January 9, 2005, Kendall Ridge

Three of us (Ryan, Hayes and I ) headed to the Kendall Ridge area yesterday hoping to ski the stump slalom and avoid avalanche terrain.  One thing is for sure.  There is no avalanche danger in that area right now, because there is not nearly enough snow.  We parked at Exit 53, and fought our way up to the logging roads through slide alder, vine maple, and a little bit of Devils club.  Fog kept the upper slopes out of view, so we continued on faith that coverage would improve - whoops.  

We finally turned around about three hundred feet below the ridge and found a few turns on the east slope (toward Kendall Lakes) before entering very dense trees.  Rather than descend down our comic ascent path, we decided to ski out the road to the Gold Creek snow park and thumb it back to the car.  

All in all it was nice to get out and see the conditions near Snoqualmie Pass first hand.  Also good to practice steep downhill bushwacking on tele gear!  Sounds like we could have enjoyed the cold powder a little more if we had been willing to drive further.