Snoqualmie Pass traverse, From Alpental to Granite Mountain via Kaleetan
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.
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(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
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(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
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(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
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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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(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
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(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
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(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
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(Photo by John)
Skinning off the summit with Kaleetan to the left and Chair peak to the right
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(Photo by John)
John on the summit with the west bowl begging for some tracks
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