1-7-07, Summit West, Snoqualmie Pass
1/7/07
WA Snoqualmie Pass
5194
8
Day 20
1-7-07
Summit West, Snoqualmie Pass
Vertical Skied: 900 VF
It was a light snow/rain mix at my house at 1,300 feet when I looked out the window at 4 am. Not good. The new storm rolling in was supposed to start with snow at 1,000 feet and quickly move to 3,500 feet as the day progressed. My plan was to hit the snow before it turned to rain at the top of the pass, but it looked like the window of opportunity was closing faster than I hoped.
Oh, you never know.
Off on the drive and I see that indeed, the snow was still falling at 3,000, but it was very wet, very warm and temps were on the move. I walked out and sniffed around the natural snow pack, returning to my car with my tail between my legs. On Saturday Emerald and I had gone sledding near the pass and we could see the wind had stripped Granite Peak's SW ridge down to the ground, delivering a kinetic bomb on the South facing gullies away from the wind. Ominous. We played in the snow, but my mind wondered about that load. All it needed was a trigger.
And here it was - a warm rain/snow mix with 2 feet of snow expected up high. Your trigger, Sir, signed, sealed and delivered. Nope, even the mellowest runs I could think of were out of the question. I drove over to Summit West in the dark and parked near the groomed football fields. Under the lights of the base area I could vaguely make out the terrain as I climbed and I imagined myself making a few laps before the paying customers arrived.
On the climb up the hill I got completely soaked. There was a cover of new snow and the dense powder from yesterday was manky and easy to travel, but looked unappetizing and difficult. Reaching the top I changed out quickly and slid off into the darkness.
Squinting through the snain, I experimented with which hand to hold my flashlight. I gave up and skied Jedi style, the best turns velvety s-turns down the groomers. Turning toward my car the lights from the Ski area improved visibility, but the snow became slower and slower, my board having trouble skimming over the wet mank. Finally, I straight lined slowly to a stop at the back of the car.
And that was that.
I felt a sense of dread as I drove back down I-90 in the building snow/rain mix passing under the Granite slides, knowing I was safe, but a dark fear of the conditions developing made the flats beyond a huge relief.
There will be ugly slides out there today. Devastating slides perhaps. For me, a warm bed, a hot breakfast, and dry clothes awaited.
Godspeed, O Traveler.
1-7-07
Summit West, Snoqualmie Pass
Vertical Skied: 900 VF
It was a light snow/rain mix at my house at 1,300 feet when I looked out the window at 4 am. Not good. The new storm rolling in was supposed to start with snow at 1,000 feet and quickly move to 3,500 feet as the day progressed. My plan was to hit the snow before it turned to rain at the top of the pass, but it looked like the window of opportunity was closing faster than I hoped.
Oh, you never know.
Off on the drive and I see that indeed, the snow was still falling at 3,000, but it was very wet, very warm and temps were on the move. I walked out and sniffed around the natural snow pack, returning to my car with my tail between my legs. On Saturday Emerald and I had gone sledding near the pass and we could see the wind had stripped Granite Peak's SW ridge down to the ground, delivering a kinetic bomb on the South facing gullies away from the wind. Ominous. We played in the snow, but my mind wondered about that load. All it needed was a trigger.
And here it was - a warm rain/snow mix with 2 feet of snow expected up high. Your trigger, Sir, signed, sealed and delivered. Nope, even the mellowest runs I could think of were out of the question. I drove over to Summit West in the dark and parked near the groomed football fields. Under the lights of the base area I could vaguely make out the terrain as I climbed and I imagined myself making a few laps before the paying customers arrived.
On the climb up the hill I got completely soaked. There was a cover of new snow and the dense powder from yesterday was manky and easy to travel, but looked unappetizing and difficult. Reaching the top I changed out quickly and slid off into the darkness.
Squinting through the snain, I experimented with which hand to hold my flashlight. I gave up and skied Jedi style, the best turns velvety s-turns down the groomers. Turning toward my car the lights from the Ski area improved visibility, but the snow became slower and slower, my board having trouble skimming over the wet mank. Finally, I straight lined slowly to a stop at the back of the car.
And that was that.
I felt a sense of dread as I drove back down I-90 in the building snow/rain mix passing under the Granite slides, knowing I was safe, but a dark fear of the conditions developing made the flats beyond a huge relief.
There will be ugly slides out there today. Devastating slides perhaps. For me, a warm bed, a hot breakfast, and dry clothes awaited.
Godspeed, O Traveler.
author=MW88888888 link=topic=5954.msg24679#msg24679 date=1168192567]
There will be ugly slides out there today. Devastating slides perhaps. For me, a warm bed, a hot breakfast, and dry clothes awaited.
Anyone see any of these?
I skied Alpental today expecting to see all kinda stuff rip but all I could make out were point releases. Impromptu ski cuts in the small bits of untracked I could find yielded a 18" wet slab, I just didnt see any of this moving on its own. Almost any, I should say, it did look like there was activity in Elevator.
edit: nwac reports that Granite did go big. Would be cool to see the after effects of this once things settle.
Some young skiers/climbers up at the Rap Wall at Alpental got caught in an avalanche up there. Ski patrol warned them not to head up on Saturday, but they stayed overnight through today. No one was hurt, but a couple got partially buried.
Some friends and I were up in the Alpental BC this weekend. We knew perfectly well the avi danger and made sure to use the maximum caution on where to travel and where not to ski. Not to say that you can ignore the threat of natural slides, but using keen eyes and knowledge, it's do-able. Made it up to the Snow Lake saddle and camped the night up there, recieving a good two feet of light dry snow which gave way to graupel early. Awake to sounds of patrol blasting Denny. NOTHING is stable. While skinning with just average weight on the feet I was able to break off a very sizable wind slab which spread laterally the whole gully width, approximately 200 feet. The length of the slab was about 40 feet from what I could tell as I was bailing out quickly. Crown looked to be about 1-2 feet. Descended through the trees on the saddle, the most stable and protected spot, at least I thought. Load tests were not yielding too scary results. Booked out of the traverse to meet patrol who thought that we were the party caught up in the slide. Sketchy business.....not quite sure why I decided to go. Camping was fun, had some nice headlamp pow turns on really low angle trees next to camp. I know you don't need to hear it from me but: Don't go.....sketchy....
Is Rap Wall that bolted cliff in No Fog? Not a place I would have wanted to be yesterday....
author=Jerm link=topic=5954.msg24712#msg24712 date=1168278698]
bolted cliff in No Fog?
Bolted cliff? Where is this again.
Top of what is (I think) called No Fog, the gully you ski down and across to get to Source Lake from Great Scott Bowl. I saw at least 4 bolted routes. This is right off the summer path to the Tooth, so they could just be rock routes.
Route finishes at the highest icicles. If it is mixed ... looks pretty wild!
Route finishes at the highest icicles. If it is mixed ... looks pretty wild!
the rap wall is a mixed climbing venue. two tiers- the lower only has one route, the upper has several.
Anyone that has seen the debri pile from chair peak unloading down to source lake would not venture that way in high avalanche danger. I really don't think there is a safe route to snow lake divide!
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