Maple Pass
Winthrop,
Washington
Overview
Maple Pass is one of the more moderate ski tours off of Highway 20 in the North Cascades, offering fantastic views and moderate ski slopes perched above Lake Ann. It's a spring tour, as highway 20 is seasonally opened, typically around the end of April or beginning of May.
Departing from Rainy Pass, you will climb through the forest staying north of Bridge Creek. After a steep section, the incline moderates and you will follow Bridge Creek into the Lake Ann cirque and cross the frozen lake, trending towards the north side. Skin up the slope to Heather Pass, where you may notice tracks heading northwest towards Wing Lake and Black Peak. From Heather Pass continue climbing up the slope, navigating a few steep benches, and then head south along the ridge to Maple Pass. To extend the tour, you can ski down the backside towards Maple Creek, with the most mellow option being north of maple pass near where you crested the ridge. Or head up to the highpoint above Heather Pass and ski down to Lake Ann and then back to the car.
Directions
Parking
Trip Reports
Missing out on my annual foray to Highway 20 last year due to excessive heat and crappy snow conditions, I was chomping at the bit to get at least one ski tour this year. I was trying to coordinate with my friend Tim to meet up, but that fell through and so I headed up solo and decided for a mellow ski tour up to Maple Pass.
There were a good number of cars parked along the road, with a couple of groups getting ready to head up to Lake Ann and potentially beyond. I suspected that a number of the cars there were likely people who had arrived much earlier to head to Black Peak, as it was close to 9am when I arrived at the trailhead. Which proved to be correct, as I could see a large number of people ascending Black Peak once I reached Heather Pass.
The snow was firm, thanks to a nice freeze thaw cycle that had just started a couple of days prior. I toyed with the idea of throwing on my ski crampons, but I was able to get decent purchase on the hard snow, and opted to forgo the metal on the skin up. Before I knew it, as I was at the junction of the Lake Ann and Maple Pass trails. A little farther on I found some red plastic in the snow, which I have seen before up here. Guessing it was the remnants of some sort of weather balloon?
Eventually I reached the upper sections of Bridge Creek, where it is relatively flat and caught my first glimpses of the Lake Ann cirque. I have been up here a handful of times over the years, but boy does that view never get old. As I crossed the lake I could see ski tracks from the days prior coming down the slopes above Lake Ann, but there were no signs of anyone else in the area.
On my way up to Heather Pass I passed a group of three putting on ski crampons. For the most part the skinning was pretty easy, but a couple of sections required a little more concentration in order to not slip. At Heather Pass I took a quick break to gulp down some water and admire the throng of people ascending Black Peak. That's a fun tour, and one I will have to do again sometime in the near future.
Above Heather Pass there are some steeper benches I had to navigate, and at this point I was thinking it could have been nice to have my ski crampons on! But this is my modus operandi, I forestall using them until it's really too late… I was able to find a way through without slipping too much and reached the ridge. I was feeling good and decided I would ski down towards Maple Creek. I have skinned up this slope when doing the Rainy Lake loop, but this would be my first time skiing down it.
I made my way along the ridge towards Maple Pass - to be honest, even though I have been up here a number of times, I'm not exactly sure where Maple Pass is! I found what looked like a good spot to ski down, but encountered lots of frozen avalanche debris on steep slopes and the skiing was quite tricky. I didn't want to wait for the snow to soften, so I picked my way down the slope.
A little under halfway down, the pitch mellowed and I was able to find a slope that was nice and smooth, albeit still a little firm. I skied down to where it flattened out, and while the slope continued to descend, it didn't look worth it, so I transitioned to skin mode and made my way up to the left of where I skied. It was a nice slope, wide open, decent pitch and no avalanche debris - it would have made a much better ski option. Live and learn.
Back on the ridge, I decided to head to the nearby high point before skiing back down to Ann Lake. I passed a couple of small groups taking a break, and once at the high point, I followed suit and took a nice long break, enjoying the sun, snow and amazing view of the North Cascades.
The snow had softened up enough, and the ski down to Lake Ann was great, I actually found a small amount of powder stashed in a shaded slope, but the rest was creamy corn snow with big GS turns down to the lake.
I shuffled across the lake and then skied down through the trees, which is never fun as the snow is usually pretty crappy, and today was no exception. There were a ton of non skiers back at Rainy Pass, snapping photos and admiring the snow and mountains. It was a short tour for the North Cascades, but great to get out and enjoy the scenery.
