Olallie Meadow from Annette Lake trailhead

Mark and I parked at I-90's exit 47 and skied down the road to the Annette Lake trailhead. We took a combination of trail, logging road, and off-trail up to the Iron Horse Trail where it intersects a broad NW ridge that leads to Olallie Meadows.

We headed up the NW ridge, the first 200 feet above the Iron Horse were steep and tough with the icy snow. After that we broke into old growth forest and had a nice stroll up the moderate ridge. The ridge got steep again right before reaching the meadow, I wished I had my ice axe for this.

Once we got to Olallie Meadow, the snow changed from icy crud to lovely powder, with a few patches of ice and of wind-packed slabs, it made for interesting skiing. We skied a couple runs in the open, rolling hills of Olallie Meadow, taking a break at the warming hut.

Too soon the day was over and we had to head down. Now I really wished I had my ice axe, crampons would have been nice too. Plunge stepping down frozen snow with sporadic sheets of ice is no fun. We made liberal use of veggie belays.

Date:

2007/01/14

Elevation gain:

2,520 feet

Trip type:

backcountry ski

USGS quads:

Lost Lake, Snoqualmie Pass

In:

South Fork Snoqualmie Drainage

Car-to-car:

6 hours 50 minutes

19 minutes driving there from Lower Queen Anne to TNAB rendezvous point
42 minutes driving there from TNAB rendezvous point to I-90 exit 47
5 hours 8 minutes ascending from I-90 exit 47 to our high point in Olallie Meadow
23 minutes ascending from our high point in Olallie Meadow to NW corner of Olallie Meadow
1 hour 19 minutes descending from NW corner of Olallie Meadow to I-90 exit 47

Olallie Meadow from Annette Lake trailhead

Mark looking at the Snoqualmie Pass peaks from Olallie Meadow

Granite Mountain (Snoqualmie Pass quad) from exit 47

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