No Where To Zoom

A late season storm, for the Chelan area at least, meant we had some fresh powder on the surrounding slopes. It had been awhile since I had explore around Echo Ridge, but this offered the perfect option for a few quick powder laps after work. Earlier in the season on a ski tour around Outback, I had noticed the slopes above the Zoom trail looked decent.

Zoom trailhead

There was one other car in the parking lot, and as I skinned the Zoom trail I could see a couple snowshoeing up ahead. Before I reached the snowshoers, I arrived at the first bend in the trail and started skinning up the drainage. Looking at the map earlier in the day, it looked like I could follow the drainage up a bit, and then start proceeding directly up towards the high point.

Drainage

There was a decent amount of new snow on the ground, probably about a foot. However, it was a little heavier than I was expecting - typical of the snow quality I was used to around Snoqualmie Pass. Breaking trail required a little extra work in the new snow, but went by pretty fast. I made a mental note of a couple of open lines through the trees for my descent.

Looking down the run

I crossed a couple of the ungroomed nordic trails and upon reaching the high point I transitioned into ski mode. It was overcast with limited visibility so I wasn't able to scope out any of the surrounding area and see if anything might be of interest for another ski tour. But the viz was good enough to have a fun ski down, finding some open paths through the trees.

Turns from my first run

I ended up going skier's right of my skin track, and upon reaching the drainage towards the bottom decided to transition to skin mode, as the rest of the ski down to the Zoom trail was low angle. I quickly found my skin track, and enjoyed a quick skin up without having to break trail.

Skin track up

On my second descent, I figured I would ski more to the left and end up at the Zoom trail, but was pulled to the right again, and ended up near my first run. I decided to head up for one more final run.

Tracks from my second run

At the top for my third run, I did a quick consult of the map, and it looked like I might be able to ski directly down to the trailhead. From the top, I headed skier's left and made sure to stay in that direction as I descended. There weren't many trees on this aspect, resulting in thick underbrush popping up through the snow and part of the way down I headed back to the right.

Turns through the bitterbush

I abandoned the idea of skiing to the trailhead, but found a nice line along the ridge and then ultimately back down to where I had started ascending on the zoom trail. A quick skin back to the car and my day was done. Great to get out for one final ski in the Chelan Valley, with power nonetheless. It was pretty limited vert, but a good place for a quick powder laps close to home.