Routes: South Face (I, 5.4 ?)
References: Fred Beckey, Cascade Alpine Guide, Vol. 1
(The Mountaineers 1987)
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The Tooth is very accessible, and hence can be squeezed into a Seattle trip even if one has
little spare time. The South Face is an easy (around 5.4) alpine climb on extremely solid
rock.
Routes: South Face (I, 5.4 ?)
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Date: April 1, 2016
Party: DB solo
Route: Aproach to Pineapple Pass
Equipment: Alpine skis
Time: Alpental - Pineapple Pass 2 hrs 30 mins
Pineapple Pass - Alpental 45 mins
Roundtrip from Alpental 3 hrs 45 mins
Comments: Very heavy snow except in the bowl
Trip report:
My plan had been to do Snoqualmie Mountain, but I had trouble finding the way through the cliff bands. About 600' above the valley floor I ran into nasty terrain (unstable snow bridges alternating with wet mossy rock with serious exposure) and backed off. So two hours after starting out I was back in the parking lot. An obvious Plan B was Pineapple Pass, and that worked fine. The way to Source Lake is usually very well skied out, but today it wasn't. I followed some old tracks that bypassed Source Lake by going up and left rather early, and eventually reached the bowl below The Tooth. From there it was just a few switchbacks into the pass. The weather was gorgeous, and the views were magnificent. There was a party on The Tooth, and the route looked interesting, with (probably wet) rock alternating with a few sections of steep snow. People seem to do it regularly as the snow sections all had pre-kicked steps.
The downside of the nice weather was that it also was very warm (low 70s in Seattle), and the snow was accordingly horrible. The bowl was fine if one stayed in the shade provided by The Tooth, but below it I did a lot of side slipping on avy debris. In retrospect I should have gone down to Source Lake rather than retracing my tracks up the steep ridge. I still made it back to Alpental in 45 minutes, though, so despite my initial blunder it was a good trip.
Date: January 7, 2012
Party: DB solo
Route: Aproach to Pineapple Pass
Equipment: Alpine skis
Time: Alpental - Pineapple Pass 2 hrs 40 mins
Roundtrip from Alpental 5 hrs 40 mins
Comments: Mostly a good skin track. Roundtrip time includes going back up towards Chair Peak for about 45 minutes.
Trip report:
I was in Seattle and did not want to pass up on the opportunity to visit the Snoqualmie Pass area again, where I had not been in many years. I decided on Pineapple Pass, but took Snow Lake Trail from Alpental, which provides a nice grand tour of the Source Lake Basin. There were quite a number of people going up the slopes of Chair Peak, but nobody going toward the Tooth, which made me wonder. It turned out the locals new that the bowl below Pineapple Pass was crusty, which I did not know yet, but that was okay. I skinned up to the Pass in a pretty good time and had lunch. The weather was not too bad for Snoqualmie in January; it did not rain, it did not even snow, and while I was cooking lunch there even were a few sun breaks. The upper part of the bowl was a bit crusty, but the lower part was very nice. When I reached the Source Lake basin I put my skins back on and went back up, this time towards Chair Peak. After about 700 vertical feet I declared it enough and skied down in very good, if by then somewhat skied-out, powder. For the way back I chose the low trail, which is very fast. All together I was gone from my car for just a bit over 5 1/2 hours. Nice trip, and nice to ski in the Washington Cascades again!
Avy debris en route to Source Lake. |
The Tooth from Snow Lake Trail. |
Cliff in the gully |
Approaching Pineapple Pass. |
View of the Tooth from the pass. |
View of Bryant Peak (?) from the pass. |
For earlier ascents, click here .
