April 30, 2008, Snoqualmie Pass, Red Mtn
4/30/08
WA Snoqualmie Pass
4212
0
I got talked into going up Red Mtn again by gorp and andrew407, both of whom had yet to do it. Winter conditions were in full effect with 14" of new overnight. We took a good line coming in that allowed us to get all the way back out without too many annoying ups and downs. As we crested Red, it started to snow pretty hard. After a short break at the top to make the transition, gorp (Travis) said that his skis were making a weird noise. They were sticking straight up out of the snow, and he thought it was from wind going through the holes drilled in his tips, but it wasn't windy, so it seemed odd. Then a few moments later, my poles began making a zinging sound as I stood ready to drop in! We quickly dropped down off the ridge and regrouped. I knew that zinging sound from before, a trip on Rainier when we got pounded by thunderstorms on the descent, with lightning touching down literally all around us. Red mtn gets it's name because of the high iron content of it's igneous rock, so I would guess that Red would be like a giant lightning rod, so from now on, not a place that I wanna be during a storm. We had great turns on the way down, deep powder and whiteout faceshots on every turn. Is it MAY already?? What's with all these late-season powder dumps?! The sun came out and warmed thing up surprisingly fast, and we set off some moderate wet snow slides on a south-facing, sun-affected slope. Despite that, it was nice to see some sunshine on the tour out. Thanks Andrew and Travis for the solid skin tracks and great company!
Reply to this TR
Please login first: