Break out the warm-weather wax and buy another propane tank for your portable grill—it’s corn, couloir and road-lap season. East to west, snow-removal crews are hard at work clearing high-mountain routes that have been impassable during the winter months. And soon, they’ll be ready to ski, offering high-elevation, late-season turns, hot laps and roadside grilling well into early summer. Here are five mountain routes to get you there.
Early Snow: Earning It In The North Cascades
With 100 inches in the forecast, winter hype was buzzing around Bellingham late last week. What most people don’t think about, however, is that when the Internet blows up with comments like “Baker is getting 100 inches over the weekend,” the forecasts are referencing the summit, which is at 10,000 feet. The actually ski area sits at around 5,000 feet.
