April 16, 2017, N Slopes Chair+Roosevelt attempt
4/16/17
WA Snoqualmie Pass
2508
3
Skied the north slopes of chair peak sunday attempting to ski the holy diver cute on Roosevelt. Got out around 630 to try and beat the forecasted heat. As we gained the notch below Chair we got blasted with some gnarly winds (way more than expected!) which kept the snow relatively firm. We skied a mix of chalky powder ( a few turns), huge amounts of avalanche debris in the chute to the lake and some mush to top it off!
As we skinned towards the Roosevelt Wright Col the previous days skin track had gotten wiped out by a large wet slide. As we made it to the col the gale force winds were so strong it actually knocked me over! We decided to bail on booting the ridge to the holy diver because snow was half inch of ice with knee deep mush below. If the sun came out it seemed like things would slide quick on that big SE slope. Also booting was going to be very time consuming.
Ski down from the col was a mix of mush, breakable crust and debris. Generally bad ski conditions ( a few powder like turns on N aspects) around the pass on multiple aspects, but nice to get some good views!
As we skinned towards the Roosevelt Wright Col the previous days skin track had gotten wiped out by a large wet slide. As we made it to the col the gale force winds were so strong it actually knocked me over! We decided to bail on booting the ridge to the holy diver because snow was half inch of ice with knee deep mush below. If the sun came out it seemed like things would slide quick on that big SE slope. Also booting was going to be very time consuming.
Ski down from the col was a mix of mush, breakable crust and debris. Generally bad ski conditions ( a few powder like turns on N aspects) around the pass on multiple aspects, but nice to get some good views!
Nice Jacob.
I admittedly didn't look at the forecast real hard. But theme seems to be, 'surprised by more wind then expected'.
Was the wind forecasted, and we where just optimistically naive, or was it much more then forecast?
Also thought it would be sunnier. We had a clear morning, but fairly low light, and increasing grey bird after noon.
I admittedly didn't look at the forecast real hard. But theme seems to be, 'surprised by more wind then expected'.
Was the wind forecasted, and we where just optimistically naive, or was it much more then forecast?
Also thought it would be sunnier. We had a clear morning, but fairly low light, and increasing grey bird after noon.
A little of both! I didn't look at the forecast too closely, just a quick glance at nwac and noaa. NWAC was calling for 15-20 mph winds and NOAA was calling for lighter winds not really enough to make me think twice. Overnight winds were pretty calm. It was interesting cause the ridge tops (and surrounding peaks) were getting noticeably blasted with wind and snow getting actively deposited while down at snow lake it was calm.
crazed by the wind people retreated to the lake and skied in circles until the vortex lost its grip and everyone went home happy with their feet on the ground
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