Slot 'N' Pepper

June 3, 2006 Phil and I drove to Cascade Pass the night before. I slept in the Tacoma's cab, while Phil tried to arrange some sort of Betalite contraption over the pickup bed, trying somewhat in vain to keep his sleeping bag protected from the rain. In the morning, we pushed the bikes up the dry road and stashed them in the bushes near the summer parking lot. After changing into boots, we started up the lower basin, heading to Cascade Pass. After an hour we saw three people following our tracks - Dave, Ben, and Sky. They caught us as we headed up a steep couloir. The three had not brought crampons or helmets, so Dave and Ben turned to Sahale as Phil, Sky, and I headed up the rubble-strewn couloir. Some rocks flew down the chute, so we stayed close to the walls. The top had some rotten snow over a bulge, making for some fun steep snow climbing. What we had just come up (the right fork) was a tough sell, so we opted to descend the left fork. Sky and Phil made two turns each on the clean snow before sidestepping the upper minefield of fallen rocks. I just sidestepped it all. Halfway down the chute there were fewer rocks, but after two turns I screwed up, caught an edge, and my ski released. I arrested after ten feet, but the ski didn't. Pissed, I downclimbed the rest of the chute. Dumb, dumb, dumb. After getting back to the pass, we went after Dave and Ben, up Sahale Arm. Phil and I took it easy and quit a thousand feet below the others, who were at the base of the summit pinnacle. The ski down was great; the snow nice corn. We skied to the road, and a few minutes of coasting on the bikes brought us back to the cars. Phil christened the couloir I downclimbed 'Slot 'n Pepper'. See his photos here. Note that while I appear to be smiling at the top of the couloir, the emotion would more accurately be described as terror.