Three Way Peak Area 12/14-12/15
12/15/08
2661
2
My toes still hurt. maybe a little nerve damage? no pics, because camera froze an hour into the skinning. alpymarr, Paul, and myself left olympia sunday and survived nasty road conditions and an arctic enumclaw, as well as a malfunctioning windshield wiper fluid nozzle that just about killed us. made it to Crystal circa 11am, and skinned into the three way peak area, reaping a few powderific runs with minimal wind. camped comfortably in B lot, in some rather frosty conditions (3 degrees F). a great test for our bibler. back to three way today, windy on the ridges (2 degrees with winds reaching 50mph) and cold everywhere, but great snow! a few minor scratches from lurking rocks, but well worth it! best turns of the season, so far...
I experienced the same problems in the way of frozen wiper nozzles on my Subaru! I have never experienced that before in my many mountain trips, but it sure as hell is dangerous. I did some research and found many of the same experiences; it seems that Prestone makes a good winter wiper de-icer that preforms well, as well as another product called "Heet"...
I hit Crystal today, stuck the groomers in order to get the legs back. Hiked up to Avalanche Basin, and made a premature decent as I learned that the weakest link of my gear is my gloves; my fingers still hurt! Deep pow up that ways, though....
Any snow pack stability issues?
I hit Crystal today, stuck the groomers in order to get the legs back. Hiked up to Avalanche Basin, and made a premature decent as I learned that the weakest link of my gear is my gloves; my fingers still hurt! Deep pow up that ways, though....
Any snow pack stability issues?
i didn't see any snowpack problems that i was worried about. definitely some minor crack propagation from thin wind buffed layers, some sloughing on top of that, but i didn't see any slab releases or significant point releases. the snowpack is so shallow, even with the new snow, that even smaller rocks and trees are anchors. i was more worried about hidden rocks and trees! however, with the wind buffed powder in some places, with this continued weather, i would expect to see more wind loading, more crusts to slide on, and more depth and surface hoar to provide weak layers as the snowpack builds, especially if this layer doesn't get a gradual warming to decompose the hoar.
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