January 22, Snoqualmie Pass, Alpental to Granite

My neighbor Trevor and I took the last day of fine weather to connect Alpental to Granite mountain, and to perhaps find a little corn along the way. We left Alpental by headlamp and headed over Bryant Peak col, then cruised over to Kaleetan.

We waited for a while on the summit, hoping the sun would work its magic. But the east wind kept the summit slopes from corning up, and we opted out of the rutted, glazed gully. Things improved down low, and after a short ski we skinned up to gain the top of point 5,700', due south of Kaleetan. We had both always wanted to check this out, and we were not disappointed. Excellent terrain, fine corn, and great views of the creeping cold fog coming over the pass from the east.

The head of the Pratt River is a shaggy, wild bit of woods. The tour from there to upper Tuscohatchie lake was quite pretty, which helps pass the time. We made our way up the broad, gentle northeast slope of Granite West and contoured to the col and up toward Granite proper. We ripped skins as soon as possible in order to get onto the south face before it cooled any more. I had never been on Granite before, and it was a fun way to get there. The ski down began as bone-hard crust, then quickly gave way to good corn. We renamed our K2 Side Shows, marveling at their nimble Side Slip prowess in the brushy margins of the lower slide path.

The most useful remark I can make is that this snowpack deserves a cautious approach as new snow arrives. As many have observed, the spatial variability is pronounced at this time and the pattern of snow surfaces defies the rules of thumb upon which one may often rely. We skied over melt-freeze crusts, faceted snow, rounds, surface hoar, and wind-packed particles--each of these appeared on a variety of aspects AND at a variety of elevations. For what it is worth, I found the same thing on a brief jaunt into the enchantments on Monday: Variable with a capital 'V'. 

Thanks to Trevor for a great day!