SmilingWhiteKnuckles

Trip: Snoqualmie Mtn. - Slot Couloir Date: 1/31/2010 Trip Report: Skied the Slot with Mark Ryman yesterday. According to the forecast, temps were supposed to drop a bit, but I don't think they did. Sign near the pancake house said 31degrees just before 6am, but it didn't feel that cold and it certainly didn't cool off any. Haven't done that approach quite enough yet to know if there is a holy grail "best way", but it always puts the skinning skills to the test. So eventually, we made it up to the couloir entrance soaked and a bit worked. Mark's boot repair (from a shop! ahem) undid itself somewhere on the the SW flank of Snoqualmie and so it was with some trepidation that we considered the descent. Hell, for a 6 day/year skier, the Slot always brings a hearty adrenalin serge. I booted out carefully along the narrow ridgeline to look down on both sides--sealing the adrenalin deal--to take a few shots of the foursome that went ahead of us (the first of whom is pictured styling the initial drop). [img:left]http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4068/4324704696_8855dc038e_o.jpg[/img] After the four had gone, Mark said, "seems a shame to come all the way up here and not do it." And that was it. We geared up, broken boots and all. It's seen a lot of action lately for sure, but the snow was pretty good, soft and kind of chalky. A lot of spindrift from ski turns all the way down, but no hard debris. And waaaaaaay better than the snow the Phantom offered on the way down! One note is that we saw Mark Westman and Alpine Dave near the base of Snoqualmie's west ridge on the approach. And as we skinned up out of Thunder basin, we could hear them somewhere up on New York Gully in the heavy fog, the distinct rising notes of a piton ringing down to us. And we peered up at the line, an apparition of black gravity looming up, and wondered...and sent some strength and speed their way... More photos here Gear Notes: apply no-stick stuff to skins BEFORE starting out. ski crampons would've helped. Approach Notes: sweaty and challenging

Thanks Argus! Wow, 4000' tres haut! Ouch! love your avatar

Anyone know if the mtn. loop is open to the Mt. Pugh trailhead? Anyone been up there recently? Or up to the road off the west ridge of White Chuck? (can't recall the name of this one)

I like how the bearded Underwear Man is giving you the "have a nice effin day" finger! Hilarious report and as usual, awesome close-ups. Thanks.

Not bad and pretty quick. A couple steep downclimbing steps but no ridiculous exposure at these. I guess I'd call it mostly 3rd class except for these couple spots. There's a cool spot where you can look straight down the opening pitches of the Tooth NE slab route (before bailing down a much less frightening gulley on the west side).

Trip: Das Tooth, Hemlock, Bryant - South Rib Date: 6/7/2009 Trip Report: A much needed surgical strike yesterday. Definitely avoided the crowds on this journey as I arrived first car in the upper Alpental lot and started walking about 6am. Snow was pretty good for walking and I'd say this area is still skiable for a bit depending on the weather over the next couple weeks. Climbed the south rib of the Tooth. Catwalk definitely had my attention! And it was an Alpental pea soup type of day with a quiet cloud layer shrouding all the peaks above about 4700'--so the views were limited and the route finding a bit more challenging. The light mist that began on the summit, dampening the lichen, definitely made the climb down the north ridge a bit more exciting. Having descended the north ridge once before, this went pretty smoothly and I made it down to the snow again without having to use the rope I brought. Hemlock Peak was quickly attained and after donning crampons again I descended steep snow to the NW or W which ended too quickly. I just kept them on to ape hang off trees and down climb down a steep section. Then I was able to traverse to Hemlock Pass. There was snow right to the pass and it would have been a simple downclimb back into the Tooth basin...had it been the objective. Climbing up Bryant Peak was easy snow and a little scrambling at the top. Great airy ridge summit with all the north flanks dropping away below.. If one is looking down and south down the mellowest slopes from Bryant, perhaps on a different day, one would see Malakwa Lake. To the skier's right of this South? rib, there is a big cliff going down the fall line. Descending down to 5000 - 5100', I was able to traverse right (west). Eventually I found a chink in the cliff and was able to downclimb onto a snow finger happy to avoid breaking out the rope at all. From thereon, all was straightforward. Up to Bryant Pass and down and to the right (east) around Bryant's north shoulder into the Tooth basin and down to the car by 12:30pm. Awesome for one more snow adventure at Snoqualmie! So close to home! Gear Notes: aluminum ice axe, aluminum crampons brought but didn't use: 30m rope, harness, a few slings. Approach Notes: Good snow for walking.

Way to get it, Tony!! and I like your slo-mo movie signature. And the West Ridge route? Are the approach gulleys still snow filled? Is the summit block snowy on the west side?

Wow. Please convince your kids to help with pictures! Sounds like an awesome route (up at least!). Nice going.

Boss Hoss! very cool. Thanks for the report!

Dane, Thanks for posting these great stories. Crazy? Unsafe? Perhaps. Fantastic? Certainly. Thank you. John

A couple more photos: Rob skinning up the steepening "fan". And Rob about to shred said fan.

Rob's suggestion below the route was to keep skinning. Probably should have done this and saved some energy...I guess I thought the snow would become harder. It did not and was slow going. But the shot of Rob with the north face above him really sums up the day. We were two happy dads, psyched to be out in the alpine. And we gained a lot of good knowledge for the next go and had some fantastic turns both down the lower north face back to the ridge and down the fan we climbed between (and below really) the north face and hanging glacier. It's a pretty awesome cirque up there!

Cool. I'll give a call later. I'm still at work. ug.

Cornfed, are you still going up to Shuksan tonight? I am interested...

Sounds like a great trip! How long were your ropes or was your rope? I'm thinking of the raps. Would a 60m get one down?

Rad climbing, Mr. Telemarker. Having just done the west ridge of Prusik again yesterday, I came upon a fresh and invigorated appreciation of your trip, both the hutzpah of soloing these routes and the sheer magnitude of the whole venture. Two thumbs up for you man!!! Nice going.

It makes a great solo! Provided the conditions are "good" (it is a snow route afterall) and you're comfortable with exposure on steep snow. I've soloed it twice, but the couloir was quite a bit more filled in than it is currently.

The Sandpiper:

Trip: Colchuck Peak - North Buttress Couloir/NW Face Date: 6/7/2008 Trip Report: It's never too late for winter in the Cascades...or in Seattle for that matter. Junuary I've heard it called recently. Anyhow, a questionable forecast meets two fathers with a bad jones for the alpine--the only solution is a trip to the east side. I figured that with the cold nightime temps this route would go even in a gale. And well, it was windy up and high and pretty dang bitter wintery in the shade, but we were treated to mostly sun and we had a blast climbing this route. I love this route and it provided, especially with the sun, a sweet introduction to roped alpine climbing to my friend, Jeremy, who's a rad skier and great athlete, but had never used an axe or crampons before. I'm pretty sure the fire is lit! The couloir itself was more melted out than the previous times I've done this route and I cavalierly threw asked Jeremy if he'd prefer the rock or snow at the step. Well rock it was. I rationalized that this was safer cause nothing would come down that way, but realistically not much was falling down even in the morning sun... The lead up the rock part took me a long time as I hemmed and hawed about this way or that and the manky rock--really helped bring my present skill/strength check back to earth. And hell, I got through it which made me feel good the rest of the day and still feels good. So up and up we went in kind of step kicking snow that changed a lot. Sometimes it was kind of crusty and up top it seemed like wind blown slab, but it was great really. At the notch, the wind was howling and despite having stopped just below the gale to gather our thoughts, still the sweat froze for awhile despite the sun. Maybe that's it, that's what I love, that you follow the sun on this one. This was certainly my most favorite time on the NW face. My recollections of it are somewhat thin from previous times. It was more filled in and I trucked up it. But now there was a lot of rock and so many ways to go. And the snow was mostly this hard neve dotted with rime feathers. Very cool. JD on alpine turbo metal Also worth noting is that there were a lot of people up there, mostly doing Colchuck via the glacier or Dragontail via the Colchuck Glacier or Aasgard, and we met some cool folks. One couple told us there were up there the weekend prior and some dude basejumped the Sandpiper. They were stoked about it. Jeremy and I just thought WTF?! friggin deathwish. We would have liked to have seen it though. Also met (by voice) fellow CC'er DPS who was sleeping in front of our car--nice to meet you (tales?). Gear Notes: crampons, axe, 40m rope, light rack (we brought one picket and used it...cause we had it) Approach Notes: No snow until the boulder field

I climbed and skied Mt. Cashmere last weekend. Snow level (on south aspect) started about 5500' so there was a lot of walking with skis. Once I got up near the saddle above Lk Caroline, the snow was continuous though and I was able to cover ground pretty quickly on the planks. Was thinking though that it would be the last time I brought the skis out for lower elevation (ie non-volcano) climbing...

bonathanjarrett, I was up in the region Saturday and was surprised at how cool it was during the early am hours (1-5am). The snow remained very firm in the morning and was great for traveling early. I saw evidence of one huge slide north of Mt. Cashmere*, but other than that and wet slides above the Ice Cliff Glacier, I didn't see much. So what I'm getting at is that (having done the SGC route in June) this route might still be in good shape--especially if it cools off this week at night. My one recommendation is to hit the couloir before the sun hits that east facing upper snow slope (which may be in the neighborhood of 8am)... *too elaborate a bit, this slide was on a roughly SE aspect on a smaller mountain to the north, across the valley from Mt. Cashmere. Look like it ran way down and scraped some earth...

Thanks!!

Looks like fun!! Thanks for posting. Glad you got out, Mark!

Does anybody know the status of 8-mile road? Is it open? How far? If not, is there snow on the road? How far? Thanks muchachos y muchachas

Telemarker, You certainly plucked the day from this week! Sounds like a great trip. What would it have been like had you skied the couloir and a bit further then skinned back up to Cashmere's shoulder and then skied the south side back to your ascent route? Too long I suspect for your timing, but would the skiing on the south side been crap or corn? Thanks yo.