TR: Corn to the West Pow to the East, From Kaleetan to Dragontail

After looking at the weather forecast it seemed we had a two day break in between unstable weather patterns so John (Jcocci on splitboard.com) and I decided to take advantage of blue skies and corn in the Snoqualmie pass area. We passed a few ideas back and forth “I have always wanted to do Kaleetan but I have never done Granite either” then we came up with the idea of doing them both. We were inspired by a trip Monika and Dave Perkins did last year in which you started off at the Alpental parking lot then do a long traverse to the Granite mountain parking lot while hitting Chair peak col, Kaleetan and Granite along the way. It was over 12 miles but well worth the effort.

Thursday April 30th

Hiking the Alpy B.C. to source lake, Chair Peak in the background.
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s...agontail/a.jpg
(Photo by John)
Traversing into the Pineapple basin
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(Photo by John)
John Skinning with Bryant peak in the background
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To access the Bryant/ Chair peak col requires climbing a steep semi exposed face so we switched over to Ice axes and Crampons for our ascent

Climbing up to the col in the early morning Mank conditions
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(Photo by John)
Climbing up the final pitch with Snoqualmie Mountain in the Background
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(Photo by John)
After accessing the Col we rode down to Melakwa Lake in Pre corn conditions
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(Photo by John)
John riding down onto Melakwa Lake
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Our first view of Kaleetan looking up the Melakwa lake basin
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From here we decided to head up to Melakwa pass so we could see what would be the best approach to Kaleetan
John skinning up the Valley
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s...l/DSC07498.jpgJohn standing at the pass looking at the East face of Kaleetan
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Glacier Peak came into view
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After finding the least sketch approach to the Summit of Kaleetan we switch over to crampons and Ice axes again and started climbing
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s...gontail/13.jpg
(Photo by John)
John climbing up with Snow Lake in the valley bellow and Big Snow Mountain in the Distance
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Summiting the col to access Kaleetans summit chair peak in the background
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(Photo by John)
Hiking the final pitch to access the summit of Kaleetan
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Hiking up with our ski line and slogging path up to Granite below
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s...gontail/17.jpg
(Photo by John)
Some views from the summit (6259 feet)
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(Photo by John)
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The ride down Kaleetan was not quite corn, but not quite Mank
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s...gontail/20.jpg
(Photo by John)
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(Photo by John)
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(Photo by John)
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(Photo by John)
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We rode almost 3’000 vert all the way down through old growth timber to around 3’400 feet at the start of the Pratt River
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s...gontail/34.jpg
(Photo by John)
From here we traversed a small ridge then followed the main drainage up numerous lakes to access the summit of Granite.
Checking the Map and resting in the sunshine at upper Tuscohatchie Lake
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s...gontail/35.jpg
(Photo by John)
John skinning across the lake
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John skinning up the Eastern ridge to gain access to the summit of Granite
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After miles and miles of skinning we finally made it to the Summit of Granite
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s...gontail/39.jpg
(Photo by John)
Skinning off the summit with Kaleetan to the left and Chair peak to the right
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s...gontail/40.jpg
(Photo by John)
John on the summit with the west bowl begging for some tracks
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Looking back at Snoqualmie Mountain to the left and Over Coat peak in the distance
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s...gontail/38.jpg
(Photo by John)
One last look before descending, Kaleetan to the left chair peak to the right
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We were exhausted from the long trip so we decided to rip down the southern face of granite non stop. The corn for the first 1’500 feet was perfect, stable, steep corn by far the best run off the day. After that it was 500 feet of Avy debris riding then bushwhacking through dense forest until we reached the trail and hiked out the last 500 vert.
Luckily while we were riding down Brad (Moscawulff on turns-all-year) was hiking up the ridge and got a few shots of us. Thanks Brad
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It’s a brutal tour but well worth it
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s...ntail/Topo.jpg



Originally my plans for Friday was to go climb Mt Stuart but a few days earlier a storm came from East to West brining over a foot of fresh snow to the area. While I love powder I don’t love hiking up a 4’000 foot SE facing avalanche path so I changed plans. Instead of hitting a south facing slope I decided to head to some North Facing slopes in the same area and take advantage of some late season pow conditions.

Dragon Tail Peak is the second highest in the Stuart range summiting at 8840 with a skiable line off the SW face.
http://www.pbase.com/nolock/image/57356997

I met up with Dan (crstlxtrm) in Bellevue and we made the long drive to Icicle Creek just outside of Leavenworth were we camped at 8 mile campground. Early the next morning we drove up to around 1 mile before the trailhead before being stopped by a patch of snow. We packed our gear and were on the trail by 7:00 AM. The hike was rather straight forward with no post holing for the first few miles before switching over to skins. After 2 hours of hiking through the Alpine Lakes wilderness we finally made it to the base of Colchuck lake. The original plan was to meet up with Jeff (Spicoli11 on splitboard.com) and Scott (Ale Capone on splitboard.com) at there base camp at the lake but we were late so it was going to be a game of catch up.

Friday May 1st

Dragontail Peak to the Left and Colchuck peak to the right with our Ascent up Colchuck glacier in the middle
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Skinning up Colchuck Glacier with Jeff and Scott in the distance.
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Looking down at Colchuck Lake
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Jeff breaking trail with the Summit of Dragon Tail above him
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Once we hit the Col we traversed around to the SW face of Dragontail to access the summit couloir
Jeff and Scott skinning up to the Summit of Dragontail
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After accessing the summit col Jeff and I did some rock scrambling to make it to the summit proper
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y13...olchuck031.jpg
(photo by Scott)
Climbing the rock with Scott getting ready to drop in.
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s...a80e65b2_o.jpg
(photo by Jeff)
Jeff sitting on the Summit proper with Cashmere in the background
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Looking west at Colchuck Peak
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Argonaut to the left Mt Stuart in the Middle and Colchuck to the right
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Mt Rainier showing herself in the distance
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Scott drops in
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s...a32ab707_o.jpg(photo by Jeff)
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(photo by Jeff)
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Then Jeff
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I drop in last
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s...8a71b305_o.jpg(photo by Jeff)
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s...e2038c71_o.jpg
(photo by Jeff)

The conditions on the SW side of Dragontail were soft Cascadian Mank, not yet sticky but heavy. After dropping about 700 vert we hiked back up to the Col and dropped almost 3’000 vert of perfect may powder delivering face shots with almost every turn.
Jeff dropping in with Colchuck lake in the distance
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s...l/DSC07591.jpg
Scott tearing it up (yes it was that good)
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s...f7d5189d_o.jpg(photo by Jeff)
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s...aa28c79e_o.jpg(photo by Jeff)
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(photo by Jeff)
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(photo by Jeff)
Enjoying the bluebird Pow
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(photo by Jeff)
Scott getting some air time
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(photo by Jeff)
With the occasional Ice spot
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s...6e231091_o.jpg
(photo by Jeff)
Scott, Dan and myself ripping down the lower apron
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s...94edb38d_o.jpg
(photo by Jeff)
Looking back up at our lines
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Jeff, Scott and Dan skinning back to there base camp to pack up and head out
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Skinning across the Lake before our mini epic
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Our route out was brutal we were able to find a 50 degree chute down a cliff band that had fallen down trees and devils club everywhere ( I hate devils club). After bushwhack for a few hours and crossing a few creeks we made it back to the trail and back to the car less then a hour before it was dark.
The mini epic bushwhack
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s...l/DSC07604.jpg
Our ascent to Dragon tail
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s...0tail/topo.jpg
Enjoy.

Great work!

Way to get the most out of the two days of good weather.

way to hit the pow. i knew it was good over there.

you sir are a grade A badass. I love your TRs

FKNA! Looks like an epic time. Please keep bringing the North Cascade stoke!

Nice! I've been wanting to get to Colchuck for a long time, Friday was the day to do it for sure. That's some mighty sweet snow you guys found up there, looks like the storm that brought it tracked to the South as I was up in the N. Cascades Friday and didn't find any fresh stuff.

Beautiful photos. It looks like you had a serious workout on the way up.

I like the raven photo.

I grew up in Leavenworth and know that area very well, you picked the right day for sure, it can get really nasty up there. I agree 100% with fish you are a Badass Mo Fo! and a very fit one at that. Well done!

Very impressive.

You hit it right, way to get after it!