ilookeddown

The answer to your question depends on how hard you want to work to get to it. My last ski of the year is usually in July down south near the other Vancouver. North side of Adams 2nd weekend in July

We used your boot track up the gully. Thanks for putting it in.

Trip: Alpental to Granite via Kaleetan - Date: 2/23/2008 Trip Report: Today Monika and I skied Kaleetan Peak and Granite Mountain. We left one car at the Granite Mt. trail head and drove up to Alpental. We left the upper lot at 10am and toured up to the col between Bryant and Chair Peak. Skied down to Upper Melakwa Lake. Put the skins back on and toured up the drainage below Kaleetan before having to boot up the gully to the south face of Kaleetan. From there we were able to tour up most of the way before taking the skis off to make it to the summit. We skied the south face of Kaleetan down to My Lake and then down across Pratt River to about 3200ft. We put the skins back on and toured over a ridge to the south at about 3750ft until we crossed Tuscohatchie creek at the same elevation. We followed the creek up to Tuscohatchie Lake. We crossed the lake and made our way up to a saddle between Cad and Denny Lakes. From there we followed the ridge up the summit of Granite Mt. We skied the West face before traversing over to the lower section on the south side. We got to the trail head at 4:40pm. Overall the snow quality was firm corn snow except the lower south side of Granite where it was just sloppy. Conditions were very solid all day. The elevation gain was around 6700ft. Our descent elevation was about 8100ft. I haven’t figured out the distance. Below Great Scott Basin on our way up Monika making her way up the gully below Kaleetan Looking down at the ski line from the summit of Kaleetan Monika skiing down from the summit of Kaleetan Kaleetan with Tuscohatchie Lake below on our way up Granite Look Out Tower on Granite with some nice guy we met

Trip: Mt. Snoqualmie - Slot Couloir Date: 2/21/2008 Trip Report: I skied the Slot Couloir on Mt. Snoqualmie today. I left the car around 1pm. There were lots of tracks down the Phantom and a few skin tracks up. One I got to the entrance it looked like there had been a few people who have skied it in the past few days. The entrance was very icy for the 30ft. The rest of the couloir was a mix of what felt like wind packed snow in the center and ice on either side. I was a challenging and fun. On the way out someone was nice enough to put up a boot track up to the west ridge and I appreciated that. The ski down the Phantom was great corn and the waterfall was very safe due to all the snow. I did manage to lose my skins somewhere between the west ridge notch and the base of the waterfall. If anyone finds them I can exchange for beer. View on the way up Looking down after the icy start Looking back up The nice boot pack I used.

Thanks to those who looked. My skins fell of my pack somewhere between notch on the west ridge of Mt. Snoqualmie and the base of the waterfall on the phantom today. If anyone finds them please let me know and we can exchange of beer or something. They are BD with the tire tread. Thanks, Dave

Yea, but not as much as the gym.

I had to get up there

Trip: Guye Peak - East Couloir Date: 2/19/2008 Trip Report: I skied the East Couloir of Gyue Peak today. I approached via Commonwealth Basin. The weather was good but the Couloir was very icy. I started @ 3pm and I think it would have been much better around 10am when it was in the sun. At least it was stable. I got one photo with my phone. It seemed a little steeper than last year but it could have been the conditions. The cliffs at the bottom are filled mostly in too. Gear Notes: Standard stuff

Snow or melting snow from above making most routes wet depending on where you were planning on climbing on the south side of the freeway. There is still snow on the ground before you get to the exit. Far side might be OK since it is mostly south facing. It was cloudy and wet both times I drove by today.

You take exceptional care of your skins compared to most people. I still have pine needles in the glue from when we were at WA pass last spring. As for skin storage, don’t let them get too warm over a long period of time or the glue will turn to slime. I do the same as Snoboy. If you have to put them in the fridge at least use the crisper

Cold dry snow + wind transport = bare rock. Here is couple of pictures of a skier triggered slab avalanche just below the route I took on 1/23/08. I figure some of the snow from up there ended up below.

I agree that is was Silver King. There are a couple of ways to get up there but it is fairly popular when the gate is open. I skied it before the area was open this year and we skinned up Silver Basin and took the ridge up. The coverage wasn’t that great on 11/25/07. Here is the trail map. http://www.skicrystal.com/_DOWNLOADS/crystalmap.pdf

PM if you want to give it a try before it melts out.

I was on skis and went down to explore the NW side the day I took that picture.

From last Monday

Talked about here awile back http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/701505/fpart/1

Wish I could but my days off are Tuesdays and Wednsdays.

I have the day off but my regular partners don't. It should be good weather and would like to tour. I know the Snoqualmie Pass are well and was thinking on doing the "crooked" on Mt. Snoqualmie. If there is any interest let me know. Dave

I have 19 days 6 of which I rode the lifts. Kurt, nice skiing with you last Sunday. We should get out again soon.

Trip: Mt. Margaret - West Date: 12/23/2007 Trip Report: Adam and I decided to go touring today up to Mt. Margaret. It’s not the most interesting tour but we needed to get away from the lifts. We knew the avalanche conditions were considered high so we chose this tour and spent most the way up in the trees. We dugs and tested pits on exposed slopes and found nothing to indicate instability in the snow pack. (Last weekend we found lots of fracturing and very unsafe conditions up at the pass). Anyway, we toured up and skied the west aspect of the mountain. We tried to ski cut all open slopes and couldn’t get anything to go. We didn’t see any evidence avalanche activity the entire tour. We skied some open slopes that were 40 degrees and it was solid. I don’t know what to make of it??????????? Sorry no pics, flat light and bad visibility didn’t make it worth it.

I think you are referring to Kendall Stump. It is the clear cut you can see from the freeway. It can be a fairly safe tour short tour but I have still seen slabs release toward the top. Kendall Ridge is very avalanche prone and you would have to travel through a few terrain traps in Commonwealth Basin before heading up to the base of the ridge. There is some great skiing on both the east and west sides if conditions are good. I know it sucks but my suggestion would be to stay in bounds until things settle out a bit.

Glad everyone is OK. Found the same conditions on the 15th in the Snoqualime Pass area.

I would first suggest you read Sky Sjue’s very informative article he wrote: http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/ski-board/ski-intro Second, I would love to tell you exactly what you should get but touring is a compromise between weight and performance. I have a few different binding/boot/ski combinations I use. But, if I could only have one, I would go with an all mountain alpine ski (Dynastar 8800), Dyanfit bindings, and Megaride boots. I would also consider going a size shorter than you think you need for the skis.. I am a little taller and weigh a couple of pounds less than you and ski between a 167 and 171 depending on brand. I hope this helps.

I have looked into them. If you go up to Baker, the Glacier Ski Shop has some they rent out.

Great find! It is just a reminder of how much has changed. I skied my long, thin, strait skis until 2000 when I finally gave in. I need to mount up an old pair to just see if I have become a better skier or if I still suck.