March 29, 2004, Kendall stump
3/29/04
WA Snoqualmie Pass
2418
2
Tested out new fishscale skis (Outtabounds). A pretty good compromise. Sustained winds at the top but good views. Finding safe slopes was easy, since I never went anywhere too steep to get a grip with the skis. It was definitely deep enough that the lightly forested hillsides were enjoyable. I am not a snow expert, but there was obviously a lot of loose, wet stuff near the surface. One could observe a previous large slide above and generally NW of Source Lake. This was a good half-day trip but somewhat marred by the lusty roar of the truck engines echoing in the distance.
Which way did you go in? Via the exit 54 gold creek sno-park and logging road -- or from exit 53 / Yellowstone road ?
Not sure about exit no. Parked at Summit West and walked back under I-90 (like towards Alpental) and hiked up to the summer Pacific Crest Trial north parking lot. Probably only 100 yards of walking here before skis on. From the lot, contoured east, gently rising, and avoided entering the valley east of Guye that the Crest Trail itself enters. Instead, continued a gentle east contour until hitting the lower clearcut of Kendall, then switch-backed, partially on road, to the humplet. I think this follows what is shown in Volken's book. For the descent, to get more downhill, I exited near the "Summit Central" exit...east of Traveler's rest, pancake HAUS, etc. Crossed back under I-90 there. Fortunately, it was deep enough even down at 3000 feet that urban freeway-paralleling N of I-90 down at the bottom was do-able...bizarre and noisy, but possible, as I travelled to that exit. Finished by hiking back to my car past the aforementioned businesses.
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