Colin suggested we head up to Snoqualmie Pass on Sunday to ski The Slot couloir, hoping that the north-facing snow would be in better shape than most everything else we might find. He was right.
We left Seattle at 7am, which was a painful start for me being 7 weeks into new dad sleep deprivation. We met Mitch and Richard at the Alpental backcountry parking lot and began ascending firm snow with ski crampons shortly after 8am. Our ascent was pretty straightforward weaving our way up the ridge crest and became downright pleasant as we reached more open slopes up high when the sun unexpectedly came out in full force. We stripped down to our t-shirts and soaked in a rare dose Vitamin D.
We took a brief look at the couloir on our way up to the summit and it appeared to be reasonably intimidating, but difficult to judge from above. We continued our way to the top, arriving at about 10:45am, a little under 3 hours since we’d started. We ate lunch and took in the views for a bit before clicking into our skis and shimmying down to the top of the couloir.
Colin wasted no time contemplating and zipped past a large group that wasn’t yet ready to head in at the top. I went next and had a few moments of doubt as the terrain was pretty steep and the entry was only wide enough to side slip, but things quickly became much more manageable and we got to experience some exhilarating turns in the ambiance of Snoqualmie Mountain’s frosty, rocky, North Face. We whooped and hollered our way down and then dog-legged left to catch the skin track back up.
Not much to report from our descent other than the snow became quite heavy and unpleasant as we picked our way through the trees. We were back down at the car about 4 hours and 45 minutes after we’d started, ready for some burgers and beers to round out our Sunday Funday. Great day out!