Mt. Stuart - Ulrich's Couloir

Ulrich's Couloir is the standard ski descent line on Mt. Stuart, the second-highest non-volcanic peak in Washington at ninety-four hundred fifteen feet. The approach climbs from a Teanaway-side trailhead about four miles to skinnable terrain, gaining over forty-five hundred feet to the couloir's entrance below the summit. The couloir itself drops over two thousand feet of sustained steep skiing on the southwest face, with a variant traverse skier's left that delivers better fall-line skiing to the valley floor.

This is one of the great Cascades ski lines — long, sustained, and technical, set in granite country that defines the Alpine Lakes interior. Snow conditions move from refrozen at the top to corn lower down on the right cycle. The entrance can require a short bootpack on dry sections in low-snow years; bridges and continuous coverage become the limiting factor late in the season.

Late April through May is the standard window. Northwest Forest Pass at the Teanaway-side trailhead. The descent is for parties at home on no-fall steep snow with the route-finding to manage the variant lines.