March 18, 2006, Chair Peak Circumnav
3/18/06
WA Snoqualmie Pass
3180
6
The forecasted partly sunny skies had us hoping we could ski Kaleetan today, but it was too socked in for us to see the upper slopes of Kaleetan, so we just had to settle for the circumnav around Chair instead.
Left Alpental aroudn 7:30 heading for Bryant-Chair col first, there was a rather spooky later of groppel sitting about 6-12 inches under the snow in the slopes north of Bryant & Hemlock. The gropple was barely descerable on the steeper terrain, but had pooled on the lower angle terrain up to 2" thick. We burned a little time on the approach to the col digging pits all along the route making sure to avoid the buried gropple.
Never looked down the bryant peak couloir before...holy cow...i gotta go back and ski that...looks like fun.
Skiing off the south side towards Melakwa lakes was good calf deep powder over wet crusty older snow. The weather was really stinking at this point...we hadn't expected so much snow and wind...not exactly what the forecast had shown.
We made it to Melakwa Pass and couldn't see any of the upper slopes of Kaleetan, fortunately the wind had died down a bit and we actually got a few minutes of diffused sunshine. The rest of the skiing to Snow Lake was pretty much by braille and no one really wanted first tracks as we couldn't see squat without following another's ski tracks.
Down to Snow Lake and then we opted for heading straight for the Snow Lake divide and out. Back at the car at 3pm.
Fun tour...now I gotta go back and ski it when I can see where I'm going.
Left Alpental aroudn 7:30 heading for Bryant-Chair col first, there was a rather spooky later of groppel sitting about 6-12 inches under the snow in the slopes north of Bryant & Hemlock. The gropple was barely descerable on the steeper terrain, but had pooled on the lower angle terrain up to 2" thick. We burned a little time on the approach to the col digging pits all along the route making sure to avoid the buried gropple.
Never looked down the bryant peak couloir before...holy cow...i gotta go back and ski that...looks like fun.
Skiing off the south side towards Melakwa lakes was good calf deep powder over wet crusty older snow. The weather was really stinking at this point...we hadn't expected so much snow and wind...not exactly what the forecast had shown.
We made it to Melakwa Pass and couldn't see any of the upper slopes of Kaleetan, fortunately the wind had died down a bit and we actually got a few minutes of diffused sunshine. The rest of the skiing to Snow Lake was pretty much by braille and no one really wanted first tracks as we couldn't see squat without following another's ski tracks.
Down to Snow Lake and then we opted for heading straight for the Snow Lake divide and out. Back at the car at 3pm.
Fun tour...now I gotta go back and ski it when I can see where I'm going.
Were you among the people we saw coming down the south face of Chair around 3:00 PM? Saw a man and woman on the skin up from Snow Lake, and a large group with a couple of split boarders in the bowl.
We skied the North face of Chair Peak after a few lift-served BC runs at Alpental; no one else was there (though lots of people ahead of us went toward Snow Lake); we could hear people climbing above us and one had left his approach skis at the base of Chair Peak.
The climb over the notch was a bit of a pain - thin crust that made skinning sketchy, but not thick enough to hold your weight, making for slow swimming through the deep crystalline snow underneath.
Flat light is right, you really couldn't see jack on the descent, but since the snow was like this it didn't really matter!
We skied the North face of Chair Peak after a few lift-served BC runs at Alpental; no one else was there (though lots of people ahead of us went toward Snow Lake); we could hear people climbing above us and one had left his approach skis at the base of Chair Peak.
The climb over the notch was a bit of a pain - thin crust that made skinning sketchy, but not thick enough to hold your weight, making for slow swimming through the deep crystalline snow underneath.
Flat light is right, you really couldn't see jack on the descent, but since the snow was like this it didn't really matter!
yeah, that was us in the source lake bowl...i think you and your buddy were the guys we chatted with by source lake on the way out, unless there were two parties that skied the north face of chair (by the way, congrats again!)
We were the gaggle of two skiers and three splitters.
We were the gaggle of two skiers and three splitters.
We were skinning up from Snow Lake towards the ridge near Melakwa Pass and were suprised when you guys descended...we weren't sure where you came from, just ghostly apparitions appearing out of the fog. Not much visability, but fun!
Greg: you skied the North Face of Chair Peak? I want to hear more!
Sorry to mislead you Sky, just the bottom half-
EXCELLENT trip report from Formidable, by the way!
EXCELLENT trip report from Formidable, by the way!
whoops, i had assumed you'd skied the upper face too :) ...sorry if i was misleading in my post.
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