March 16, 2008, Mt. Snoqualmie - Slot Couloir

Mike and I pulled into an Alpental lot filling quickly with SUVs full of young ski racers.  They were heading for the gates and we were heading for the Slot.  We started up the Phantom following a group of two with similar plans.  Looking back from above the falls I remarked to Mike that it didn't bode well for the visibility that the lights were on at the ski area.  Higher up we passed another group.  Everyone seemed to be heading for the same spot.  We learned that likely ten people had done the route yesterday, but were hopeful that there would be some snow left from the week's accumulation.  We were to find that there was some, but the Slot was well used by the time we dropped it.  The top four turns were pretty scraped, but quickly we were able find snow that made the climb well worth it.  Mike may have even scored a face shot.

The edges had virgin snow and the middle was soft if somewhat moguled.

The visibility was never good, but it was good enough.  The setting was, of course fantastic.

We had talked about climbing the Crooked, but when we got to the bottom of the Slot the majority of tracks went left and the relatively untracked snow below us beckoned and we heeded the call and skied another thousand or so vertical through good snow with only a couple of tracks.

The snow stayed good all the way.  The descent of the Phantom had mostly good turns near the top followed by occasional good turns in the middle and turns that lead to the car at the bottom.  Mike lost a ski about 200 feet above the cliffs and we thought it would end up in the parking lot.  It actually came to rest just a couple of feet from the highest lip.  Mike said it would have been the ski's only chance to jump the falls.  Mike picked the waterfall finish which was scraped clean.  I am not sure you can call our effort there skiing, but we made it down, with one more runaway Kongur.  If Mike checks in I will let him tell you how much he was liking his tele gear at the end of the day.  Runaway skis not withstanding it was a great day out.