert (since we didn’t have to hike the access road). It was a blast!
Starting the hike to Cascade Pass as the sun reaches the magic peaks above. Click images to enlarge.
First done in 2007 by Sky Sjue and Dan Helmstadter, this backcountry skiing tour travels through the heart of the Washington Cascade mountains, from Cascade Pass, to Cache Col, to the top of Hurry Up Peak, down the S Glacier, and back to Cascade Pass.
The weather didn’t look promising the night before. Thick fog covered the parking lot. The murk lingered the next morning but we started off anyway. Sure enough, our day of ski mountaineering got better and better. Turned out to be one of my best days of the season — I’ll just let a few of my photos speak for the trip.
Traversing toward Cache Col
Jason hiking toward the top of Hurry Up Peak
Andy skiing down the S Glacier
Check out Sky’s account of his inaugural S-Loop in 2007.
Louie Dawson earned his Bachelor Degree in Industrial Design from Western Washington University in 2014. When he’s not skiing Mount Baker or somewhere equally as snowy, he’s thinking about new products to make ski mountaineering more fun and safe.
