12-21-09 Mt Hood Southwest

I toured west from Timberline Lodge to my favorite stomping ground.   It also fits the conditions for the day, as it was rain below 4.5K and the snow pack is very thin at lower elevations.  With respect to the recent high avalanche danger I spent about 1/2 hour digging a pit, and doing column shear test.  My observations are this:  the snow pack is wet to a depth of at least 40" (the depth of my pit) with densities consistently finger, with the one exception of a weak crust of pencil density at a depth of 18".  The shear test yielded no weakness throughout the full depth (30-  wrist, elbow,shoulder taps).  I found this surprising because of the wetness of the snow, so i repeated it on the other end of the pit with duplicate results.  This was done on a NW aspect, slope 25~degrees, at altitude of 5930'.  Also there was 4" of fresh on top of this. 

Observing the good stability of the pack it was time to pull the skins and do some skiing.  The fresh on top of the virtually bottomless rain pack made for some really good skiing.  It had the feel of 12-15" of fresh, with a slightly edgy feel.   Real nice in the trees and steeps.  I took it pretty easy as I plan to be back up for more tomorrow, and did only 3 laps before heading back.  A most enjoyable day on the mountain.