Snoqualmie Haute Route in One Day
Anthony, Will, Nick, Adam and I skied/boarded a variation of the Snoqualmie Haute Route from the pass to the Necklace Valley Trailhead on Saturday in 18 hours. Our route was 31 miles and 14k ft gain. We faced some route finding problems, rain and snow, wet skins, and two broken skis, but powered through. It was in incredible adventure and great route.
https://climberkyle.com/2021/05/25/the-snoqualmie-haute-route/
Our general route was like this:
Kendall Katwalk -> Gravel Lake -> Edds Lake -> North Chute of Huckleberry Mt -> Icerberg Lake Chute -> Overcoat Col -> Overcoat Glacier -> Chain Lakes -> Hinman -> Necklace Valley Trail.
The entire route worked spectacularly well with the exception of how we went from Hinman to the Necklace Valley Trail. We tried to cut over the ridge to the west at about 5200 ft. The descent down the Necklace Valley Trail at 3300 ft was a terrible maze of cliffs, gullies, alder, poorly covered boulders, and breaking snow bridges. I cannot recommend this in any way. Just hit the gap between Lake Lepul and ski down to Lake Liswoot, I hear that is much better.
Props to Volken for inspiring the route and props to the boys for coming along on a crazy adventure and believing in my route variations. There is a lot to ski back there. It definitely felt on the same level as the Isolation Traverse.
Still at least three to four feet deep at the pass, entering the Commonwealth. What a year for Snoqualmie.
Kendall Katwalk

Crossing the Katwalk.
Overcoat Glacier

Will boarding down the Overcoat Glacier.
Iceberg Lake

Looking down on Iceberg Lake.
Exit

Paid the exit fee big time.
So, Snoqualmie to Canada should take you what, 4 days? 😂😋
The boys were already discussing how long that would take us... 😝
Killing it! ......or it would be if I attempted it in that timeframe. Always enjoy seeing these close-to-home adventures. Thanks.
Interesting route around Chikamin! Very nice way to avoid all of that steep S facing terrain and probably better skiing as well.
Way to push through that catastrophic ski failure too. Never had to use the epoxy in my repair kit but I'll keep it just in case that happens.
I've learned the hard way to bring epoxy in my repair kit! Always remember Murphy's Law...
@aaasen it seemed like a nice way to reduce the total vert and get around Chikamin. The north side of Chikamin did look like great skiing, but we were trying to make the day trip as reasonable as possible.
Anytime I think we really pushed it, I will consider this post and reset. DAMN boyz, stout!
Nice work!
Reply to this TR
Please login first: