March 22, 2014, Snoqualmie up/over plus the Slot
3/22/14
WA Snoqualmie Pass
2875
2
On Saturday, Erik and I, went up to the Snoqualmie pass area to explore some new terrain and set a new personal record for vertical feet in day for us. With the current snow conditions we decided to climb up Snoqualmie Mountain and ski down the North side to the Middle Fork. An area that neither of us had been too. We were the first to start out the parking lot, but saw the group mentioned in this post (http://www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboarding/trip_reports/index.php?topic=31239.0) getting their gear ready for the day and would shortly find that they were on the same agenda as we were.
Some how we missed the best way to get up and over the cliff band at the bottom of Snoqualmie mountain and had to work our way through some of the rocks, but once through that shenanigan we were on cruise control up to the top of Snoqualmie Mountain. On the top we had a quick break, met up with the group from the lot, and chatted it up for a little bit and discovered it's a small world since we were all on our way down towards the Middle Fork. We began our descent down through the top of the Crooked Couloir and were a little surprised by the crust, but it quickly got softer and the fun began. We entered into the drainage towards the Middle Fork as Pete said, around 5700 ft, but we're able to negotiate a quick way into it after some investigation. We did set off a 2" top layer of crust that gained momentum through the drainage, but the snow underneath was well bonded and a great ski. Shin to knee deep powder.
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https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-v_SECgaQC2c/Uy9Ti7GRIeI/AAAAAAAAD88/3Hf6y_reF8Y/w664-h1174-no/Snoqualmie_009.jpg" />
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https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-1_JHmGgYDYc/Uy9Tmy6xgRI/AAAAAAAAD9U/L9tE2ozJV0M/w881-h1174-no/Snoqualmie_007.JPG" />
Our goal was to ski as far down towards the bottom of the valley as we could so we continued along the East side of the ridge down to an elevation of 2,640. When the ridge fans out the woods get pretty dense and I wouldn't really say we were skiing. More like grinding on tree limbs, avoiding rocks, and taking the wax off our skis.
We transitioned after we had enough of it and began the trail breaking up Thunder Creek to the Slot drainage. The first 1000 feet was tough at times, couple inches of snow on ice in the gulleys, but after that it became a lot of work. We broke fresh trail for a couple thousand feet through 12" of powder.
We leap frogged each other so we could power through it to the the base of the Slot where we took a quick break to reload on the calories because our day wasn't done.
We climbed up through the notch and began our ascent back up Snoqualmie Mountain. After gaining the top we then dropped down through the Slot Couloir. Again the skiing was really good...right after you get through the first 75 feet of ice. Once at the bottom of the Slot drainage we transitioned once again and climbed up and over the notch then dropped down West of the Phantom and had some surprisingly good skiing once again. We though it would be heavy, wet snow or crusted over, but we found powder at times in the trees.
![]()
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-SRUnxsGUXpg/Uy9TtnxGnnI/AAAAAAAAD98/NWFARi0fDrU/w881-h1174-no/Snoqualmie_016.JPG" />
All in all we set a personal record for us with 8,420 vertical feet climbed and explored some new areas along the pass. There is some amazing terrain out there once you get a little beyond the typical routes. Always nice to meet new people in the mountains too. See you four again sometime...Andy, Pete, Dave and Becky.
Link to photos:
https://plus.google.com/photos/105664275472153507536/albums/5994101083311438161
Link to map:
http://www.hillmap.com/m/ag1zfmhpbGxtYXAtaGRychULEghTYXZlZE1hcBiAgICA9bDZCQw
Some how we missed the best way to get up and over the cliff band at the bottom of Snoqualmie mountain and had to work our way through some of the rocks, but once through that shenanigan we were on cruise control up to the top of Snoqualmie Mountain. On the top we had a quick break, met up with the group from the lot, and chatted it up for a little bit and discovered it's a small world since we were all on our way down towards the Middle Fork. We began our descent down through the top of the Crooked Couloir and were a little surprised by the crust, but it quickly got softer and the fun began. We entered into the drainage towards the Middle Fork as Pete said, around 5700 ft, but we're able to negotiate a quick way into it after some investigation. We did set off a 2" top layer of crust that gained momentum through the drainage, but the snow underneath was well bonded and a great ski. Shin to knee deep powder.
Our goal was to ski as far down towards the bottom of the valley as we could so we continued along the East side of the ridge down to an elevation of 2,640. When the ridge fans out the woods get pretty dense and I wouldn't really say we were skiing. More like grinding on tree limbs, avoiding rocks, and taking the wax off our skis.
We transitioned after we had enough of it and began the trail breaking up Thunder Creek to the Slot drainage. The first 1000 feet was tough at times, couple inches of snow on ice in the gulleys, but after that it became a lot of work. We broke fresh trail for a couple thousand feet through 12" of powder.
We leap frogged each other so we could power through it to the the base of the Slot where we took a quick break to reload on the calories because our day wasn't done.
We climbed up through the notch and began our ascent back up Snoqualmie Mountain. After gaining the top we then dropped down through the Slot Couloir. Again the skiing was really good...right after you get through the first 75 feet of ice. Once at the bottom of the Slot drainage we transitioned once again and climbed up and over the notch then dropped down West of the Phantom and had some surprisingly good skiing once again. We though it would be heavy, wet snow or crusted over, but we found powder at times in the trees.
All in all we set a personal record for us with 8,420 vertical feet climbed and explored some new areas along the pass. There is some amazing terrain out there once you get a little beyond the typical routes. Always nice to meet new people in the mountains too. See you four again sometime...Andy, Pete, Dave and Becky.
Link to photos:
https://plus.google.com/photos/105664275472153507536/albums/5994101083311438161
Link to map:
http://www.hillmap.com/m/ag1zfmhpbGxtYXAtaGRychULEghTYXZlZE1hcBiAgICA9bDZCQw
Wow...strong work guys! Nice to meet y'all
Wow big day!
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