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March 14 Bullion Basin, Cement Basin

3/15/09
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
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Posted by Don Heath on 3/15/09 9:50am
Telemack and I needed to have a relatively short day, so we met in Federal way and headed up to Bullion Basin.  Mack had been there alot, so he was the guide.

We climbed up out of Bullion, headed south along the ridge and then dropped down into the Union Creek drainage.  We dug a pit, approx 3-4 feet down on the east facing slope, approx 30 + degrees.  Layers were:
- 2-3" of light powder,
- 2 thin layers of hard crust,
- approx 24" of gradually firmer snow (fist down to 1 finger). 
- Shear layer next, then another foot of 1 finger snow. 
- below that was a several inch thick sugary crust
Total depth approx 6 1/2 feet
Shovel Compression test showed settling, but no collapse on any layers even up to CV30+ (10 full arm drops).  Shear test had a clean shear about 30" down.
The vid tells "the rest of the story".  approx 5 minutes - hope it's not too boring.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUloDxOBoJI
Great vid! thanks! 

Great company and ambience; tough conditions. 
Difficult skiing most of the day, and some brutal skinning in Cement Basin. 
Ski crampons would have helped with the dust-on-crust. 

Question for all:  Is everything on the opposite side of the Bullion saddle
called Cement Basin?  We were south of where it is labeled on the maps.

I watched the YouTube vid in my classroom this morning, but with no sound.  It might've hurt the scores of the high-schoolers taking the WASL!

author=telemack link=topic=12694.msg52923#msg52923 date=1237217878]
Question for all:  Is everything on the opposite side of the Bullion saddle
called Cement Basin?  We were south of where it is labeled on the maps...


I'm thinking that Cement Basin is limited to the Cement Creek drainage which runs into Union Creek at about 4800 feet. The creek (drainage) south that parallels the Union Creek Trail I would call the Union Creek drainage/headwall.

Well, then, in Union Creek there was bad crust but good stability.

gracias

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march-14-bullion-basin-cement-basin
Don Heath
2009-03-15 16:50:23