Home > Trip Reports > April 22, 2008, Mt Snoqualmie (Slot)

April 22, 2008, Mt Snoqualmie (Slot)

4/22/08
WA Snoqualmie Pass
6925
11
Posted by Andy Hill on 4/24/08 3:28am
First time in the Slot.  Been targeting since I heard about it and felt the time was ripe.  Went up the phanton.  Left side in trees below waterfall, then right side hugging trees of phanton.  First 2K a little crusty, but grippy.  Last 1K was pretty icy with a rough go at it.  Next time it'll bring crampons.  Skins got pretty iced, so ended up boot packing the last 200 ft.  Whew!  Slot was already skied, but plenty of fresh lines left over.  Climb back up was cut nicely (if not a little steep).  Final descent down phantom was pretty crudy, but that's not why I went.  Afraid things have gotten worse since my trek, so wouldn't recommend right now.  Bummer snow level is going up to 7K this weekend.
I'm wonderin' -- what with everybody in town jumping on the Slot and then feeling compelled to yap about it on the Internet -- maybe we ought to rename it The Slut Couloir"?!

Heh, the rename may be apt, but I wouldn't want to dissuade Elmer from posting a TR now and again by calling him a "yapper"...

Thanks for the report Elmer.  Midweek seems to be the way to do it, these days.

The Slot is the winter equivalent to the South Face of the Tooth, only it looks better in pics.
Like all 5 star routes in this state, if you do them at weird times you will have solitude.

I skied the Slot and Crooked on Sunday with dozens of others. I bet more than 100 people skied it that day. I'm still somewhat in shock over how crowded it was there. I have to say I've never seen a skin to backcountry location so crowded, but I don't go to Snoqualmie very often either. Perhaps that is norm being so close to Seattle and with frequent TAY reporting? 

Its funny you say that, we have been joking around calling it the Slut Couloir all season ;)
None the less it is badass terrain that is easily accessable

Ah, even though Beethoven wrote the 5th 200 years ago, it's new to someone who hears it for the first time.  Don't forget your first time.  Couldn't have done it w/o TAY posts, personal blogs, and NWAC.  Keep posting.  Imagine if Beethoven just burned the script after the first concert.

I skied the Slot for the first time this year, a few weeks ago, and when I think about it I'm still exhilarated.  I was lucky enough to hit it in just the right frame of mind, with a couple of really fun partners.  Cruising down past the dogleg, then stopping there in the eerie quiet, then hitting perfect powder in the happy valley below-- somewhere in there I glimpsed earthly nirvana.  Of course I came back to reality soon enough.  But every time I read a Slot TR, I perceive that the lucky souls who skied it that day were lucky like me to have that experience even once in a lifetime and I share in the collective celebration that the Slot belongs to no one and everyone.

That looks nice elmer.

Since I am one of the few who lives in the State of Washington and has not skied the Slot, it motivates me every time I see a report on it.
It keeps the Slot Chute infamous...to me at least.

I guess I'll just have to settle on skiing crap like this around my neighborhood.
;)

That's a bummer Joe...  if you ever need someone to join you, you know, to make it seem new and fun again... let me know :)

Thanks for the idea Ron.  That route looks like it would be pretty sweet.  Given the slighly longer access I don't think it will ever be a slut, but it looks fun enough for sure.  Next winter.

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april-22-2008-mt-snoqualmie-slot
Andy Hill
2008-04-24 10:28:46