The Snows Fall

Blewett Pass, 3/8/09, 4 miles, 500 elevation

After a cold but fun weekend in Winthrop, Michael & I with our friends Dave & Heather, decided to stop at Blewett Pass for a quick snowshoe up the hill to see what we can see. We parked along the highway at the snowpark because the parking lot hadn't been plowed for a while, but that wouldn't deter us hardy snowshoeing folks.

Dave & Heather were testing out their new MSR snowshoes by traversing hills and climbing steep slopes. They were quite happy with the performance of these lighter weight snowshoes - they don't slip nearly as much as the larger Tubbs and Atlas snowshoes do. That's the main reason I love them, that and they are so light-weight.

The snow started falling almost immediately, a light pellety snow. We made our way past the creek and started climbing, hoping to reach the lookout 2 miles beyond. As we started our climb the snowflakes became larger and started falling more heavily, covering everything from trees to our hats. We began to blend in with our surroundings.

We never made it to the lookout, stopping about a 1/2 mile from the top to head back to the cars. A good thing really, if we had stayed out any longer than that our cars may have been just mounds along the highway. As it was, our footprints in the parking were completely covered.