December 30, 2008, Snoqualmie Pass area
12/30/08
WA Snoqualmie Pass
2645
0
Given the shortage of recent reports, I thought I'd post this despite it's being useless (we had no camera along...) and vague (I plead stashworthiness protocol).
It was nice to finally get out on fat skis this season (OK, I did one other trip a few weeks ago but it was more of a recon venture than a tour-for-turns). The week of skiing from the doorstep on skinny skis was fantastic, but not quite the same as climbing a mountain and skiing down it in wonderful powder.
We were happy to find what seemed to be a reasonably stable snowpack on the south-through-west aspects we traveled on between 3K-ish and 5.5K-ish. In the lower mature forest, we found a skiff of new powder on a firm smooth surface - perfect for carefree turns especially on mellow angles. There was more in the open, and by 4K we were had some moderate trailbreaking to do. At all elevations, the new snow sat on top of a relatively firm crust - didn't dig a pit but pole tests suggested perhaps an inch-ish crust that I could drive my basket through down into lower density snow beneath. Above 4K, we found a very thin sun crust on the top, along with what looked like a dusting of graupel. Something to be mindful of as the new snow piles above. There had obviously been quite a strong west-ish wind when the snow above the crust fell, as we were often climbing on top of a very thin layer of new snow above the crust layer, but found much deeper snow in very sheltered areas. This gave us the confidence to descend some 30-ish degree westerly forested and gladed slopes (taking the glades one at a time for good measure, but we couldn't get any movement with ski cuts). But first we enjoyed a second lunch/snack in the lee of the brisk east winds from our high point, with soft-lit views across the cloud tops to some local and some more distant peaks. I love the winter sunlight that filters through the high clouds onto the low clouds. We didn't see any snow moving with the east winds.
Our first turns were rough on early-season legs atop somewhat windblown styrofoam crust, but soon we were hitting the rhythm as the powder deepened a fair ways below the crest. The best turns were roughly in the 4K to 5K range. Well worth a bit of lapping. I did manage to pop out one 4 foot x 4 foot shallow soft slab with a hard ski cut on a small 40-ish degree terrain feature where I've previously seen larger and deeper slabs go, but that was the only movement I saw all day.
With fun turns continuing to the highway level, it was a great first day out for the season, which has finally gotten my ski motivation jump-started. It was also quite nice to see the snowpack beginning to consolidate over the low brush and logs and such.
It was nice to finally get out on fat skis this season (OK, I did one other trip a few weeks ago but it was more of a recon venture than a tour-for-turns). The week of skiing from the doorstep on skinny skis was fantastic, but not quite the same as climbing a mountain and skiing down it in wonderful powder.
We were happy to find what seemed to be a reasonably stable snowpack on the south-through-west aspects we traveled on between 3K-ish and 5.5K-ish. In the lower mature forest, we found a skiff of new powder on a firm smooth surface - perfect for carefree turns especially on mellow angles. There was more in the open, and by 4K we were had some moderate trailbreaking to do. At all elevations, the new snow sat on top of a relatively firm crust - didn't dig a pit but pole tests suggested perhaps an inch-ish crust that I could drive my basket through down into lower density snow beneath. Above 4K, we found a very thin sun crust on the top, along with what looked like a dusting of graupel. Something to be mindful of as the new snow piles above. There had obviously been quite a strong west-ish wind when the snow above the crust fell, as we were often climbing on top of a very thin layer of new snow above the crust layer, but found much deeper snow in very sheltered areas. This gave us the confidence to descend some 30-ish degree westerly forested and gladed slopes (taking the glades one at a time for good measure, but we couldn't get any movement with ski cuts). But first we enjoyed a second lunch/snack in the lee of the brisk east winds from our high point, with soft-lit views across the cloud tops to some local and some more distant peaks. I love the winter sunlight that filters through the high clouds onto the low clouds. We didn't see any snow moving with the east winds.
Our first turns were rough on early-season legs atop somewhat windblown styrofoam crust, but soon we were hitting the rhythm as the powder deepened a fair ways below the crest. The best turns were roughly in the 4K to 5K range. Well worth a bit of lapping. I did manage to pop out one 4 foot x 4 foot shallow soft slab with a hard ski cut on a small 40-ish degree terrain feature where I've previously seen larger and deeper slabs go, but that was the only movement I saw all day.
With fun turns continuing to the highway level, it was a great first day out for the season, which has finally gotten my ski motivation jump-started. It was also quite nice to see the snowpack beginning to consolidate over the low brush and logs and such.
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