Cross-country Ski - White Pass Nordic Center

On the first Saturday in March eight of us skied at the White Pass Nordic Center through the old-growth forest and, at lower elevation, around the (mostly) snow-covered Leech Lake. We had good snow, good weather, and a great time. In a snow-challenged season when Nordic skiing and grooming had been suspended at many areas (and the snowpack at Cabin Creek on that day dwindled to zero), White Pass had a generally good snowpack.

An hour or two into the trip we experienced a first for all of us when a binding mounting plate sheared off a ski; as on most modern Nordic skis, the binding plate was factory-glued, not screwed, to the ski. We taped the binding and binding plate to the ski and carried on. This novel failure mode caused some speculation about what other ways skis or bindings might possibly fail, the possible fixes, and the implications for repair kit contents.

Five of us also skied at the Nordic Center the day before (Friday) while two of us skied the lifts at White Pass, and all eight of us stayed Friday night in Packwood. We enjoyed an evening in the large community space at the Longmire Springs Brewery which had live music and two food trucks. White Pass, being a couple hours farther from Seattle-Everett area than Snoqualmie Pass, is far for a day trip, but makes for a great two-day outing.

Happy skiers. Photos by Linnea Rooke.