View from Thompson Ridge.JPG

Trip Report    

Cross-country Ski - Sun Mountain Trails

Cross Country Ski up Sun Mountain's Thompson Ridge Trail for a great ski workout, low crowds, wonderful views, and to practice your downhill skills on the long descent.

  • Snow and ice on road
  • Using  the  Methow Trails weather and grooming reports  the morning of, this intermediate cross country ski trip was modified to take the best route up to Thompson Pass given the conditions. We skied up Thompson Road to the pass, and then took the Meadow Lark Trail down to hook back up with Thompson Ridge. From Thompson Ridge we skied down to Overland Trail for our last trail  before descending on to Little Wolf  to take us back to the Chickadee Trailhead.

    This is an Intermediate ski trip due to the continuous  4.7 km/2.9 mi uphill climb to Thompson Road to the pass, and the large amount of  intermediate descent to get back down to Chickadee Trailhead.

    In good conditions one can skate or classic ski the entire route. Once we reached the pass we had mostly downhill trails, a mix of slow to fast descents, and a few level sections.

    This Intermediate XC Ski route requires that a skier must have strong stamina to herringbone up to Thompson Ridge Road to the pass, have the ability to ski downhills, be able to take corners with a snowplow or step turn,  and ability to control one's skis to slow down or stop with a snowplow .

    We ate lunch on the side of the Meadow Lark Trail in a patch of late morning sun. This route, which included minor stops and lunch, was 4 hours in duration.Up Thompson Ridge.jpg

We arrived to the Chickadee Parking Lot by 9:15 a.m. and there was plenty of parking. The route described took  4 hours which included stops for taking pics, clothing adjustments, and lunch. We skied approximately 10.25 miles with about a 1,166 ft. gain in elevation. By the time we ended our ski around 1:45 pm the parking lot was full, and a small amount of cars were lined up on the sides of the lot.