Trip Report
Alpine Scramble - Silver King
This was a very good experience for 7 students all on their first snow scramble plus 2 leaders. No views of Rainier this time, but the weather was much better than predicted.
Fritz Klein
- Tue, May 20, 2025
- Alpine Scramble - Silver King
- Silver King
- Scrambling
- Successful
- Road suitable for all vehicles
-
There is currently a policy of no uphill travel except along the Quicksilver chairlift and on into Silver Basin, even when the ski area is closed, the justification being that "heavy equipment is in operation". It seems odd that such a restriction only applies to uphill travel, but in any case, there didn't seem to be any such activity.
The snow was softer than usual, but it was still possible to glissade on steeper slopes, especially once a track was established. While we were ascending the ridge, we did hear a significant avalanche in Silver Basin.
Although the forecast was for an 80% chance of rain/snow with a fair amount of wind, we had a mostly calm day with only a few very light snow showers along with occasional sun. It only started to rain just as we were arriving back at the cars.
The restrictions on uphill travel required us to take a route that I hadn't done before -- up into Silver Basin, then up to a point on the east ridge of Silver King at about 6100'. The ridge from there is pretty steep, but the snow was soft enough that it was easy to safely ascend.
On our descent, at the first good opportunity we glissaded down the north side of the ridge, with another couple of good glissading opportunities the rest of the way.