The Kendall Trap

Strong work Charlie!

One resource I find never hurts is to check out ski routes on Hillmap.com before I go, using the CalTopo slope overlay. It is a cheap and easy way to visualize the terrain and easy for many folks to grock than contour lines. I like to use it before I re-ski the old favorites to remind myself of the terrain issues I have learned to ignore... [I think hillmap.com was set up by some local folks]

www.hillmap.com/

I get the big lessons presented here, Charlie.  Thank you. One memory that haunts me now is that we climbed up and skied down that same pathway in February or so.  Hallowed ground, now.  But the biggest lesson hammered home to me throughout 2016 is, don't go alone. 

I used to ski alone a lot.  My wife would ask where I was going and am I going with anybody, and I would answer something like - Oh there will be plenty of people up there, I won't be alone.  Definitely not true.  Very occasionally I would legitimately team up with somebody, but more often it was comfort enough to have people near by.  Well, close only counts in dancing and hand grenades as they say.  Someone close is not the same as someone watching me, keeping track of me (and me them).  Tagging onto what Lowell said, it's hard enough keeping an eye on a person you're with.  Tracking a nearby solo skier?  Forget about it.

The NWAC coffee hut set up shop at
the base area of the Kendall Trap today.
free parking on Alpental road, common
but sleds and snoshoes are not required.

Happy New Year Charlie!
I like your energy with this and have some feedback that I think will help contextualize Kendall in the history of avalanche fatalities of Snoqualmie Pass:

Since 1957 there have been 26 Avalanche Fatalities and several dozen documented near misses.
Sites where the fatalities have occurred are:
Source Lake/Alpental Valley- 12
Granite Mountain 6
Red Mountain 3
Mt Garfield 2
Silver Peak 1
Kendall 1
I-90 1

I think giving Kendall the weight for this one tragic accident does a disservice to much more dangerous areas in the Snoqualmie Pass area.

The 2010 accident when examined as a case study reveals evidence of wind transport in your photo making missed visual clues part of the trap that you refer to.

It really is the 'Honey Trap' where cognitive bias that allows us to see something attractive and overlook the threat. Barry Blanchard said it best when describing his failed attempt on Nanga Parbat,'It was like having sex with death.' The immediate pleasure discounts the looming threat.

I would leave out suggested terrain since it is off topic of your project and requires more attention to detail.

The Snoqualmie Guidebook uses the ATES scale to describe the different zones and when you look at Kendall, the Knob and Kendall Trees are the only areas that actually offers Simple terrain. Any terrain on the west is very exposed to avalanche hazard. The Swathe was a result of a 1990 avalanche cycle that created the Phantom so all the tree skiing with the open slopes above could one day become another D4 slide path.

Keep up the good work!

Since 1957 there have been 26 Avalanche Fatalities and several dozen documented near misses.
Sites where the fatalities have occurred are:
Source Lake/Alpental Valley- 12
Granite Mountain                  6
Red Mountain                       3
Mt Garfield                           2
Silver Peak                           1
Kendall                                1
I-90                                     1

I think giving Kendall the weight for this one tragic accident does a disservice to much more dangerous areas in the Snoqualmie Pass area.

It would be interesting to note how many of these other avalanches involved skiers. I'm guessing that if you omitted the non-skier fatalities the numbers above would be much smaller. So the notion of Kendall as an attractive hazard for skiers isn't such a stretch.

Happy New Year Charlie!
I like your energy with this and have some feedback that I think will help contextualize Kendall in the history of avalanche fatalities of Snoqualmie Pass:

Since 1957 there have been 26 Avalanche Fatalities and several dozen documented near misses.
Sites where the fatalities have occurred are:
Source Lake/Alpental Valley- 12
Granite Mountain                  6
Red Mountain                       3
Mt Garfield                           2
Silver Peak                           1
Kendall                                1
I-90                                     1

I think giving Kendall the weight for this one tragic accident does a disservice to much more dangerous areas in the Snoqualmie Pass area.

The 2010 accident when examined as a case study reveals evidence of wind transport in your photo making missed visual clues part of the trap that you refer to.

It really is the 'Honey Trap' where cognitive bias that allows us to see something attractive and overlook the threat. Barry Blanchard said it best when describing his failed attempt on Nanga Parbat,'It was like having sex with death.' The immediate pleasure discounts the looming threat.

I would leave out suggested terrain since it is off topic of your project and requires more attention to detail.

The Snoqualmie Guidebook uses the ATES scale to describe the different zones and when you look at Kendall, the Knob and Kendall Trees are the only areas that actually offers Simple terrain. Any terrain on the west is very exposed to avalanche hazard. The Swathe was a result of a 1990 avalanche cycle that created the Phantom so all the tree skiing with the open slopes above could one day become another D4 slide path.

Keep up the good work!

There was a slide around 2008 off Alta Mt into Gold Creek that makes both those look puny