Chair Peak circumnavigation pictures
Arrowhead Peak pictures
Snoqualmie Pass pictures
McClellan Butte pictures
Becky had one week of winter break left before starting her next quarter of nursing school and I was taking a long 5-day weekend over New Years....fortunately the weather cooperated for us to get out four days in a row for a lot of good backcountry skiing. We thought about doing an overnighter, but with the snow being so good at Snoqualmie and Stevens and after last season's terrible snowpack, we were more excited about just being powder pigs and hitting all our favorite old tours than spending some cold 16 hour nights in a tent.
First up was the Chair Peak loop...up down and around Chair. Great turns as long as we avoided the occasional patch of wind slab and sun crust.
Thursday we drove up to Stevens and skied Arrowhead. A very cold day with temps in the single digits. More great snow, nothing affected by the wind or sun. Some recent logging on the lower slopes had the benefit of turning a stand or small, dense timber into wide open cruiser slopes on the last bit to the car. The Stevens Pass traffic was even worse than usual though...it took us three hours to drive home that night and I was ready to go back to the short one-hour scoot from Seattle back to Snoqualmie Pass.
Friday we had plans to do a big tour with a bunch of folks. Late Thursday night we got word that all our friends involved with search & rescue wouldn't be able to join us- there was an overdue hiker on Granite Mtn and they'd join the search in the morning. With our crew down to just Becky, me, and Kirsten we skipped the far-ranging trip and opted for harvesting more powder close to Alpental. Despite skiing a southern apsect, the weak winter sun and tall trees preserved the powdery snow. We skied three long laps, returning to the car at sunset and never saw anyone else all day. Sadly, the search over on Granite did not find the snowshoer alive, he was found Friday amongst avalanche debris from a slide the prior day.
Saturday, our SAR friends were available and Becky & I were all out of ideas on where to go, so our gaggle of ski buddies headed up for more of a silly, exploratory trip. We were pretty sure the strong east winds coming out of Snoqualmie Pass had wrecked the slopes of McClellan Butte, but we figured we'd get some exercise. The low elevation snowpack allowed us to start sking right off of I-90 at only 1,400ft elevation. We skied up the forest service road and entered the forest around 2000ft. Up to about 3,200ft to take a look around and unfortunately the upper slopes didn't look safe, so we took two short laps in a low angle clearing and then bashed our way through the forest and back to the road. While on the road, we helped push a 4x4 truck out of a ditch, and then everyone hitched a ride back to the cars to save their ski bases from being damaged on the gravel-studded icey snow next to the road. I was using my beat-up old skis, so I went ahead and skated/shuffled back to the car. And as all Snoqualmie Pass ski tours should properly end, we headed to Rhodies BBQ for pulled pork sandwiches on our way home.
Arrowhead Peak pictures
Snoqualmie Pass pictures
McClellan Butte pictures
Becky had one week of winter break left before starting her next quarter of nursing school and I was taking a long 5-day weekend over New Years....fortunately the weather cooperated for us to get out four days in a row for a lot of good backcountry skiing. We thought about doing an overnighter, but with the snow being so good at Snoqualmie and Stevens and after last season's terrible snowpack, we were more excited about just being powder pigs and hitting all our favorite old tours than spending some cold 16 hour nights in a tent.
First up was the Chair Peak loop...up down and around Chair. Great turns as long as we avoided the occasional patch of wind slab and sun crust.
Thursday we drove up to Stevens and skied Arrowhead. A very cold day with temps in the single digits. More great snow, nothing affected by the wind or sun. Some recent logging on the lower slopes had the benefit of turning a stand or small, dense timber into wide open cruiser slopes on the last bit to the car. The Stevens Pass traffic was even worse than usual though...it took us three hours to drive home that night and I was ready to go back to the short one-hour scoot from Seattle back to Snoqualmie Pass.
Friday we had plans to do a big tour with a bunch of folks. Late Thursday night we got word that all our friends involved with search & rescue wouldn't be able to join us- there was an overdue hiker on Granite Mtn and they'd join the search in the morning. With our crew down to just Becky, me, and Kirsten we skipped the far-ranging trip and opted for harvesting more powder close to Alpental. Despite skiing a southern apsect, the weak winter sun and tall trees preserved the powdery snow. We skied three long laps, returning to the car at sunset and never saw anyone else all day. Sadly, the search over on Granite did not find the snowshoer alive, he was found Friday amongst avalanche debris from a slide the prior day.
Saturday, our SAR friends were available and Becky & I were all out of ideas on where to go, so our gaggle of ski buddies headed up for more of a silly, exploratory trip. We were pretty sure the strong east winds coming out of Snoqualmie Pass had wrecked the slopes of McClellan Butte, but we figured we'd get some exercise. The low elevation snowpack allowed us to start sking right off of I-90 at only 1,400ft elevation. We skied up the forest service road and entered the forest around 2000ft. Up to about 3,200ft to take a look around and unfortunately the upper slopes didn't look safe, so we took two short laps in a low angle clearing and then bashed our way through the forest and back to the road. While on the road, we helped push a 4x4 truck out of a ditch, and then everyone hitched a ride back to the cars to save their ski bases from being damaged on the gravel-studded icey snow next to the road. I was using my beat-up old skis, so I went ahead and skated/shuffled back to the car. And as all Snoqualmie Pass ski tours should properly end, we headed to Rhodies BBQ for pulled pork sandwiches on our way home.
