Keechelus Ridge from Price Creek Sno-park

I parked at the west Price Creek Sno-park (the land of snowmobiles) and headed up a trail that connects to Road 4832. I followed 4832 west over Noble Creek and Price Creek to Road 124, and headed up 124. Road 124 was "groomed" by snowmobiles, but I didn't see any snowmobiles on 124 on the way up or down.

Since I was solo, I stuck to the road, many snowshoers headed cross-country NNE up the slope. At the big, four-way intersection at 4,280'+, I took the left fork (east). At the next three-way intersection at 4,440'+, I took the sharp left (NW). Soon I could see the radio tower on my right.

On the way up I ran into Northwest Hikers regulars Trail Pair, Sadie's Driver, and JimK. And then I ran into them again. And again.

I counted 14 snowmobiles sitting under the radio tower. That didn't include the snowmobiles that were zooming around.

From the radio tower I continued SE up Keechelus Ridge to its summit. I was surprised no other tracks led up there, but it went easily and was a nice ski down.

There were loads of tree-free, untracked, moderate slopes around the radio tower. The ski down the road was great, the snowmobile tracks kept friction down on the gradual parts, and when it was steeper and narrow I widened my turns to include the powder on the side of the road to burn off some speed. I'll come back to this one. I had a blast!

On my way down, I encountered many, many snowshoers, some were still heading up from the parking lot when I pulled out at 1:20 PM.

  • Date:
    2006/12/30
    Elevation gain:
    2,860 feet
    Trip type:
    ski
    USGS quad:
    Stampede Pass
    In:
    Yakima Valley
    Car-to-car:
    4 hours
    • 1 hour 4 minutes driving there from Lower Queen Anne to Price Creek Sno-park
    • 2 hours 9 minutes ascending from Price Creek Sno-park to radio tower
    • 24 minutes ascending from radio tower to summit of Keechelus Ridge
    • 16 minutes descending from summit of Keechelus Ridge to radio tower
    • 46 minutes descending from radio tower to Price Creek Sno-park
    • 1 hour 12 minutes driving back from Price Creek Sno-park to Lower Queen Anne
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  • Road 124 up Keechelus Ridge
    Road 124 up Keechelus Ridge
  • Road 124 up Keechelus Ridge
    Road 124 up Keechelus Ridge
  • Radio tower on Keechelus Ridge (snowmobile heaven)
    Radio tower on Keechelus Ridge (snowmobile heaven)

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