Mount Snoqualmie
Crooked/Slot Double Shot
January 11, 2004
March, 2007: Having skied the Slot Couloir a healthy half-dozen times and Mt Snoqualmie and the Phantom more than I could count, this blurb has been chosen as the canonical Slot schpiel.
Josh, Jason, and Sam climb the Slot Couloir.
Jason takes big air into the Crooked Couloir.
Sam, Dave, and I met Jason and Josh Hummel at the Alpental parking lot. The top item on the agenda was an ascent of Snoqualmie Mountain. The Crooked Couloir was the first line we had in mind. Dave had been sick to his stomach, so he rode the lifts at Alpental. I grabbed my light, high performance ski gear and started breaking trail.
There was fog and very wet, crusty snow (At Snoqualmie? No way!) from the parking lot. We climbed a thousand feet and the snow and clouds lightened a little. Another thousand and the fog was below us. With only an infinitesimal addition of patience, we found powder. By the time we reached the summit, the clouds above us were also burning away. To the east of the summit of Snoqualmie Mountain, the cornices above the bowl leading to the Crooked Couloir didn't look too intimidating. Jason had the urge to hurl himself off the cornice without further consideration.
Jason admires I-90 from high on Mt Snoqualmie.
We all enjoyed the powder in the bowl. The next segment had only the slightest bit of crust and was still quite enjoyable. The exit couloir yielded some very tasty, tight jump turns, then left us drooling ravenously at the bottom of the Slot Couloir. Josh was the first to submit to the Slot's siren song, quickly hastening toward the top of the Slot. I dropped my pack and let it slide down the mountain, but I was rewarded for my stupidity with a good shot of the couloir and more nice slush turns.
The Slot Couloir was as fun as ever. We didn't have a rope to belay into it. Jason pioneered an innovative approach. The ski to the bottom and climb to the saddle went all too quickly. We skied the waterfall directly to the parking lot. I think we all went home as satisfied as possible.
Jason takes some air in the Slot, December 2003.
Nice shots by Ben Kaufman from a November 2006 Slot ski:
