Feb 8, 2011, Mt. Snoqualmie southsides
2/8/11
WA Snoqualmie Pass
1827
4
After a complete bomb for turns up Eightmile on Sunday, Jake insisted we maximize the turns and minimize the tour yesterday. Thus Mount Snoqualmie fit the bill for us. First off--apologies to whoever follows our skin track up the west slope of Mt. Snoq. Neither of us ever approached this route having favored a Commonwealth choice in the past. It was tough in the woods on light snow and the crust while avoiding many little cliffs. We could not find a smooth, intuitive route in the terrain. Finally in the upper bowl we combined Monday's windblown in skintracks, and traversing down tracks, to finish on the SW Ridge to the top.
We wanted to do a run or two (yeah, if I was strong enough) on the north slopes, or perhaps the Crooked. Much like Monday's report of the Slot (lrudholm) though, we found Crooked to have been blown free of any new snow by winds funneling up from the Middle Fork Snoq. But, from the couloir entrance at the summit the opposite south side looked great! Knowing we could put a preferable skin track back up from Cave Ridge to the East Peak of Snoq (Snow Dome), we opted to ski south slopes for the day. A few sunbreaks began to affect the snow, otherwise it was mostly excellent. Sinking to the crust was infrequent, sluffs were pretty benign. Even though the wind probably deposited additional snow on the upper slopes, no slabs had formed. We created our traditional uptrack along a spine to the East Peak, skied a second run in the big south bowl, back up, and finished with a third down the steep slopes below the Lundin saddle area. Once in Commonwealth it was the long traverse 3/4 of the way around Guye Peak back to the Alpental lot. We found one tiny snow bridge across Cave Creek. From the top of the Sahale ski hill we traversed the avy fence below the West Face of Guye to the houses in the valley, found a log across Source Creek, and walked 3/10 a mile back to the lot as the setting sun broadcast orange colors on the west faces of Guye and Mt. Snoqualmie. My thighs were toast on the pavement back to the lot! It doesn't get any better¦
We wanted to do a run or two (yeah, if I was strong enough) on the north slopes, or perhaps the Crooked. Much like Monday's report of the Slot (lrudholm) though, we found Crooked to have been blown free of any new snow by winds funneling up from the Middle Fork Snoq. But, from the couloir entrance at the summit the opposite south side looked great! Knowing we could put a preferable skin track back up from Cave Ridge to the East Peak of Snoq (Snow Dome), we opted to ski south slopes for the day. A few sunbreaks began to affect the snow, otherwise it was mostly excellent. Sinking to the crust was infrequent, sluffs were pretty benign. Even though the wind probably deposited additional snow on the upper slopes, no slabs had formed. We created our traditional uptrack along a spine to the East Peak, skied a second run in the big south bowl, back up, and finished with a third down the steep slopes below the Lundin saddle area. Once in Commonwealth it was the long traverse 3/4 of the way around Guye Peak back to the Alpental lot. We found one tiny snow bridge across Cave Creek. From the top of the Sahale ski hill we traversed the avy fence below the West Face of Guye to the houses in the valley, found a log across Source Creek, and walked 3/10 a mile back to the lot as the setting sun broadcast orange colors on the west faces of Guye and Mt. Snoqualmie. My thighs were toast on the pavement back to the lot! It doesn't get any better¦
Nice! Looks like fun. It seems like booting up just to the left of the phantom slide path is the most direct way to gain access to the upper slopes of Snoqualmie Mtn. Booting up the last pitch just before the west ridge saved us some time as well.
Nice John! Did you fatten up those skis of yours?
Good information; thinking of that area for Sunday.
I like the second photo---classic NW "pretty good".
I like the second photo---classic NW "pretty good".
author=Marcus link=topic=19509.msg82921#msg82921 date=1297319572]
Nice John! Did you fatten up those skis of yours?
Hey Marcus, no I dragged my feet on spending the money, and of course now I waited too long! Next year...All I really want is a free pivot binding, but my skins are going down the tubes so I thought I might as well upgrade everything. Got to find a way get through the season not slipping back in the steep skintracks too much, not getting too tired behind everyone else with the free pivot bindings, and not floating in the deep stuff. Life's tough sometimes, and I am great with excuses!
John
Reply to this TR
Please login first: