The Tooth (Snoqualmie Range, North Cascades, WA; 5,604')

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, Topo Map Routes: South Face (I, 5.4 ?) References: Fred Beckey, Cascade Alpine Guide, Vol. 1 (The Mountaineers 1987)	The Tooth from Pineapple Pass in early January

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!