Snoqualmie Mountain...Revolutions
"The Crooked/Slot Double Shot" as coined by Sky
January 11, 2004
Who: Jason and Josh Hummel, Sky Sjue and Sam (Dave Coleman came along for the ride too but opted for some laps at the 'scratch instead.)
The forecast was pretty much right on this time: Fog in the passes, elevated freezing level and a minor chance of precipitation.
Sky, Dave and I met up with the wonder twins at the parking lot and we were climbing by 9am. Fog soon gave way to high overcast at about 4,500ft. The recent warming trend has really done a lot to solidify the snowpack and that's good to see after all of the dumps we've gotten recently. We reached the summit of Snoqualmie Mountain by about 11:30 just as the sun was coming out for good! The ridgeline that connects the true summit to the East Peak of the mountain was only moderately corniced and allowed for an entrance to the Crooked Couloir from pretty much right off the main summit... much more aesthetic than a recent guidebook suggests.
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Rainier starts to lift her skirt
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Chair Peak and Mt. Roosevelt
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Sky leading the way as he often does
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Hummel-Hummel!
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Sky nearing the top
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Seattle's Skyscrapers...seriously!
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more Chair than we know what to do with
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looking down on Guye Pk. from the top
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the bottom 1/2 of Alpental wsa in the clouds all day
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McClellan Butte in the distance
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Jason got the party started by launching a 40 footer off the spur 100' to the south of the summit. It was about 20' more than he was expecting, but the landing was soft. Josh sent a 20 footer after gaining a new appreciation for depth perception...
Next, it was my turn. I opted for a line off the cornice almost directly off the top and got some very sweet turns in. Sky took a line slightly east of the Hummels and rattled off a dozen of so. Regrouped, we continued down making an "elegant" turn to the west. The ice ramp which exits the route was in great shape as I learned from recent observations. Ten really tight turns and we were on exit apron of "The Slot". Time check: 1:15pm
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Sky Flydelity!
photo: Jason Hummel |
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Jason's landing zone
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view down the Crooked bowl
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Josh entering the trees above the "ice bulge"
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view down to Thunder Basin
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silly Hummel
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Jason enters the ice ramp exit
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going for a double shot...
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self explanatory
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Snow Lake divide
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Jason wishing he had a rope to enter the Slot
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Jason watching as Sky threads the Slot
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We needed more. We had the entire mountain to ourselves, so we weren't about to pass up another chance to ski "The Slot" in untracked conditions! About 45 minutes of boot packing and we were on top once again. Damn, we forgot our rope! What ever will we do? He, he! We took turns down the gully and headed for the exit notch. The ski down the Phantom to the waterfall returned us to the fog and the snow was literally mashed potatoes. It was definitely warm as we could easily hear and see water flowing underneath us in a couple places. Back at the cars at 3:20. Another awesome day, only an hour away!
And now for our feature presentation: (Windows Media, 9.93MB 3:50)
Click here for Sky's version of events.
Click here for Jason's version of events.
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