Link to all the pictures here
I had a four-day weekend and Becky was on winter break and the snow conditions were setting up to make for an epic weekend.
Day 1 - Bullion Basin. Amazingly our group never saw anyone on the east side of the basin all day. No other ski tracks to cross, no competition for what pitch to ski next, just total solitude.
Day 2 - Mt.Snoqualmie. Becky and I wanted to get back to town in time to watch the Peach Bowl, so we figured we'd just do a quick half day. We climbed up the Phantom trees and upper south slope of Snoqualmie and had some amazing views and great snow. We were shocked that the Slot Couloir hadn't been skied yet that day, but as a rule we always like to have a rope to ski-cut the top of it....no rope (and not enough time either) so some other lucky folks got fresh tracks.
Day 3 - Chair Peak Circumnavigation. Back up to Snoqualmie with our friends early on Sunday. The snow was even better than the day before now that the breakable crust at the lower elevations was covered with about eight inches of fresh snow.
As we approached Byrant Col, the weather socked in and we couldn't see anything. We were concerned about stability and lack of visibility, so we opted to tour around Pineapple Pass instead. Every time I pass by Melakwa Lake, I wanna camp out there and ski all the slopes in the vicinity. It was a pleasant surprise to reach Melakwa Pass and see that there were only three sets of ski tracks out in front of us...plenty of room for fresh lines for all of us. Everyone kept chugging along and we rolled into the Alpental parking lot with about fifteen minutes of daylight left before we would've had to click on our headlamps.
Day 4 - Chair Peak north slopes. The crew from the previous days touring wasn't up for another day, but Ross and Bob hadn't been out yet this weekend, so I tagged along with them. First lap was down the Snow Lake couloir, then back up the north shoulder of Chair Peak and down the main north slopes to the lake. I was glad the day wrapped up around 2pm as my legs were beginning to feel like lead bricks after the previous days trips.
