Lolly Glades
Manson,
Washington
Overview
Lolly Glades is a very moderate open slope off of the Lolly Pop trail at Echo Ridge. There is only a couple hundred vertical feet of skiing before you bottom out near the intersection of Bob's Trail and Somewhere to Ride, and therefore not really worth it on its own unless you are looking for a very quick ski tour. I'd say it's a good place for a beginner tour, however the typically low snow coverage in the Chelan Valley may pose problems for someone not accustomed to skiing off-piste. From the lower trailhead follow Lolly Pop trail counter clockwise and after a couple of hundred yards you will see a relatively open slope on your left. Find a suitable place to ski down all of 200 feet vertical feet.
Directions
Parking
Trip Reports
A couple days after my exploration of Divine Intervention, I decided to head back up to Echo Ridge and try my luck off of Lolly Pop. A week earlier I had walked the trail with my parents and their dogs and noticed a nice moderate slope with enough coverage to make some turns - as long as you don't mind grass and bitterbush poking through the snow.
I skinned up Lolly Pop for a couple hundred yards, and then found a suitable place to de-skin and begin my ski - I'm fairly confident this was a first descent on this specific line! The skiing was actually decent, without too many obstacles to avoid on the way down. I have found that the best slopes around Echo are those with well spaced trees, as open slopes tend to have a lot more vegetation poking through the snow.
While the ski down was better than expected, it was way too short. At the bottom, I weighed skinning back up for some more laps, but it didn't seem worth it given how little skiing I got in. I decided to head out and see if I could spot anything else interesting in the area. I had checked the map prior to coming up, and nothing jumped out at me, but I wanted to get some more exercise..
I randomly started skinning up a mellow slope, hoping to get to higher ground and get a visual on the area. I ended up unintentionally paralleling Puterman Gulch Road and it would have been quicker to just follow the road. The only thing that looked remotely interesting was the slope opposite of what I had just skied - it was very short as well, but had a good pitch to it and there looked to be some space between trees on some sections.
It was a straightforward skin up to the top, and I found some somewhat open terrain on parts. The ski down was decent. When it was open I was able to link some turns, however the open areas didn't last long and I had to navigate through thick trees to find some more open areas. And it was not much vertical as well.
Skins back on, I went across the valley floor and skinned up through Lolly Glades, opting to go lookers left of where I skied down to check out the rest of the slope. It was more open here and a little more vertical, but with increased undergrowth. It was fun to get out and stretch the legs. The slopes on this part just aren't big enough to warrant spending time here. At some point I'll poke around a bit further southwest, as it would be nice to have a ski tour from the lower trailhead that had a little more skiing and vertical involved.
