June 1, 2008, Red Mountain (Snoqualmie)
6/1/08
WA Snoqualmie Pass
3220
4
Rolled off the night shift at work at 8AM and was on the road with my friends Chris and Tim for Snoqualmie Pass by 9AM to ski Red Mountain with faint hopes of some breaks in the clouds and a few views. That goal was never realized but a fun day nonetheless.
Snow coverage is all the way down to the road. Given the firm snow base, we opted to boot the entire way rather than skiing. Just as easy either way. Continuous snow throughout the basin... creek crossings still viable. At the head of Commonwealth Basin, we picked up a boot track we took all the way to the top. No freeze overnight so easy to get good purchase in the old boot track. With a freeze, these steps might get pretty slippery. Continuous snow the entire way up. Stayed in the clouds throughout the ascent and sat in one on the summit... no precip and nice warm temps... just no views.
The ski down was pretty good. 1-2 inches of soft snow on a firm base made for easy turning. The surface is a bit chewed up from our and several other groups of skiers but not much in the way of suncups at this point. Some rock ribs are starting to show but only one place on the way down the steep section where you had to navigate around some exposed rocks in the main ski path. From the bottom out... easy skiing through the forest on pretty firm base with no areas of mush or slush.
No photos as the camera was left home given the forecast. Imagine a picture with nothing but greyish-white and that's all you'll need to recreate the views from today anyway!
Snow coverage is all the way down to the road. Given the firm snow base, we opted to boot the entire way rather than skiing. Just as easy either way. Continuous snow throughout the basin... creek crossings still viable. At the head of Commonwealth Basin, we picked up a boot track we took all the way to the top. No freeze overnight so easy to get good purchase in the old boot track. With a freeze, these steps might get pretty slippery. Continuous snow the entire way up. Stayed in the clouds throughout the ascent and sat in one on the summit... no precip and nice warm temps... just no views.
The ski down was pretty good. 1-2 inches of soft snow on a firm base made for easy turning. The surface is a bit chewed up from our and several other groups of skiers but not much in the way of suncups at this point. Some rock ribs are starting to show but only one place on the way down the steep section where you had to navigate around some exposed rocks in the main ski path. From the bottom out... easy skiing through the forest on pretty firm base with no areas of mush or slush.
No photos as the camera was left home given the forecast. Imagine a picture with nothing but greyish-white and that's all you'll need to recreate the views from today anyway!
Hey iluka, nice meeting you guys up there. Sure is a fun ski down the face of Red. Nice n steep! Too bad no view. Here's a pic...
author=Merk link=topic=10217.msg41145#msg41145 date=1212466493]
Hey iluka, nice meeting you guys up there. Sure is a fun ski down the face of Red. Nice n steep! Too bad no view. Here's a pic...
Nice meeting you and your friend as well, Merk. Certainly was a fun descent... made even more interesting in the pea-soup!
June 1st and you ski right back to the road? I just looked and Alpy's telemetry has 70" at 3,100. Is that true? Shoot, you'll be skiing at Alpy until July. What a year!
author=MW88888888 link=topic=10217.msg41150#msg41150 date=1212496215]
June 1st and you ski right back to the road? I just looked and Alpy's telemetry has 70" at 3,100. Is that true? Shoot, you'll be skiing at Alpy until July. What a year!
If you count the snow loaded with gravel on the surface down at the road... yes... you can ski all the way to the road.
Seriously, judging from the looks of the tree wells as we were skiing out, there is still at least 2-3 feet of well consolidated snow down near road level.
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