Snoqualmie Slot Couloir

[robertm]

We wanted to scope out NY Gully and the weather and visability was poor so we decided it would be fun to head up the infamous Enigma Gully (get some conditioning and learn the approach). It was hard to find the entrance into the basin below Snoqualmie peak due to visiblity. We ended up heading too far up the valley (I think .5 miles is too far) and hit the ridge too far West. We traversed the ridge and weaved around some gendarmes that proved the most exciting part of the day. The clouds lifted for a moment and revealed the basin and the lower part of the North side of the mountain. We dropped down into the basin on 25 degree stable slopes with breakable crust. At this point crampons were balling up. We headed over towards NY gully and it didn't look in to us. The rock was wet and there wasn't much ice that we could see. The lower part of slot couloir had unpleasant breakable crust but about 100m up it turned into harder snow you could stay on top of. There were a couple of big rocks exposed in the middle of the gully due to overall lack of snow this year. It was a really cool easy climb and the horrible visibility and hard snow fall added to the fun. What is neat about the coulior is that you can barely see it at all as it is completely hidden with only an avy cone to betray its location. At the top of the coulior was 3 inches of new snow over ice for the last 50m. The descent down the SW slopes sucked because the crust wasn't strong enough to support your body weight so you would sink in and then somtimes be thrown forward because your foot wouldn't come out. At about 4000 feet the snow turned to rain and we trudged back to the car. Another party had headed for the N. Face of Chair and reported no or little ice on the face. They opted for standard climb up the descent gully which they said was in good shape.

[Alex]

 

Yeah Slot is a fun recon! This taken a few weeks ago.