Home > Trip Reports > December 27, 2015, Mount Si

December 27, 2015, Mount Si

12/27/15
WA Snoqualmie Pass
45139
15
Posted by Matt Kurjanowicz on 12/28/15 3:45am
Q: Is Mount Si skiable?
A: Yes, and I don't have to it again.

I wanted to ski something I could see from my living room window, so on a whim Troy and I started planning a ski trip on the big gully of Mount Si. With the recent snows in North Bend, and then several days of clearing weather, this Sunday seemed like it was the time. It was an exhilarating experience, and now that I€™ve skied exit 31 I don€™t think I need to do that again.

Easy bushwhack scramble to increasing snow and up an Avy chute. We transitioned to skis at 2100' and by 2500' we were picking our way through dense trees, blowdown, and deep snow.

We couldn't get snow to slide with our kick turns, and pinwheels were breaking up rather than picking up steam. The gully has a 6' deep gouge in the middle, and it appeared this gouge saw plenty of activity since the last storm cycle.

With increasing wind loading of the main chute, and signs of recent activity, we turned around at 3100 feet and picked a safe way down. The snow was actually quite nice for the first 10 turns or so, and then started to get a heavy and thin. We transitioned back to boots after we generated sparks from our skis and walked out to find 1/2€ of fresh on the cars.

9.6 miles, 14 hours, 3244ft ascent, BW2 - 3, 20 turns.

This is my first TR here, after lurking for too long. So, hey!

Hey there,

Congrats!  I figured this would be a good spot to share my similar story...

On Christmas morning mt si was ripe, but couldnt find a partner so I solo skied the deep walled canyon with a  12 foot rock step 2/3 down.  Side step down  steep rock slab with shrubs to grab (60') to get into it, then several hundred feet of good pow turns before jump turns on 10'' covered rocks.  Rock step near bottom is very obvious, it crosses the whole line from wall to wall.

Congrats on a once in a lifetime (possibly) ski!  I knew there had to be other people going for this low elevation adventure!

I'm stoked to come across your TR as i'm trying to compile mt. si ski history info.
If you know of any other descents on Si that you would be willing to share, please shoot me an email with info!

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

-Frank

I'm so glad you guys are skiing these things. That way none of us need to do them either! :).

author=Charlie Hagedorn link=topic=35228.msg144466#msg144466 date=1451340909]
I'm so glad you guys are skiing these things. That way none of us need to do them either! :).


Yup. Been eyeballing this every day for a while now but I wasn't looking forward to it by any means.

author=Frank Sosa link=topic=35228.msg144462#msg144462 date=1451337541]
Congrats!  I figured this would be a good spot to share my similar story...


I figured we weren't the only ones eyeing Si. Is that the Black Canyon? Looks spicy. Cool!

author=jakedouglas link=topic=35228.msg144467#msg144467 date=1451341298]
Yup. Been eyeballing this every day for a while now but I wasn't looking forward to it by any means.


After a good rest, I'm thinking that this is something I'd do again. Probably could use another foot or two of snow and would be quite a nice ski. The booting was actually pretty easy once you remember that you are carrying your skis on a pack and are much taller than normal, and I'm sure more experienced skinners would have a pretty easy time navigating the upper slopes.

That's all good, here's the drawback: We didn't find any nice gladed skiing, so the only real options that we found were avy chutes. I wouldn't want to do this on any higher an avy danger day. Maybe with another couple feet of snow the brush we were skinning would turn into decent dense tree skiing.

global warming missed Si for a few days!

seems like there were some glades off the hiking trail? 

author=Matt Kurjanowicz link=topic=35228.msg144457#msg144457 date=1451331942]

9.6 miles, 14 hours, 3244ft ascent, BW2 - 3, 20 turns.

This is my first TR here, after lurking for too long. So, hey!



Great first report! Thanks for the beta, and I appreciate the Bushwack rating :)

Very cool! My son and I have been thinking about those for years. Definitely only under certain conditions. We had named the lines:

1. The Big Crack (Main Chute)
2. Line viewers right that is thin - Daddy's Crack
3. The Cleft - the 2nd line skied in the TR

LOL. Thanks for the great reports.

author=savegondor link=topic=35228.msg144501#msg144501 date=1451407387">
seems like there were some glades off the hiking trail? 


Maybe? Like up high when the ridge starts getting narrow? I could see that. Snow looks like it's holding up well ...

author=kciari link=topic=35228.msg144543#msg144543 date=1451492352">
Great first report! Thanks for the beta, and I appreciate the Bushwack rating :)


Thanks! The Brush and Bushwhack Rating System is always a great read. I'm pushing for it's inclusion in Freedom 9.



Thanks! The Brush and Bushwhack Rating System is always a great read. I'm pushing for it's inclusion in Freedom 9.


Ha! I don't know how I have never seen this before! And I do work for The Mountaineers - perhaps i can put in a good word with the Freedom 9 Committee...

If you want to get in touch with Mark Dale, author of the Brush and Bushwack Rating System, I can put you in touch.

Mark's treatise is part of the Sub-Alpinism page on my website. It was one of the first things I posted on alpenglow.org back in 1999.

I also highly recommend "Travels in the Enigma Range," by the late Kathy Phibbs:

http://alpenglow.org/themes/subalpine/enigma-range.html

Based on Facebook posts I've been seeing, it appears that Peter Avolio, Dave Jordan and Trevor Kostanich skied Mt Si today from the top of the Haystack. I'm gonna guess this doesn't get done very often.  ;)

author=Lowell_Skoog link=topic=35228.msg144584#msg144584 date=1451541063]
Based on Facebook posts I've been seeing, it appears that Peter Avolio, Dave Jordan and Trevor Kostanich skied Mt Si today from the top of the Haystack. I'm gonna guess this doesn't get done very often.  ;)


Whoa, cool. I found the video of them skiing of the haystack. Way cool! Looks fun :)

author=Lowell_Skoog link=topic=35228.msg144580#msg144580 date=1451535997]
If you want to get in touch with Mark Dale, author of the Brush and Bushwack Rating System, I can put you in touch.

Mark's treatise is part of the Sub-Alpinism page on my website. It was one of the first things I posted on alpenglow.org back in 1999.

I also highly recommend "Travels in the Enigma Range," by the late Kathy Phibbs:

http://alpenglow.org/themes/subalpine/enigma-range.html



Mark's piece is one of my favorite reads and I relate to it dearly. Thanks for the pointer to Kathy's piece (and for all the cool stuff on your website...great source of history for a transplant like me!).

author=savegondor link=topic=35228.msg144501#msg144501 date=1451407387]
seems like there were some glades off the hiking trail? 


Gave this a shot today! I basically cut the switchbacks the whole way down - didn't want to stray too far from the trail since I was solo. Trees are a bit thick so I couldn't pick up much speed, except in the clearing at the very beginning of the run - Also, spent about half the run traversing right. Finally got stopped by fallen trees + low snowpack at around 2200ft (just above the flat with the old growths)

author=Lowell_Skoog link=topic=35228.msg144584#msg144584 date=1451541063]
Based on Facebook posts I've been seeing, it appears that Peter Avolio, Dave Jordan and Trevor Kostanich skied Mt Si today from the top of the Haystack. I'm gonna guess this doesn't get done very often.  ;)


Yup - http://snovalleystar.com/2016/01/07/local-trio-makes-landmark-ski-descent-from-mount-si-summit . Way cool :)

author=degnaw link=topic=35228.msg144604#msg144604 date=1451604259]
Gave this a shot today! I basically cut the switchbacks the whole way down - didn't want to stray too far from the trail since I was solo. Trees are a bit thick so I couldn't pick up much speed, except in the clearing at the very beginning of the run - Also, spent about half the run traversing right. Finally got stopped by fallen trees + low snowpack at around 2200ft (just above the flat with the old growths)


Wonderful! Lots of great lines on Mount Si. Where should the lift line go?

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december-27-2015-mount-si
Matt Kurjanowicz
2015-12-28 11:45:42