ilookeddown Posted December 26, 2009 Posted December 26, 2009 Trip: Chair Peak Circumnavigation - Date: 12/25/2009 Trip Report: Weather was looking good so my friend Steve and I decided to do the Chair Peak Circumnavigation. We had both done it a few times but being a low snow year so far we decided it would be best to stick to something we know. We arrived at Alpental mid morning under fog but we were able to get above it at about 4,500ft. Once we reached the notch between Bryan and Chair we changed over and skied down to Melakwa Lake. I managed to release a small slab of wind deposited snow (9” crown 20ft wide) downhill from a little roller. We changed back to skins and made our way up the valley to Melakwa Pass. The ski down to Chair Lake was wonderful powder that never gets effected by the sun. Most of the other slopes on this tour do get some sun so it was either little crusty or wet powder. Once we skied down to Snow Lake we were in the fog again. The wind also picked up so we had to fight an extremely cold head wind across the lake. We gained the Snow Lake Divide we skied the tracked out slopes back to Alpental in the fog. It took us about 6 hours to do this tour and we never had to take our skis off. There is a good skin track in so if you are looking for tour this weekend hit it up. Gear Notes: ski crampons and skin wax useful Quote
keenwesh Posted December 26, 2009 Posted December 26, 2009 how's the approach to the NE Butt of chair past source lake? snowshoes required? looks like a good tour, if I hadn't already taken my splitboard out this week I would be trying the circ. on sunday. Quote
spionin Posted December 26, 2009 Posted December 26, 2009 wow, the cloud blanket looks pretty awesome! great photos! Quote
JoshK Posted December 26, 2009 Posted December 26, 2009 Sweeet!! I was up in Commenwealth Basin 2 days prior and there was still some nice powder up high, and that was in the sun. I imagine that sheltered stuff you found was awesome. Great pics! Quote
kinnikinnick Posted December 26, 2009 Posted December 26, 2009 did you get a look at the ne butt or north face of chair? Quote
goatboy Posted December 26, 2009 Posted December 26, 2009 (edited) NE Butt looked good from the valley just below (by the so-called "Thumbtack" [img:center]http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/504/medium/IMG_1477.JPG[/img] Edited December 26, 2009 by goatboy Quote
bgratias Posted December 27, 2009 Posted December 27, 2009 I went to the base of the NE Buttress today, and didn't need snowshoes. Quote
keenwesh Posted December 27, 2009 Posted December 27, 2009 yeah, sorry, I should have read goatboy's TR first. nice ascent!!! the very finite spur Quote
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