January 1, 2019, Snoqualmie Pass

Matthew was still feeling sick to his stomach and Josiah's knees were hurting, so I headed up to Alpental alone. Josiah and I had skinned almost to Chair Peak Lake the day before and found no signs of instability, so I decided to ski the Chair Peak Circumnavigation as fast as I could.

Skin track up to the Thumbtack was in terrible shape after sun and boots the day before. Booted the couloir above the Thumbtack and skied the central couloir down to Snow Lake. Mix of wind slab and rain crust above the couloir. Entrance was very icy. Good powder interspersed with avalanche debris in the gut of the couloir. Skinned across Snow Lake and to Chair Peak Lake. Found lots of wind loading on the climb to Melakwa Pass. Enough to cover the skin track from the day before. Coverage was pretty good in the Melakwa Valley so I was able to ski a high traverse to above Melakwa Lake. Lots of ice on the SW face of Chair. More wind loading on the climb to Bryant Peak Col. Skin track from the day before was completely covered. Ski crampons were very nice to have. Got to the col and briefly thought about skiing the Bryant Peak Couloir but decided not to do it alone. Traversed over to Pineapple Basin and found awesome powder and a fast traverse out. Best descent of the day.