Chair Peak Circumnavigation

The Chair Peak Circumnavigation is the classic scenic tour in the Snoqualmie Backcountry. It travels through diverse terrain with plentiful options for side trips and steep lines. This tour is accessible for many ability levels and makes for a solid day out from Seattle in the closest backcountry in the Cascades.

Began by following the skintrack from Alpental to Source Lake. The tour can be done in both ways, but we will describe counter clockwise. Ascend to Snow Lake Divide, the drop down to Snow Lake. Skin across Snow Lake and work your way up towards Mt. Roosevelt before cutting over to Chair Peak Lake. Continue up to Melakwa Pass. Enjoy a nice south facing descent to Melakwa Lake. Skin up to the col north of Bryant Peak and then ski Bryant Couloir directly down to Source Lake and out the cat track. If Bryant Couloir is too thin or sketchy, one can descend southwards into Great Scott Basin and through mellower trees to Source Lake.

Take the well trodden skin track from Alpental to Source Lake.

It depends on conditions, but usually the crux is managing the snow on all the different aspects. If you are concerned about warming on solar aspects, going clockwise is wise to stay ahead of the solar effect, ascending up to Great Scott Basin (do not climb up Bryant Couloir).

This is a very scenic tour. There are many options to expand this tour with great lines. Began with a longer climb to ski the north slopes of Chair Peak, beautiful rolling post glacial terrain, down to Snow Lake. Holy Diver, Cupcake, and Little Alien couloirs can be added with relative ease. The south face of Kaleetan adds in a big mountain feel.