[christensent]

The plan: Leave the city at 6am, drive up the road, skin the easy 2.5 miles of forest to Slide Lake and up the valley, then go up the snowfields and summit mid afternoon. What actually happened: Leave the city at 6am, hit snow on the road 13 miles before the trailhead and spend 3.5 hours driving the road (currently blocked to typical vehicles by deep snow, downed trees, washouts, and boulders) to within 1 mile of the trailhead where we just said screw it and started skinning. After going the last mile of road, we proceeded to skin at about 0.5-0.75MPH through horrific boulder fields and dense forest with a light 1-2 foot snowpack. Got to Slide Lake and proceeded another 0.75 miles on the other side. We realized we'd have to skin the entire exit and it'd probably take even longer than the approach. It was already 2:30pm at this point. With the fact that we wouldn't summit until probably 7pm at the earliest and left the overnight gear where we parked, we made the sad call to bail out before even getting near tree line. Not a single turn was had at any point on the trip despite skiing about 8 miles round trip. So basically posting this TR since there's no reference online about what happens when you try to ski Slide Lake and beyond. Essentially, don't do it. There is a reason you've never seen a trip report for it.

"How does it feel out there?" "Intellectually, it feels like I probably shouldn't be here"

[kitya]

Is it ilabot creek road? is it usually drivable in a normal car in summer?

[christensent]

[wildernessed]

WOW that is an ambitious plan !

[Bootpathguy]

Cascade River Road approach not feasible this time of year?

[flatsqwerl]

this is a fun summer route.

[HermitThrush]

Fun day with the jeep though I see. So it wasn't a total wash. Good times!

[fourteen410]

[christensent]

[Schroder]

Was your plan to ascend via the 4300' basin SW of Enjar Lake? I've come down that way in the summer and it's very steep. I imagine lots of avalanches on that side right now.

[christensent]

[Stefan-K]

I'd say you did well for March 31st... you got pretty far. ambitious for sure, even with this seasons meager low elev. snowpack... I can see the rationale...seems like after Dec. the lower elevation temps never stayed low for long. It's funny tho when people shovel stats my way trying to convince me of some trip that'll have us all back in town by lets say 5, my mind glazes over like some unruly cascadian mountain range that could give a flying F about stats but is full of wild and unknown twists and turns... that's where the fun starts

[Schroder]

[cartman]

[mbravenboer]

That's a remarkable attempt .