January 28, 2010, Slot
1/28/10
WA Snoqualmie Pass
2447
3
Mike and I found the slot was in pretty good shape yesterday. Slightly heavy but fairly smooth, consistent and stable all the way.
Neither of us bothered to check the time, but I think we left the lot somewhere between 8 and 8:30. We found perfect conditions for booting just to the left of the waterfall so we booted straight up the fall line for quite a ways. Easy toe penetration with not a single post hole. We transitioned at a flat spot (maybe 1,000 feet up?) with deep snow and picked up a skin track shortly thereafter. Sucker holes greeted us as we came out of the woods on the upper mountain.
The top section of the Couloir was somewhat choppy from the previous days turns. Below that it was smooth and deep from all the sluff with a section that skied like a groomer in the canyon above the fan. The fan was good enough to merit fall line turns all the way down as opposed to traversing for the exit.
We skinned toward the exit in intermittent whiteout and deep snow. At the choke point someone had switched to booting but I stubbornly stuck with the skins not wanting to succumb to a groveling wallow in the deep snow. Mike blasted past me in his boots on what turned out to be a well packed ladder. Up here we ran into a cool couple from Seattle and watched the first tele-shred sweet fall line turns down less than ideal conditions.
Upper glades were marginally okay and below that the Phantom Menace was crusty and heavy.
We made a quick pit stop in North Bend where the folks at ProSki very quickly fixed a gear problem (what a great shop!) and had pints at the brewery before heading down the hill to reality.
Neither of us bothered to check the time, but I think we left the lot somewhere between 8 and 8:30. We found perfect conditions for booting just to the left of the waterfall so we booted straight up the fall line for quite a ways. Easy toe penetration with not a single post hole. We transitioned at a flat spot (maybe 1,000 feet up?) with deep snow and picked up a skin track shortly thereafter. Sucker holes greeted us as we came out of the woods on the upper mountain.
The top section of the Couloir was somewhat choppy from the previous days turns. Below that it was smooth and deep from all the sluff with a section that skied like a groomer in the canyon above the fan. The fan was good enough to merit fall line turns all the way down as opposed to traversing for the exit.
We skinned toward the exit in intermittent whiteout and deep snow. At the choke point someone had switched to booting but I stubbornly stuck with the skins not wanting to succumb to a groveling wallow in the deep snow. Mike blasted past me in his boots on what turned out to be a well packed ladder. Up here we ran into a cool couple from Seattle and watched the first tele-shred sweet fall line turns down less than ideal conditions.
Upper glades were marginally okay and below that the Phantom Menace was crusty and heavy.
We made a quick pit stop in North Bend where the folks at ProSki very quickly fixed a gear problem (what a great shop!) and had pints at the brewery before heading down the hill to reality.
Nice Bob -- that first shot makes the entrance look like skiing down a wall :)
No moguls! Looking good.
author=skykilo link=topic=15390.msg64384#msg64384 date=1264789689]
No moguls!
No moguls- Yet. Though there were track remnants skiers left that ended abruptly at a good size drop above the apron.
Yea that first photo plays up the drama nicely. The entry is actually friendly and the coulior is never scary steep.
Reply to this TR
Please login first: