Chelan Butte

After the last couple of outings around Antilon Lake Sno-Park, it was time to get out in a different area and Chelan Butte was next up. After my son's basketball game at the Chelan Community Center on Saturday morning, I zipped over to the Chelan Butte Trailhead, ready to see what conditions I would find on Chelan Butte. I had walked my parent's dog over here earlier in the week, confirming there was barely enough snow on the ground to skin up and more importantly ski down from the Chelan Butte trailhead.

Chelan Butte

I had only skied Chelan Butte once before, two years ago, and during that excursion I started from higher up on Chelan Butte Road and just followed the road to the top. I followed the summer trail up until it crossed through the small ravine and decided to keep heading straight up through the valley. As it steepened a bit, I opted to start skinning up towards the ridge, where the summer trail crosses, and quickly gained some elevation and views of the lake. The skinning was a wee bit challenging in some of the steeper spots, but I never had to throw on my ski crampons.

First view of the lake

Nearing the ridge, I could see a skin track going up the bowl I planned to ski. If I had stayed the course in the valley instead of heading up to the ridge, I would have connected with the skin track. It looked like the folks who made the track followed the summer trail up until that point - I had noticed ski tracks while skinning up, but didn't see any sign of a skin track. Next time I will probably take the same approach, but continue up the valley and into the bowl. Seems better than going up to the ridge, and more direct than following the summer trail.

Skin track up to the ridge

I loosely started following the summer trail along the ridge, and made a mental note of the east bowl heading down towards the Columbia River - it had some short, but nice looking slopes dropping into it. Might be worth heading up to the summit and getting in a quick lap before skiing the northeast bowl.

Slopes dropping into east bowl

Higher up I saw some ski tracks heading into the northeast bowl which I planned to ski. I didn't see any evidence of the skin track heading up though, so not sure if these were a different set of tracks. I opted to head up to the summit of Chelan Butte, with the plan to ski one of the northern facing slopes going into the east bowl.

Following the summer trail up the ridge

At the top of Chelan Butte, I headed past the cell towers and checked out the southern facing slopes. They did not look skiable, with lots of vegetation and rocks poking through on the top half, with snow snow by the bottom near the Columbia River. I skinned over a bit towards the east bowl, transitioned to ski mode and made my way down. There was some decent snow on the upper section, with some recycled powder on some aspects, and more breakable crust on others. Lower down it turned mostly crusty, and the slope angle flattened, so I stopped my descent and threw the skins on.

Turns off the top

I had planned on skinning up the south slope, heading in the direction of the northeast bowl I planned to ski next.But that idea went out the window as I looked at the coverage, or rather lack of it, on the southern facing slopes. I skinned up the gut back to the ridge and made my way over to the top of the bowl, ready for my next ski.

Ready for the next ski

The top part of the ski wasn't great, with crusty snow. However, the snow was a little better lower down, where the bowl was more protected. There were a decent number of ski tracks through the bowl, although they looked quite old. Curious if it was a big group or smaller number doing laps - I rarely see other tracks and haven't yet met anyone who ski tours locally.

Turns in the bowl

I was surprised to see a fairly large chunk of wind slab in the bowl. I skied over and could see the crown up above where the slope became steeper. The avalanche looked old, and it was hard to tell if it was skier triggered, but a good reminder that even on smaller mountains with not a lot of snow, avalanche danger still exists.

Avy debris in the bowl

The rest of the ski down was okay. There were some pockets of decent snow, but it was hard to find consistency. At the bottom of the bowl, I followed the summer trail back out. This was the hardest part of the tour! Skiing off the trail meant hitting an occasional rock, and staying on the trail meant skiing on a frozen bootpacked, but I managed to get down without injuring myself. It was fun to get out and check a new part of Chelan Butte. With this little coverage down low, it may be a better option to start up on Chelan Butte road...