Crater Lake Ski Circumnavigation
Last March Linette and I completed a ski circumnavigation of Crater Lake. Ethan was off with the Grandparents for a long weekend, and this was a trip that had been on my radar for a long time. The route follows the summer road for 32 miles around the rim, but in the winter it's a quiet wilderness. Only about 100 people complete the trip each year.
Day One
Down climbing steep hard snow with no gear and a scary runout wasn't really part of the plan, but that's where we found ourselves at the end of our first day. We decided to go counter-clockwise to get the harder travel (and fewer lake views) over with first. We didn't get to the Park until late morning, and it was after lunch before we left Park Headquarters. A few inches of recent snow made for sticky skiing the first couple of miles, but conditions were stable enough that we felt OK staying on the road at Vidae and Applegate avalanche bypasses.
The skiing got more enjoyable, and the only tracks since the last storm appeared to be a party of two a day or two ahead of us. It was early evening when we arrived at the Dutton Cliffs avalanche zone. The sun was low and had refrozen so we again decided it was safe to stay on the road. About three quarters of the way through we came to a path from a slide that had run earlier in the day. It was only 15-20 feet across, but the bed surface was a 35 degree sheet of ice and impassable without crampons or a rope.
We were planning to camp at Kerr Notch a quarter mile beyond and were ready to be done for the day. Backtracking to the bypass route wasn't appealing. It seemed reasonable to plunge step down next to the slide and cross on the debris where the angle eased up. The snow was harder than I expected so I had to kick steps down the slope, staying directly above a huge tree to make the runout feel a little less intimidating. We made it across and on to Kerr notch just in time to see the sun setting over the lake. The Notch was less conducive to camping than I had imagined, and there were only partial views through the trees. We decided to keep going, and stopped to bivy on the shoulder of the road cut with a view of Dutton Cliffs across Kerr valley as the light faded.
Our dinner of mashed potatoes and tuna didn't go down well, and we both felt a bit sick after eating. I woke up in the middle of the night with the chills and woke Linette up to help me make some tea. The mug of hot tea helped, but neither of us got much rest that night.
Day Two
We packed up and got moving first thing in the morning and skied to an incredible lake view at Sentinel Rock where we had breakfast and melted snow. After fueling up we continued the climb to the saddle near scenic Mt Scott. From there we slowly lost elevation over rolling terrain for the next six miles to Rugged Crest on the northeast corner of the lake. The south aspect was melted out and we occasionally had to leave the road to stay on snow. I found this area to be the scenic climax; red rock, white snow, and green trees, with the more interesting mountainous topography forming the backdrop across the blue lake.
A patch of warm dry pavement made a great late afternoon rest stop. We spent a good hour soaking up the views, melting snow, and drying out our feet. As we approached Llao Rock we deliberated about making camp, but not finding an inviting spot we kept going. It was getting late. We still kept going. The two miles around Llao rock felt slow, and when we made it back to the rim at North Junction the wind blasted us and the snow turned hard and icy. We had seen several skiers in the last few miles, and the road in from the north was tracked up by snowmobiles. The wilderness feeling of the first 20 miles rescinded.
A mile further we found a suitable campsite, sheltered, with views to the north of Thielsen, Bailey, and all the way to the Three Sisters. We quickly dug out a platform, had some dinner while the snow set up, and went to bed. Snow flakes pelted the Mid for a while, but nothing accumulated. I think we slept OK.
Day Three
We didn't get out of camp until 8:30, knowing that we only had about 8 miles to go. We skied around Hillman Peak and had breakfast at the saddle between it and The Watchtower. The view of Wizard Island was stunning. The rest of the skiing to Rim Village was simple and enjoyable. The closer we got, the more people we encountered. Jeans and hiking boots kind of people. I stopped and made a few laps for turns on a hill.
Leaving the busy parking lot at Rim Village we experienced the only route finding difficulty of the entire trip. The road is plowed down to park headquarters and there are no signs indicating where the skiing route goes. It's also not marked on the map. There are tracks going off in every direction. We picked one, but intersected the road a bit too soon, and had to traverse the steep road cut. This was far more annoying than our previous detour. Dropping down to the road as soon as possible we crossed it and followed the drainage and easy terrain straight back to the car.
I'd noticed some steep lines on Garfield Peak when we arrived, and now (Sunday afternoon) they were all skied up. We celebrated with potato chips and beer before making the 5 hour drive home.
Gear Notes
We skied on Fischer wax-less metal edged XCD skis with 3 pin bindings and soft plastic boots. We also took skins. The terrain is gradually up or gradually down but rarely flat. There's almost never enough grade to make forward progress without effort. The snow was extremely variable which would have made waxing a pain, though glide wax was useful for the sticky snow. We could have managed without skins, but we did use them on the morning climbs when the snow was frozen solid. I'd hoped to make some turns on one of the peaks, but with only one full day and two half days for skiing we didn't have time.