04/29/07 Quartz Creek / Mills Creek / Canyon Creek Crust Ski ~25mi +3100’

            This was an epic crust ski. I got the idea from Tim Kelley’s site (link on my homepage). It seemed like a good challenge in a cool location. I’ve never explored the Summit Lake area. I was paying close attention to the weather the week before. The weather cleared up and the temperature got down to 31 at 9:00pm and 21.6 at 4:00am. I figured the crust would be bomb-proof, and it was. I left my house at 5:00am and parked at a small pull-off South of Summit Lake, just before 7:00am. In a few minutes I was walking through the woods.

            After a few steps through brush I put my skis on and was winding through alders. I began climbing to get above the trees. It looked like access to Quartz Creek was easiest above the trees, and it may have been. When I got above the trees the slope dropped abruptly to Quartz Creek, and I wasn’t about to drop in on the crust. It was a long way to slide. I decided I’d hike through the trees and alders with my ice-grippers and look for a sway to safely descend to Quartz Creek. After 30 minutes I had finally negotiated my way to the creek, and began hiking, as the canyon closed in.

            The canyon was really cool. The mountain sides steepened and I had to cross back and forth over Quartz Creek. There were several large avalanche gullies that spilled to the creek and there was a lot of avalanche debris. I wouldn’t want to be in the area when the snow softens in the afternoon. After a few miles of hiking I had passed all of the avalanche debris and the valley began to open up. I put my skis back on and skied up the wide valley. Wrong Mountain came into view as I spotted the low angle gully to the pass. The further I climbed the worse the snow got. It was a breakable wind crust.

            I reached the pass, and took a few pictures. It was already 11:00 so I didn’t hang around too long. I went to check out the frozen tarn near the pass, then began my descent into the Mills Creek drainage. It was an amazing place with miles of untouched crust. The first mile was tricky with a breakable wind crust, but the crust got stronger and warmed up; the skiing became effortless. After a few miles of perfect skiing and amazing scenery Mills Creek began to cut a gorge in the valley. It was fun finding a route through the alders and crossing snow bridges. I climbed in and out of the creek bed until I found an old mining road. It eventually led to a few mining remnants. Past there I lost track of the road.

            I checked my map. It said I had to cross Mills Creek and Juneau Creek to get to Manitoba Mountain. I had to descend steeply to the Mills Creek creek bed. After squeezing through alders I came across some more substantial mine remnants from the Mills Creek Mine. Past the mine there was an old access road that lead all the way back to the Seward Highway. This road is also used to access the Manitoba Mountain backcountry ski area. I skied over a hill and down to Juneau Creek. From there the road led to Manitoba Mountain where the downhill slalom began. It was fun because the snow was soft, even though it was bumpy. If it was still crusty it would have been hell.

           I arrived at the Seward Highway and walked to a foot bridge crossing Lower Summit Lake’s outlet (Canyon Creek). I had planned on skiing across the lake, but it had opened up quite a bit. I was able to ski between the mountainside and the lake. The snow was amazing that day. It was after 4:00pm and the snow was soft, but still very consolidated. I was able to skate still! I skied through the woods to Summit Lake and encountered the same conditions. I made my way down a road to the East of the lake and discovered the Tenderfoot Creek campground. Once I left the campground I was able to ski next to Summit Lake until its end. From here it was a mile and a half until I got back to my car, a little after 6:00pm. I was sure glad to be back after 11 hours.

            This was an awesome trip. I definitely learned a lot. The canyon, great snow, route finding, and downhills made this a rewarding ski. It’s amazing that I completed the whole loop without seeing another skier!