Home > Trip Reports > March 17, 2006, Shotgun Couloir Left

March 17, 2006, Shotgun Couloir Left

3/17/06
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Posted by MW88888888 on 3/17/06 8:59am
Day 45
3-17-06
Kendall Peak (5,784'), Shotgun Couloir Left, West Face Route
138" €“ 164" base
5,450' €“ 4,450' = 1,000 VF, 5,784' -  2,980' = 2,800 VF; Total: 3,800 VF

If you€™ve spent enough time in the Snoqualmie Pass area, you€™ve noticed the Shotgun Couloir.  Maybe by another name, perhaps the 'proper€™ title, not that that matters, it draws a skier€™s eyes like an addict to a needle just the same.  I just like the imagery €“ Shotgun Couloir.  

From the summit of Red Mountain, or Kendall Peak, or even along the forested ridge of the Kendall Catwalk section of the PCT, you€™ve seen the Shotgun Couloir and you€™ve stopped dead.  And stared.  If you€™re a skier you wonder how to get into the shot €“ does it go?  What€™s its name?  Man, you say, I€™ve got to check that out sometime.  And I€™m sure a lot probably do.



I saw it for the first time in 2003, from a great distance.  What a nice cirque, I thought, those are some quality lines.  From the vantage point I had on that day I could only see three couloirs, but knew there were others.  A veritable Cirque of Couloirs.  Yes, I had to check that out sometime.

That sometime was today.  Circumstances, all the data and the nature of the tour brought me to eye the Shotgun and its neighbor the Ribbon Couloir.  The Ribbon was my real White Whale, an aesthetic ribbon of snow hanging in a jagged sandwhich of cliffbands, a very beautiful line. I could see it clearly in the topos €“ but when does the topo ever reflect the reality of the scene?  I had a hunch, however, that if the Ribbon did not work out, the Shotgun would provide a fine consolation prize.

I left the lot at a leisurely 7 am, following the well-formed trail up into the hills.  It had been a couple of days since the 3 feet of snow from the last storm, and only minor snow since, allowing the snow to settle and condense.  The avalanche danger crept into Low and all the flood gates were open €“ anything was possible.

After a couple of miles, I sadly left the freeway of a trail and set my own line through the forest.  Low avalanche danger, indeed.  The top 6€ was a dense powder and below a bottomless base of pack, travel, thankfully, would be a dream.  I traversed easily through the forest and emerged at the ridge crest (5,450€™) right above the couloir.  Spot on!  I could tell as I climbed that the access to the Ribbon was way hairball, and a climb up of that shot was probably the best bet.  But probably not on this trip.  Oh well, another reason to return.  Below me, the steep, smooth Shotgun Couloir dropped away €“ consolation prize indeed - time for fun.



My plan was to ski down into the North Bowl, climb back out toward the Catwalk, and traverse the ridge crest to the summit.  Finally, I would ski the direct couloir off the summit, assuming it was in.  I had climbed the route in the summer so knew it was spicy, especially at the end, and the tingly adrenaline urged me on whenever I thought about the summit cliffbands.
 
I donned my board and dropped into the chute with little hesitation.  The snow was a firm base with a thin coat of powder €“ definitely not as powdery as I was hoping.  It was fairly steep so the powder couldn€™t build up, but slough off leaving the firm base.  I carved from side to side down the throat of the shot and worked the sheltered edges as best I could to mine the sun protected snow.  Deeper into the shot the snow softened considerably as the line mellowed and I rolled twenty turns in spotty sunshine into the wide open meadow of the North Bowl.

Holy Christ, was it beautiful.  Above, like a minuscule Willis Wall, the Kendall Ridge escarpment threatened with hanging cornices and fluted 70 degree faces.  To the south rose the spectacular Alta Peak's sundry ski able lines, in sunshine and clouds adding drama to the hanging bowl.  And of course the Sharksfin sailing above with its myriad of lines.  All now in sunshine as the morning bled into afternoon.  

I donned snowshoes once more and climbed the sunny couloir leading to Kendall ridge.  Once again, I could see the remnants of the skier who had also skied this bowl this week, and this somehow comforted me.  

As I reached the Ridgecrest, the clouds began to settle in.  Rats.  I skirted along the ridge, avoiding the huge cornices and cliff bands, and then traversed the exposed faces toward the west face route.  



50 yards into the middle of a release zone, I was gripped.  Thank god it€™s low conditions, I muttered, and rammed my whippet into the snow like a spear and drove the cleats of my shoes into the firm subsurface of the base, the white expanse of cliff bands dancing below my heels.  I made note to never try this route when conditions where unstable.  I reached the saddle where another couloir left the ridge into the North Bowl, and I dropped my pack.  No way was I traversing anymore without my board on.  No more of that shit.

I skied out onto the West Face and the snow and fog rolled in.  A short leftward traverse and I rounded the shoulder that protects the summit snowfield.  Sweet!  A short 100 yard climb would gain the summit.  The snow was so good on this face that I was able to boot up, using my snowboard as a convenient handrail toward the top.  

Wouldn€™t you know it, but the storm settled in for good as I looked down and contemplated the main chute.  In the fog it was hard to see anything, let alone a steep 45 degree couloir.  Nope, the two-fer would have to be for another day.  Fat and happy, I skied away down the West Face, reduced to survival turns in the boiling tempest.  The adventure truly does not end until one is in the parking lot.



nice job, and a damn good read.

thanks

I skied both the (Shotgun and Ribbon?) lines off the north side of Kendal last weekend.  In 2004 I first toured into this area via the easier line to the skiers left of Shotgun, then exited out the Gold Creek drainage...definately not the best exit plan due to the long flats of the Gold Creek drainage.  
But last weekend, skied the Shotgun to the valley floor. Skinned up to the central couloir(Ribbon), and boot packed up the chute...which was a pain with all the new snow.  The couloir doesn't have a cornice on its upper left, so thats the best side to top out, and there isn't much of a flat spot to put your skis on.  The couloir is approaching 50 degrees and sluffed as I skied it.  I exited over the easiest saddle on the north end of the Kendal Peak ridge towards Red mountain.  

 Once again, I could see the remnants of the skier who had also skied this bowl this week, and this somehow comforted me.  



That doesn't sound very comforting.  

When I read this post my heart sank, because I'd been talking this trip up with Pico for several days, but he couldn't go Saturday and I was afraid there would be a line like going to Muir on the uptrack on Sunday.  We decided to go anyway and it was just spectacular.   The light dusting overnight filled the tracks so there was just the hint of a track at the top, the rest was filled in.  We dug a pit and isolated a shovel column and I got a shear about 8" down after 5 firm taps from the elbow.  The remaing column didn't budge with repeated blows so we decide to go for it.  Oh, the joy!  Nice, even 35 degree slope until it opens and moderates a little.  Snow was even better down there. We swooped over to Stemar's uptrack and skinned up to the ridge, finding even better snow down a gully on the north end of Kendal.  After that it was a quick glide down to the basin and out in soft sun cooked snow.  Accumulated elevation, about 4500', unlimited views and only one other party of two in the gully to the west.

Jim,
Justin and I had a great day yoyoing some dry north facing slopes over here on the east slopes of the Cascades but I am so sorry I missed the trip.  I too have been scoping out that one for a long time but never new about the Commonwealth exit.  Always thought it would require a trip out Gold Creek.  Way to get there.  Maybe it will stay quiet.  Already saw the excellent photos at Picos birthday potluck.  No better way to spend a B-Day: great turns and tours, wildness, company in the woods and at home,and food and beverages!

The cat certainly seems to be out of the bag now about the stash of couloirs on the back of Kendal Ridge.  The shotgun as you refer to it is what we have been calling the Twins for its "twin entrances".  We skied it back in April of 2004.  There was actually a post with a photo by gregL that pretty much went below the radar back then.  Check out his post on TAY, April 10,2004 Kendal West Flank.  If you save the photo and zoom in you can see "twin" sets of tracks down the Twins in his photo.

The Kendal Couloirs has been a multi year project for me, Ben, Mason, and a few others. We also were not sure if any of these lines had names.  I tried researching them and couldn't find any references anywhere about these prominant lines.  Since there are so many lines many of which are very challenging to get to we figured they hadn't been skied or named.  So we began giving the lines our own names.  The ones that the folks here have skied are the ones with easy access and are all great lines providing 2,000-2,500' lines of bliss.

As we have named the lines from right to left in the posted photos it starts with "The Smooth Ride" which is not in these pictures - off to the right, Then "The Main Vein" - first prominant open line on the right of the photo, Then the "Twins" aka Shotgun, then "Super Steep" aka Ribbon,  then the "Camel Toes".  Then there are a number of additional lines to the left of the photo that are not shown beginning with the "Silver Lining" which is an especially long and esthetic line, then "The Icy Gash" named for its deep cut into the ridge and a very cool ice-fall that flows down its lookers left flank.  The next line is yet un-named, then there is #4 - named so becuase it was the fourth really big line we saw as we skied down the Silver Creek drainage to Gold Creek the first time with our jaws droppped looking at all the couloirs.  Earlier this season we also skied a line down into the Gold Creek Valley that we called "It's too Big" because the couloir is really too big with several big steep rock slopes above that continually unload into the couloir making less than great ski conditions.  And there are many more lines but I will not go into all of them.  

Suffice to say, the backside of Kendal hosts one of the most unique stashes of couloirs anywhere in the Cascades. These lines have gone un-noticed and are litterally right next door to where everyone skis.  The challange to a lot of them is getting to them and finding the entrances.  Some require a little bit of mountaineering to access and some are quite sketchy and frankly scare me.  We have also found that exiting Gold Creek Valley will produce huge blisters and can be agonizingly long.  There are much better and more fun ways to exit the Silver Creek drainage either up the Main Vein or out by The Kendal Catwalk.  Happy hunting!

One thing I think that will make this area remain relatively quiet is the access.  There were three unavoidable areas where I had to cross avalanche paths to make this tour work out. I would not recommend this trip to anyone when there is a question about stability.  Exiting via Gold Creek would have alleviated two of those avy crossings, but would have produced another (maybe worse?) outcome - the slog fest.

The "more popular" areas I'm sure would be safer to ski than this area in uncertain avy conditions.  That alone should keep the lift lines shorter.

I want to reinforce that.  We crossed slough's that had crossed your uptrack from the day before.  We had an early start on Sunday, but it would have been better to have gotten an even earlier start as the trees were starting to unload and cause some surface sloughing on the approach above the upper lake.  The climb out seemed pretty stable, but there is one section that had a small cornice hanging overhead that kept the pace up until we cleared its fall line.  We also had to keep an eye out for slides when traversing the west facing slopes of Kendall.  Several had fresh deposits and we saw one running from the safety of a tree band.  Certainly not a spot to linger while enjoying the view.

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2006-03-17 16:59:18