WMCR - Experience Trip 1 - Winter Travel & Overnight w/ Emergency Preparedness - Snoqualmie Summit Ski Areas

We will pick up what Mother Nature is putting down this year (and on our weekend) and adjust our plans to focus on practicing the on-snow skills at the Snoqualmie Summit East/Hyak ski area split over two days.  (As of March 2026, Summit East is not operating and likely to remain so for the season.)

Our learning objectives, as described in the course handbook, are to practice:

1. Building and inhabiting improvised snow shelters — trench, tree well, etc. but not a traditional tent.
2. Building snow anchors and belaying on snow — placing pickets, equalizing multi-piece anchors, seated/"hip" belays, terrain belays, etc.
3. Rope setup for two, three, and four person teams with considerations for traveling as a single team of two, single team of three, or as multiple teams.
4. Emergency preparedness and response — hypowraps, tarp drags, etc.

We will use an ascent of Mt Hyak (approximately 47.38315, -121.40486) as a framework for Day 1.  In addition to required equipment, Ten Essentials, and personal items, please bring:

1. A travel plan to reach the top of Mt Hyak with the learning objectives for the day in mind.
2. A filled-out AIARE Blue Book (pages 6-7 in this PDF) for the day and zone we will be traveling in.  We will do a formal pre-brief before the day(s) and a de-brief at the end of the day(s).

For red tape and access consierations, parking at the Hyak base is $15/car, payable via QR code.  An uphill pass might be required if we're traveling uphill in the ski area's terrain.