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1/2/17 CCW Chair Peak circumnavigation

1/2/17
WA Snoqualmie Pass
3300
5
Posted by Kneel Turner on 1/2/17 1:46pm
My friend and I completed the Chair Pk circumnav today including a run down north face from what I would call one tree notch ( a great place to start from chair's north ridge), and boy was it good.
A skin track was in the whole way, covered by wind loading in places. Temps were cold, and I was really glad I brought the puffy along. Snow was cold, light, and skied as good as you could imagine. A group we passed going the opposite direction above chair pk lake warned that their descent from Melakwa pass was wind blown and c-c-c-cold. They were right, but no matter, we were climbing it!
The gut of Bryant couloir was tracked up, but still skied well, and lots of cold snow to the sides above and below.
Although the lines were not benign, many quick pits, discussions, and some good terrain management made for a safe trip with nothing more than surface sluff to deal with.
Just under 7 hours, and little daylight to spare, we were ecstatic with the day.
Heavy traffic clearing the Pass convinced us to pop in to Dru Brew for a Session IPA with Pie for the People in hand.
Good tour on a frostnip day!

Very nice. We actually backed out of this tour on our drive up just because of all the changing aspects and uncertainty of stability in the Bryant Couloir.

We did have an excellent day out the commonwealth basin though. Wind loading in areas was very localized and sketchy on some aspects. It was changing the whole way up and down during out tour. We avoid areas with heavy wind loading as much as possible.

https://flic.kr/s/aHskRVKPQc

https://vimeo.com/197879053


This is a bit scary to read. Sounds like a good idea we backed out. http://www.nwac.us/observations/pk/560/

Also curious, when snow is so localized like it was based on wind transport, how good is pit digging really? Wouldn't it just skew your perception if you're skiing all different aspects?

Pits are only as valid as the conditions they represent and therefore one would ideally dig a pit at least as deep as any known weak layers on all aspects you plan to travel or ski in.  With storm snow related weaknesses, hasty pits serve this purpose well.

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1-2-17-ccw-chair-peak-circumnavigation
Kneel Turner
2017-01-02 21:46:40