March 29, 2007, Chair Peak and environs

Couldn't find a partner on short notice for today, so I slept relatively late and arrived at Snoqualmie Pass about 8:40 AM.  Considered a solo of Snoqualmie or Red but decided if I went up Source Lake way I'd be more likely to hook up with a group.  Drove to the upper Alpental lot and sure enough, a party of 3 was just heading up the cat track.  I caught up with them-- Mike and Connor from this area, and Connor's cousin Travis visiting from Chicago.  We proceeded to Source Lake, thence to Chair Peak Basin.  I ascended the left-most gully, finding among yesterday's debris a man-sized block of hard water ice.  Looking to the cliffs above I saw more of the same (big icicles)already baking in the sun.  Exited the gully without incident, though I noticed on my return in the afternoon that a couple of big wet slides had obliterated our tracks.
Chair Peak Basin, which I had expected to be fairly crusty, instead showed variable depths of wind-deposited powder not very well adhered to a firm base.  It looked slabby but was not actually very cohesive.  Connor and I had our eyes on the central gully, but did not have sufficient confidence in its stability, choosing instead to descend from its base.  Snow was heavy powder seasoned with ice chunks, but very stable after all, with no slabs nor even any wet slides.
From the lower basin we booted over the ridge to the N. side, where we were met by a dazzling tableau of wind sculpted snow dunes: scoured at their heads, but cradling light fresh powder in their laps.  This stretch offered the best turns of the day.  Even the return from the Snow Lake saddle down to Source was not too bad: heavy, yes, but shallow enough to be managed.
In the afternoon, a skin track across the valley told a tale.  Another party took a very high traverse from Alpental to Chair, hugging the high slopes above cliffs all the way.  At one spot their track metamorphosed suddenly into a slide path, just above a large cliff, but strangely enough it emerged unscathed on the other side.  I'm very interested to hear the tale of that traverse.