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December 25, 2008, Chuckanut Mountains

12/25/08
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Posted by johnr on 12/25/08 10:18am
A quick report from the Chuckanuts, where the Cascades meet the sea.  An unusually prolonged cold spell and frequent snow conspired to open up the rarely skied, out-the-backdoor terrain just south of Bellingham.  I took advantage of the conditions to test out my new AT set up (thank-you Santa).

A snow pit revealed no weak layers in the upper 14 inches (which also happened to be the lower 14 inches).  Excellent anchorage as well.  Wet snow below 750 feet, soft and powdery goodness above.  Skinned up trails and fire roads in the vicinity of Fragrance Lake.  Off piste descents into steepish glades were considered, attempted, and quickly abandoned due to the lack of, and I'm guessing here, five additional feet of snow. The run back to the car revealed a large group of snowshoe sportin', back-country posers wiping out my carefully laid skin tracks.  >:(   

Thanks for the report of conditions across town.  I concur that with about another 5 feet of snow, we'll be set.

and the poser on the shiny new AT gear skiing the mellow?

This morning in the foothills found thin and crusty snow from 450' to 800' asl, then gradually better snow to actually really nice powder 1500' and above and plenty of coverage.  But this won't last, forecast rain and high freezing levels on their way.  Soon it will be time to go to an actual mountain in the places where snow usually is found.

author=T. Eastman link=topic=11660.msg48485#msg48485 date=1230345377]
and the poser on the shiny new AT gear skiing the mellow?


Exactly!

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johnr
2008-12-25 18:18:18