Monday, February 4, 2008

Rendezvous Huts - Recap


I stayed at the Rendezvous Hut system with Kathy, Andrew, Chase & Sarah from Jan. 26 - 29, staying at Gardner hut the first night, and the new Grizzly hut the other two nights.
I only brought along skate skis. The first day was tough, with 1800 feet of climbing from the trailhead to get to the hut. The one consolation was that we paid to have all of our gear hauled to the hut for us (on snowmobile) so that we could enjoy the ski without heavy packs on. I think I would have died if I had to carry a pack, as going up hills with bad form was bad enough as it was.
On day two and three, I really began to enjoy the skiing, and felt good. The snow was excellent and the temperatures hovered in the low 20s. Being able to get up and ski right out the door onto beautiful trails in good conditions was amazing. On day 3, Kathy and Andrew and I headed over to Fawn hut and back, and we stopped by Cassal hut for good measure. We were all dead-tired getting back that day, and I tweaked my knee in my enthusiasm to skate up impossibly steep hills to Cassal hut. I hobbled for the last half hour back to the cabin.
Day four brought a snow storm and a few inches of nice, fresh powder. Skiing was still good, although a bit more work for skating. My knee was definitely hurting me, and I couldn't enjoy the skiing as much as I wanted to. We get an especially great thrill, however, come down from Rendezvous Pass - lots of elevation loss and good snow to take the corners as we came down. Andrew also tried out skate skis and though this run was the best of his life. This was definitely a sucessful trip.
We snuck back over Stevens Pass in a snowstorm. Snowqualmie Pass was closed, and would continue to be closed most of the week as storms pummeled the Cascades. I think we hit the ideal weather just perfectly.
Same time next year?

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