April 5, 2008, Snoqualmie Mtn smorgasbord
4/5/08
WA Snoqualmie Pass
3528
6
Snoqualmie Mtn was overrun by many powder pigs today....we were a small group of, uh seven....and we counted at least three other parties and a few dogs keeping busy in the Thunder Creek options.
Going up the Phantom was reasonable skinning until treeline, then it was 4-8 inches of new over horrid crust (we all were wishing for our ski crampons).
Dropped three of our gang at the Slot couloir entrance to join another group of three and a pooch. Four of us continued on up to the Crooked. Viz sucked, but we were choking on powder skiing down the upper bowl of the Crooked...ridiculous white room skiing...
The hourglass exit to the Crooked didn't have the greatest snow, but is still in fine shape. We regrouped with our Slot couloir companions and then booted/skinned back up the Crooked for lap #2...the snow was a little heavier the second time around and what was previously light, sluffy snow was starting to exhibit some slabby properties...some whoomps, a shallow shooting crack, but nothing slid.
The ski down the Phantom at the end of the day was better than expected, some dust on crust and semi-refrozen shmoo below 4000ft.
Winter just won't end!
Here's a picture of Becky near to the top of the Crooked getting a facefull of freshies.
more pictures here
Going up the Phantom was reasonable skinning until treeline, then it was 4-8 inches of new over horrid crust (we all were wishing for our ski crampons).
Dropped three of our gang at the Slot couloir entrance to join another group of three and a pooch. Four of us continued on up to the Crooked. Viz sucked, but we were choking on powder skiing down the upper bowl of the Crooked...ridiculous white room skiing...
The hourglass exit to the Crooked didn't have the greatest snow, but is still in fine shape. We regrouped with our Slot couloir companions and then booted/skinned back up the Crooked for lap #2...the snow was a little heavier the second time around and what was previously light, sluffy snow was starting to exhibit some slabby properties...some whoomps, a shallow shooting crack, but nothing slid.
The ski down the Phantom at the end of the day was better than expected, some dust on crust and semi-refrozen shmoo below 4000ft.
Winter just won't end!
Here's a picture of Becky near to the top of the Crooked getting a facefull of freshies.
more pictures here
Bastards.
:) Nice work!
:) Nice work!
That was a great day! Thanks for the Pics, Pete. Sorry you couldn't make it, Marcus. The Slot crew found conditions similar to the Crooked -- deep, reasonably light snow in the couloir, very sloughy, and the snow spray tended to catch in my whiskers. It was awful. Visibility was better for us though. Below the exit, in the runout apron, there was a pretty noticeable sun crust below the 5 or 6 inches of new. Here are a few more pics. I'll get the rest up soon.
Kirsten entering the Slot
Me (courtesy of Kirsten)
Andy (courtesy of Kirsten)
The Crooked/Slot exits (courtesy of Kirsten)
Kirsten entering the Slot
Me (courtesy of Kirsten)
Andy (courtesy of Kirsten)
The Crooked/Slot exits (courtesy of Kirsten)
awful, huh :D Although the slot has INFINITE pics and tr's, I really enjoyed your photos, some of the best I've seen of slot and crooked. Nice!
We were the three plus dog group. Great skinning and skiing with your group. Thanks to Pete for setting track on the top portion of the Phantom.
We toured part-way up the New York Gully--I think that is what it is called--skiers left of Slot. The top 500' was narrow and steep so we left it for others, but the snow was untouched by others and the sun crust missing due to the high cliffs so it didn't suck.
We did manage to set off the 6" from the night before sliding in the left most gully above the waterfall on the Phantom that ran for several hundred feet. The north facing/drier snow was much more stable. Thanks for the pics, we didn't get any.
We toured part-way up the New York Gully--I think that is what it is called--skiers left of Slot. The top 500' was narrow and steep so we left it for others, but the snow was untouched by others and the sun crust missing due to the high cliffs so it didn't suck.
We did manage to set off the 6" from the night before sliding in the left most gully above the waterfall on the Phantom that ran for several hundred feet. The north facing/drier snow was much more stable. Thanks for the pics, we didn't get any.
we were yet another group of three hitting the crooked and slot that day--we intersected you guys when you went for lap 2 on the crooked.
lesson learned: in those conditions, likely more efficient to climb to head of slot by circling to S side of Snoq, rather than skinning and booting straight up the couliour!
good exercise, if you like wallowing...i presume you guys found some quality wallowing up the crooked, too.
lesson learned: in those conditions, likely more efficient to climb to head of slot by circling to S side of Snoq, rather than skinning and booting straight up the couliour!
good exercise, if you like wallowing...i presume you guys found some quality wallowing up the crooked, too.
Great skinning and skiing with you, too, Cornfed. Thanks for sharing the Slot with us. We watched you head over to that other gully and we were thinking that was probably a pretty smart idea. We briefly thought of using your skintrack and hitting it on the way out, but we were pretty knackered by then. We noticed the slope that you released on the way out. Pretty poorly bonded stuff. No prob about the pics. There are links to some video clips on the page below. The one called "Andy-slot-mid" has some footage of your tele skier in the middle of the Slot.
Hedonaut, yes, we found some pre-tty spectacular wallowing on the way up the Crooked. We talked about circling back to the up-track on the south side, but that crust was so difficult to manage in the morning that we figured it would slow us down too much. That was probably a poor choice on our part. Sometimes the lure of going directissima is too strong.
Here are more pics on my website. On behalf of all the photographers in our group, thanks for the complement, Stugie!
Hedonaut, yes, we found some pre-tty spectacular wallowing on the way up the Crooked. We talked about circling back to the up-track on the south side, but that crust was so difficult to manage in the morning that we figured it would slow us down too much. That was probably a poor choice on our part. Sometimes the lure of going directissima is too strong.
Here are more pics on my website. On behalf of all the photographers in our group, thanks for the complement, Stugie!
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