Trapper Grand Slam

Looking to Trapper from my skiing high point on North Trapper.

2/7/2026:  I returned to Trapper for the Grand Slam, linking Oh My God chute, North Trapper Southeast face and gully, Trapper North gully, and the Gem Lake couloir.  With a proper early start, I was on top of Oh My God at 9 am.  The entrance cornice afforded easy-enough entrance on the skier's right margin, and the chute skied well.  The climb to North Trapper and ascent was smooth, and I summited at 11:40, excited to get off the mountain before it warmed up more.  Skiing was a bit overcooked but good, and I linked turns from my skis on point to the base with the exception of the choke.  I think I was tired from Rando Radness, and the rest of the day was good but slow.  

Looking back up the Oh My God chute.

Trapper was fun, the climb up the Gem Lake exit was slow but uneventful, and the climb up the Gem Lake couloir was OK.  I didn't like spending so much time under the huge hanging cornices in the couloir, but was sufficiently motivated by completing the grand slam to just do it.  Soon enough, I was stepping in just under the corniced entrance.  The couloir skied well, and the exit to the road was good until I hit mushy and eventually isothermal snow around the trailhead.  Soft snow made the egress slow, and it wasn't until dark that I returned to the car, very tired but totally fired up by making the most of a very lackluster January dry spell.

Following my old bootpack from two weeks prior up the Gem return couloir.

In the Gem Lake Couloir.

I think the Grand Slam is a cool and challenging link up, but the objective hazard associated with glide avalanches on North Trapper and cornices in the Gem Lake couloir, challenge in getting North Trapper done with safe conditions, and sheer length will likely keep it from being a classic, or a tour that people do often.  Exact stats are lost to poor memory, but 10k and done in about 12 hours car to car.

Preamble:  1/19/26:  I did a similar tour without the Gem Lake couloir and with a run in the Gem Lake return couloir, which lit the spark for the Grand Slam.  The highlight of the tour was discovering that North Trapper was in fine condition in January, and skiing it with perfect corn conditions from 150 vertical feet below the summit (I climbed to the summit without skis).  

Ready to drop in on Trapper, with the North Trapper run in the backgound.