Naches Peak Ski Tour

Complete tour video available

The Chinook Pass area offers excellent spring and summer ski touring after the road access on Hwy 410 is established in the late spring. Drive to Chinook Pass and park at the small parking lot by Tipsoo Lake.

From the parking lot, head SE toward the bowl on the west side of Naches Peak and climb up the west ridge to a saddle at 5870 ft. At this saddle you have a choice to either switchback straight up the ridge line to the skier’s summit of Naches Peak or do a climbing traverse along the south face of the peak.

From the south approach, you will eventually connect up to the east ridge and then switchback west to the skier’s summit just south of the main rocky summit at 6320 ft. There are spectacular views of Mt. Adams and Mt. Rainier from this point.

Descent Options
Let’s explore several options for skiing down Naches Peak. They are all dependent on the snow and cornice stability so choose the ones that fit the conditions and the overall route you want to take. Because these runs are relatively short, expect to do several runs during the day.

East Ridge
The best runs are to the east and northeast. With stable conditions, skiers can drop into the bowl between the cornices along the east ridge for some superb descents. There are a number of slots to drop into the NE bowl depending on both your ability and the snow stability. The intermediate level descent into the basin is directly down the East Ridge, avoiding the cornices and the NE bowl, and then making a northerly turn to the skiers left once past the steepest part of the bowl.

West Face
The west descent off of Naches Peak that takes you back into the basin that is close to the start of the tour. Slip down the south aspect of the skier’s summit along the SW ridge to find the slot above a large rocky band. Traverse right into the basin until you have past the trees that are perched above the rock band. It is a moderately steep initially but opens into very wide run to the bottom of the basin.

South Face
Head directly south from the skier’s summit into the nicely spaced trees and you find it opens up nicely at about 6200 ft down to the 5600 ft. level. Below that level, it is heavily forested and quite steep – terrain that is best avoided.

Great runs to the north east when snow is stable. See map.

Main descent route on return to trail head at Tipsoo Lake.