Chair Peak Rescue

q13fox.com/2013/01/15/injured-climbers-r...ear-snoqualmie-pass/

Sounds like someone may have taken a tumble up there. Luckily sounds like the rescue is progressing after high winds. Many thanks to our rescue personnel.

Amen! Kudos to all of you stronghearted men and women putting yourselves at risk tonight. Thanks for always being ready to head up there in the dark and cold to rescue one of us.

Sounds like the injured skier's made it to Harborview. Heal well!

www.kirotv.com/news/news/search-and-resc...skier-near-ch/nTx8K/

Huge thank you to the SAR community!

The party was climbing Chair peak, not skiing. On the decent, the guy in front stepped into a 'pocket of instability' and was taken for a ride. He was partially buried and sustained injuries as mentioned in the articles.

There seems to be some *very* interesting layers setting up out there with the surface snow around Chair super variable depending on the aspect. From powder to sun crust within just a few degrees of southern exposure. Also, depending on elevation, there are a number (1, 2, or 3) of rain crusts near the surface with faceting driven by temps.

My guess is that things are going to be very 'interesting' (and not in a good way) when we get our next dump of snow on top of these shallow rain crusts.

Stay safe!

It would be nice to get a straight story about this. I soloed the North Face and downclimbed the descent (no raps needed) on Saturday. The glide crack that forms below the second descent couloir was fully covered and conditions were quite stable in the north side of the basin. The article says the event took place at 4800 feet, which looks like it's below the Thumbtack, which would be a skiing place, not a climbing place.

The article says the event took place at 4800 feet, which looks like it's below the Thumbtack, which would be a skiing place, not a climbing place.

When I climbed Chair we passed the T-Tack both on the way in (did the West Ridge) and out (came out the basin). We were not on skis. I'm guessing H_E's post is a lot more accurate than the news sources.