Cascades Passes Tour
September 25 & 26, 2021. Kirkland – Omak – Cle Elum Washington.
Nor’wester Auto Rally is a Time-Speed-Distance (TSD) rally conducted since 1967 by the Rainier Auto Sports Club. Entrants receive instructions with specific, clear directions at speeds at or below legal limits, with specific times to start each section at one-minute intervals. Nor’wester is a “closed control” format where cars do not stop at checkpoints. It’s a pure touring rally with no tricks or traps and an equal penalty for passing a checkpoint (which may be hidden) early or late. Speeding is a sure way to lose as the goal is to pass at the correct second, and the car with the least number of points wins. Precision timing is the main criterion, but Nor’wester also emphasizes remote areas and spectacular scenery.
Bill Walsh by Cle Elum WA 
Bill Walsh Windshield View
The original Nor’Wester Rally gained fame for its serious competitive format. Our modern version has the spirit of old, but not as brutal.
New to us as a club, the use of Richta GPS Checkpoints for our timing. For the 2021 Nor’wester, we timed from checkpoints back to the last Time of Day Restart (some events have timed CP to CP — we rejected that early on, in favor of this option, which most closely follows traditional RASC passage control timing). There were no staffed checkpoints hidden or not.
The long timeline leading up to the event —
Following our 2019 event, we knew we would be doing 2021, alternating the “big event” for the club with the No Alibi Rally. Little did we know a global pandemic would change all our plans. Initial plans were to rework the 2005 Nor’wester as a Richta ‘test’ for 2022 Alcan. This route would take the event into British Columbia, feature the ferry ride from Bella Coola to Vancouver Island, and finish in Victoria. Well, enter CoViD-19; all ferry travel was curtailed. Options were entertained using Central BC; then, the border closed to recreational travel. So now we’re looking at the Pacific Northwest (WA-OR-ID). August 2020, we re-evaluated organizers, routes, distance, and the number of days. We’ve used a hub and spoke route plan before (2017), and a linear Border to Border plan (2019); both have been successful and well-received. We know the north-central Washington roads and can undoubtedly get to some nice gravel from the “westside.”
More map work…
Options included 4-day, 3-day, and the eventual 2-day event. The route should be over 600 miles. We would start at our Alcan base in Kirkland and travel as many Cascade Passes as possible. Survey was planned. We found the main highway passes scenic and worth a try weighed against tourism. Smaller forest road passes were explored. One particularly scenic and primitive route was rejected. “We wouldn’t take 24 of our rally friends down this road” became a common phrase. Then weekend traffic became a consideration getting back to the west side. Hours at ‘stop & go’ pace just to get to some sideroad option off the main highway. Measured, timed, finish location scouted. All rejected.
Go to what would now be Plan D or E…
We determined we could finish in Eastern WA, centrally placed between a Seattle base and Portland base. Cle Elum became the answer. We could weave together some traditional Nor’wester roads, finish early Sunday, and everyone head home, easy-peasy.
Then came the fires…
One particularly nice long loop on gravel, 50-odd miles over three passes, was the center of a major fire. “You can’t go in there,” from the USFS Law Enforcement officer. Then, “No, you can’t go there either”…Plan F?
On-the-fly map work. Survey/measurement to avoid one and skirt the following fire restriction. It turns out the minor detour found a great new gravel road. The skirting of another fire line saw the opportunity to cross another pass. Pavement, yes, speed limit 60, a very enjoyable transit section drive. More map work found a narrow gravel connector. A little backtracking and the narrow gravel road was added to our route. A bonus for the survey was spooking a black bear out of the brush beside the road.
Glacier Fed Diablo Lake by Yulia 
Yulia RM Must be just after the turn at Fish Lake. “Loomis 15”
Twisting pavement into twisting gravel eventually led to yet another change. Vacation homes have sprouted along our proposed route. Speed limits dropped from 50 to 35 and 25 for miles and miles; we rejected this section. Back to the maps. Several “need to be explored” gravel options directed us back toward the overnight venue in Omak. We settled on a ‘public road through private property’ section of ranchland with no houses—lots of cattle and the appropriate cattleguards. County posted speed of 35. This was it. Time for dinner. 332.669 miles.
Day Two featured a short tire warm-up and a return to the previous day’s route in the opposite direction. Richta App checkpoints can be turned on and off. Day One checkpoints could be repeated or bypassed without a score. Over another paved mountain pass. Driver’s time to play – Navigators hang on. This leads to more gravel and a part of the 1974 Nor’wester stage rally route. This time in daylight, with fewer trees (fires) and more houses, this segment used 13 miles of smooth gravel and featured great views if you dared.
A break in Brewster WA, then familiar Rainier Auto Sports Club roads in Douglas County. Most of these posted 40, 50, 45… Then came a long transit to get toward the west. A scenic drive was rejected due to weekend traffic concerns, and we took a pleasant canyon drive for more twisty pavement. The Oktoberfest festivities drew larger crowds in Bavarian-themed Leavenworth, which impacted some competitors; others had no issues…
One last TSD section, over early 70s Nor’wester stage known as “Old Blewett Pass.” Mixed reviews from old-timers and those that had never seen this road. It was scenic. A short transit led to the finish. 269.508 miles today.
Some thoughts on Richta: Mountains, canyons, and GPS are not good friends. Those who had the best results had some form of external GPS antenna. Those who planned ahead used two devices (phone/tablet), one being primary and one as backup – different car numbers. The backup devices saved some results as inexplicably, one device simply quit working for a series of checkpoints. Fortunately, the backup device did record times for those checkpoints. Compiling those scores took an inordinate amount of time…
Breazeale with 1st Overall Class Tom Kreger and Cynthia Bushell 
Pablo Eklund and Yulia Smolyansky
Awards went to Tom Kreger and Cynthia Bushell for first overall with 40 seconds. Followed by Pablo Eklund and Yulia Smolyansky with 48.4, and Derek Mitchell and Pat Biggar, only 2 seconds back at 50.4.
First in Equipped Class to Bob Chandler and Mark Clemmens. Seat of the Pants to Peng Du & Samrat Bhattacharya. Novice to Edward Wong & Milu Han. And a nod to Alcan testing, Cycle Unlimited to Rodney Sorenson (despite a brake failure) and Cycle S-O-P to Ron Boeck.
Full results at the RASC website https://www.rainierautosports.com/events/2021/norwester/default.htm
I have written this from my side of the car, yet my survey for the route had “Rallymaster” Diamond Jim Breazeale right along with me! Jim has been my Navigator of TSD and Co-Driver for stage rally Course Opening for more than a decade. Significant time in “checkout” of the rally route goes to Steve Parret and Kathryn Hansen. Jerry Hines aka Mr Alcan5000 was named Chairman and handled greetings and scoring issues.
