December 30, 2003, Slot Couloir...Reloaded
12/30/03
WA Snoqualmie Pass
3203
6
;DAfter Bill heard about our trip to the Slot on Saturday, he needed a taste for himself. A last minute troll on TAY to find at least one extra partner yielded only one response...from alpentalcorey. He had just gotten home at 5 this morning and needed sleep. So Bill and I arrived at the Alpental Lot at about 8am and met a party of 3 who was at first reluctant to disclose their destination, but finally said they were also heading for the Slot. They were on their way and Bill and I thought to ourselves, "We need to make sure we hit the top first!" We readyed our gear and were on our way after about 15 minutes.
We caught up to the other group and chatted them up a bit and introduced ourselves. They were Pete, Rob and Ron. We ended up choosing different paths up the Phantom and finally came together at the upper bowl near the exit gully to the north side of Mt. Snoqualmie. They said they were planning on climbing the gully THEN skiing it. I mentioned that I had just skied it blind on Saturday and that it was in great shape. They continued towards the exit gully, we headed up the towards the ridge to the top of the Slot. About half way up, we noticed they decided to follow our track. This was a relief to us because we didn't want to be skiing the couloir as they were climbing up it and we didn't really feel like waiting at the top of the gully until they reached the top.
We hit the top of the gully at about 11am with Pete right on our tails. Rob and Ron were a minute or two behind. A quick bite to eat and Bill and I were ready to ski. The other party was feeling a little more cautious and decided they would setup a rope to assist them in entering the gully. Pete offered us a belay, but we thanked him and declined. Since I once again forgot my camera, as did Bill, we were able to focus on skiing the Slot virtually non-stop, which by the way was perfectly untracked and almost as light as Saturday!
At the bottom of the apron Bill hit a boulder that was totally hidden under the snow. He crashed and landed on his pole, snapping it cleanly above the Flicklock joint. It was a quick fix and we were ready to do a couple of runs on the gladed apron below the Slot.
Pete, Rob and Ron had come down the couloir by this time and said they were under time constraints and headed for the exit saddle. Bill and I had a couple very sweet 600' runs through the glades and then it was time to boogie. Since the party of 3 left before us we were greatful for their skin track all the way up the exit gully.
More sweet turns down the Phantom...a bit of breakable crust in places, otherwise easy bounding through calf deep fluff. We capped it off with another waterfall finish through the lower cliff band and we were through...
But wait, there's more. Two runs on groomers at the Alp...Now we can go home. :) Time check: 3:30pm
Another crappy day in the BC at Snoqualmie Pass!
Remember, kids: It's way too steep and scary! It's like 60 degrees with mandatory air! Not worth it!
We caught up to the other group and chatted them up a bit and introduced ourselves. They were Pete, Rob and Ron. We ended up choosing different paths up the Phantom and finally came together at the upper bowl near the exit gully to the north side of Mt. Snoqualmie. They said they were planning on climbing the gully THEN skiing it. I mentioned that I had just skied it blind on Saturday and that it was in great shape. They continued towards the exit gully, we headed up the towards the ridge to the top of the Slot. About half way up, we noticed they decided to follow our track. This was a relief to us because we didn't want to be skiing the couloir as they were climbing up it and we didn't really feel like waiting at the top of the gully until they reached the top.
We hit the top of the gully at about 11am with Pete right on our tails. Rob and Ron were a minute or two behind. A quick bite to eat and Bill and I were ready to ski. The other party was feeling a little more cautious and decided they would setup a rope to assist them in entering the gully. Pete offered us a belay, but we thanked him and declined. Since I once again forgot my camera, as did Bill, we were able to focus on skiing the Slot virtually non-stop, which by the way was perfectly untracked and almost as light as Saturday!
At the bottom of the apron Bill hit a boulder that was totally hidden under the snow. He crashed and landed on his pole, snapping it cleanly above the Flicklock joint. It was a quick fix and we were ready to do a couple of runs on the gladed apron below the Slot.
Pete, Rob and Ron had come down the couloir by this time and said they were under time constraints and headed for the exit saddle. Bill and I had a couple very sweet 600' runs through the glades and then it was time to boogie. Since the party of 3 left before us we were greatful for their skin track all the way up the exit gully.
More sweet turns down the Phantom...a bit of breakable crust in places, otherwise easy bounding through calf deep fluff. We capped it off with another waterfall finish through the lower cliff band and we were through...
But wait, there's more. Two runs on groomers at the Alp...Now we can go home. :) Time check: 3:30pm
Another crappy day in the BC at Snoqualmie Pass!
Remember, kids: It's way too steep and scary! It's like 60 degrees with mandatory air! Not worth it!
What? No pictures? Rookie. :)
Yeah, I know...rookie move. However, taking time to snap photos, can sometimes detract from the skiing experience. I've shot tens of thousands of photos... missing a trip here and there just forces me to write more detailed reports and enjoy the skiing more.
what was the David Lynch line - "I don't like pictures, I want to remember things as I want, not how they actually happened." Or something like that!
One sinificant detail Sam left out: The curse of the man who ate everything.
The night before I read an excerpt from a book where the author reasoned (using flawed logic) that he could eat more raw oysters if he gave up skiing because the risks injury from skiing far outweight those from eating raw oysters.
Well, those risks of skiing caught up me in a bad way after Sam and I completed our backcountry run. We headed over to Alps for a few runs after our backountry freshies. The in-area conditions were soft snow moguls surrounded by hideously hard ice scraped plates. On our second run, I turned on a patch of ice, slipped and slid out, and began tomahawking down towards one of these patches of ice head first. In a last second effort to keep my head from smacking the ice, I turned my shoulder into the slope. The instant I landed, I new I had sucumbed to the curse. I should have eaten raw oysters the night before, I thought.
X-rays later confirmed what I had first felt on impacting the ice. The upper portion of my humorous bone, the socket portion of the arm, showed both splinters and cracks. The unknowing radiologist tech said no more skiing for me for the year. While I'd probably need only one leg to claim number 123, my now immobilized and later recovering shoulder will certainly crimp my activity level for the next two or three months.
Happy New Years from the sleepy land of acetamin oxycodone,
Bill f
The night before I read an excerpt from a book where the author reasoned (using flawed logic) that he could eat more raw oysters if he gave up skiing because the risks injury from skiing far outweight those from eating raw oysters.
Well, those risks of skiing caught up me in a bad way after Sam and I completed our backcountry run. We headed over to Alps for a few runs after our backountry freshies. The in-area conditions were soft snow moguls surrounded by hideously hard ice scraped plates. On our second run, I turned on a patch of ice, slipped and slid out, and began tomahawking down towards one of these patches of ice head first. In a last second effort to keep my head from smacking the ice, I turned my shoulder into the slope. The instant I landed, I new I had sucumbed to the curse. I should have eaten raw oysters the night before, I thought.
X-rays later confirmed what I had first felt on impacting the ice. The upper portion of my humorous bone, the socket portion of the arm, showed both splinters and cracks. The unknowing radiologist tech said no more skiing for me for the year. While I'd probably need only one leg to claim number 123, my now immobilized and later recovering shoulder will certainly crimp my activity level for the next two or three months.
Happy New Years from the sleepy land of acetamin oxycodone,
Bill f
Sorry to hear it Bill. Hope you have a speedy recovery.
I figured I'd let Bill add his own details of the shoulder busting episode. That radiology tech may know X-rays, but he don't know Bill! Speedy recovery, Bill!!!!
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