Mid-winter break ice climbing, skiing, and Biking

 Over winter break I got up to a little ice climbing, skiing, and biking. On 2/13, Me and Asher headed up to Franklin falls via the sno-park but got stopped short due to a road closure from forest service staffing issues. We hiked for a bit but realizing it would be faster to turn around and drive to the summer trailhead, we got back to the car. However due to traffic we weren’t able to hop on i90 EB so we turned around and drove to Wayne's world. There was a small ice pitch formed on the dark side which we lapped a few times before heading back to seattle. That afternoon my dad and I drove out to Mt Bachelor where we skied from Monday-Thursday. Fun little resort but pretty low angle. The day after getting back, me and Asher made a second attempt on Franklin Falls, where we were able to go to the winter trailhead and great some great climbing. Well, great-ish. The ice was getting pretty wet but me and Asher still got 4 laps in each. On Saturday and Sunday the snow conditions were worrisome so I decided to make it a productive study weekend. I got in a lap on predator on saturday where it was in surprisingly good condition. On Sunday I rode NOTG, OTG, and Atlas in the pouring rain where I crashed on the blue trail “Inside passage” on my way to Atlas. Sometimes you let your guard down I suppose, and the slippery roots didn’t help. While I didn’t get up to anything extremely rad, I’m pretty proud of my break. Here's a few fun photos.

Snoqualmie Mountain: Snot and Slot Couloirs

The Snoqualmie Mountain couloirs are classics and have always been on my mind. With a great weather window Sunday it seemed like a good enough time to go for them. The plan was the trifecta so we met at the trailhead at 6:00 and were moving by 6:15. We made it to the top of the snot by 8:30 and started trying to set up the rappels. With a 30 meter rope, we extended the top with some cordelette and slings. The rope still didn’t reach and Emily climbed back out at 10:30 after a lot of shenanagins. We then figured we’d try the other rap station. This didn’t reach either but with a little hop over a small cliff band, I was in the couloir. Emily and Andrew watched from above and decided they’d rather go for the slot. While they did that, I went for a quick lap up at the exit col. By 12:30 we were all skinning back out of the basin and topped out on Snoqualmie mountain at around 2. We chilled at the summit for a little bit and saw some of Emily's co-workers on the east summit before deciding to avoid the crooked due to windslab concerns. The slot was skied out but still a good time. We made quick time back out and after an easy ski through phantom, we were at the car by 4. All in all a great day out in Snoqualmonix.

Zipper Couloir

 With nothing to do, decided to go for a “quick” little afternoon mission up roaring ridge and scope out the entrance to the zipper couloir with Emily and Andrew. After dealing with Snoqualmie parking insanity, we got going around 11:15. Going was slow with a little wallowing and breaking trail most of the way but we made it to the entrance around 3:15. After cutting a cornice, we watched a nice big sluff run down. We belayed ski cuts to Emily and Andrew before skiing down. After them, I followed. It was great blower pow and my best line of the year so far. At the bottom we quickly found the XC road and skinned out in the dark.

Turned out to be a surprisingly fun day with a rad couloir in rad snow