On the hike in we found breakable crust and all around pretty lousy skiing. By the time we had gained some elevation and reached the saddle between the two summits of arrowhead things had improved a bit and we were treated to amazing views of the Central Cascades. We were even able to see the summit of Mt. Rainier to the south.
Once on the summit of Arrowhead we spent almost an hour gazing at the Chiwaukum Range and the mountains on the Rock-Howard-Mastiff ski tour. We also noted widespread surface hoar growth even in spots as exposed as the summit ridge on the north side of Arrowhead.
Here is a shot looking over at the Rock-Howard-Mastiff complex. Nick pulled out his binoculars and we could see a skin track from a group that had recently completed the tour of the three peaks.
We also had great views of the Chiwaukums, where Lew and I hope to tour in a few days in an effort to make the first guided traverse of the Chiwaukums.
The skiing down was actually not all that bad. We waited a bot for things to warm up and the breakable crust that plagued some of the upper sections of Arrowhead had softened and produced decent skiing. By the times things got really bad we were close to the road and then able to ski out the logging road that runs up to the better skiing on Arrowhead.
We were back to the car a bit after 3 pm having enjoyed a nice day out in the mountains. Arrowhead Mountain is just one of the many great ski tours near Stevens. For more details on these trips visit our Stevens Pass Ski Tours page.
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