May 1, 2012, North Slope Chair Peak

Yesterday, three of us skied the North Slope Descent on Chair Peak as described by Volken, in whiteout conditions.

As we arrived, the freezing level was only a few hundred feet below Snoqualmie Pass, there was 3-4" of fresh wet snow in the Alpental lot, and up to 12" of new above 5000'. Throughout the day we saw graupel, freezing rain, and crystalline snow, but no actual rain. The snow conditions were soft and wet until our late descent from Snow Lake divide, where the snow truly qualified as Cascade Concrete near and below Source Lake.

Through the fog, we saw evidence of a significant avalanche cycle prior to this storm. Most major slopes showed significant debris piles mid-path. The N Face of Chair Pk had released its seasonal load into a gaping hole between the wall and the slope below, and triggered a 4-5' deep slab below it. The storm snow was reactive and sitting on an unfrozen slushy base (worst around 4k'), but nothing moved more than a few inches before grinding to a halt. Higher up, we could feel weakness in the storm snow but no obvious sliding layer. In general I felt that the new snow was well bonded to the base, and that the colder temps were helping to solidify the snowpack, although the new snow was insulating a nearly isothermal base.

It was somewhat nerve-racking to traverse below large slopes in the fog. We could never see more than about 500', and the terrain was new to all of us. We used map & compass to find the notch at 5360', and used the rocks of the N Face as a handrail, leading us to the col where we began the descent. After waiting in vain for 20 minutes for the clear sky we requested, we decided to drop in and ski the very short sections we could see, regrouping at what "safe zones" were available within the cloud. We kept left, again using rocks and trees as a handrail.

The top 500' was good storm skiing, with just enough contrast to see the snow surface in the blank field of white. Then we got down to some obstacles hidden below steep rollovers, with debris to our right. While traversing left, I crossed the runnel-like trough of a wet slide path, and went over my tips. Quickly recovering, I realized I had snapped my ski about halfway between the tip and my binding, with another 1000' to go down to the lake, and a long walk home.

After attempting to ski with the tip flopping up to my knee, I made a splint with my shovel handle and 3 (24") Voile straps, which allowed me to survival ski the last few pitches to the lake. We were all in good spirits and feeling solid, especially glad we hadn't skied over the waterfall at the base of the slope, which is definitely flowing now.

With skins on and the splint, my ski performed great on the way out, although I had to ski down from the divide with both skins on until below all the steeper slopes, after which I took off one skin to "scooter" down the trail to Alpental. We now approve this method for dealing with long, flat sections: One ski in skin mode and one in ski mode. Kick and glide.

We made it back to the car in the fading daylight, and marked the day as epic.