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Ascent to Snoqualmie Mountain-Guye/Cave Ridge Col on 2002-03-14

Climber: Greg Slayden

Others in Party:

Glenn Morrison

Date:

Thursday, March 14, 2002

Ascent Type:

Unsuccessful - Turned Back

Point Reached:

Snoqualmie Mountain - Guye/Cave Ridge Col

Location:

USA-Washington

Elevation:

4650 ft / 1417 m

Remaining Elevation:

1628 ft / 496 m (49% left to go)

Ascent Trip Report

This was the third attempt by Glenn and I to do a winter ski trip to Snoqualmie Mountain. Instead of repeating our last failed route (the west ridge, cut by huge cliffy gaps), we returned to the Commonwealth Basin approach of our first attempt. This time, we thought we would aim for the Guye/Cave Ridge Col, instead of the steep line further up the basin.

The weather was not the best. We parked near the Snoqualmie Pass ski area, hiked under I-90, and skinned up the small slope of the Sahalie Ski Club and then into the woods. We made our way up into Commonwealth Basin and then carefully found our way up the valley leading to the Guye/Cave col. The snow was deep and heavy, and it was coming down pretty strongly, too. Our progress was pretty slow.

We reached the col where we could see the south ridge of Snoqualmie above us through the raging blizzard. We were behind schedule and the conditions were not good, so it was an easy decision to bail. We had an interesting time making turns in the heavy glop as we skied back downhill, retracing our upward path. I did not ski well in the thick forest and its varied terrain of little gullies.

The last slope of the Sahalie Ski Club was heavy concrete snow. So it was a fun day in the winter environment, but it did not offer much in the way of climbing or quality skiing.

Summary Total Data

Elevation Gain:

1710 ft / 521 m

Trailhead:

Sahalie Ski Club 2940 ft / 896 m

Grade/Class:

Quality:

3 (on a subjective 1-10 scale)

Route Conditions:

Bushwhack, Snow on Ground, Snow Climb

Gear Used:

Skis

Weather:

Snowing, Cold, Windy, Low Clouds

GPS Data for Ascent/Trip

GPS Waypoints - Hover or click to see name and lat/long
Peaks: climbed and unclimbed by Greg Slayden
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Note: GPS Tracks may not be accurate, and may not show the best route. Do not follow this route blindly. Conditions change frequently. Use of a GPS unit in the outdoors, even with a pre-loaded track, is no substitute for experience and good judgment. Peakbagger.com accepts NO resposibility or liability from use of this data.

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