Dec 19, Hurricane Ridge Mashed Potatoes
12/15/09
WA Olympics
3235
1
Headed up to Hurricane Ridge with RandoBro and his friend Devon. Arrived at gate at 8:45 to find the gate open (way to go NPS) and no one around. Got on the skin track at 9:00 and headed up the ridge. Very heavy snow the whole day, ridge tops were mostly scoured to the ground with large cornices overlooking the northern aspects. Many cornices had failed and the northern slopes were full of death cookies. We dug several pits on a north/northwest aspect and found moderately stable conditions at 33 degrees. CTM 14 for 2 compression tests and a Rutschblock score of 4. Sorry I don't have exact measurements but the the depth of the faceted layers started at 12-16 inches below very wet heavy snow. The shear was a clean planar shear but didn't exactly pop up. There was also a fairly deep (12 inch) layer of unconsolidated snow at about 1.5 meters. We rode the northwest aspect and the cornice bombs made it a fairly rough ride, wouldn't recommend the northern aspects off the ridge right now. After surviving our first run we boot packed up a steep ridge to the east and checked out a few chutes on the other side (directly facing Mt Angeles). The clouds briefly parted and I got an incredible view over the strait. The chute we encountered was steep and enough of the wet snow started down that you could have easily been taken along for a ride into some trees or over a cliff. We opted for a safe out down a more moderate chute. After regaining the ridge we skied out to the road on Super Bowl (I think this is what RandoBro called it) in true northwest fashion, in the rain. We were back at the car at 4:00, a good tour for the first day out and I was glad to get the opportunity to check out the area, definately a lot of potential. Fairly stable conditions although there were pockets of less stable heavy snow all over. Great day out, I'm very tired today ; )
Sorry, a few corrections, we were on Klahhane Ridge and the last run out was Bowling Alley.
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