January 3, 2010, ONP, Hurricane Hill
1/3/10
WA Olympics
7109
10
Jan, Jeff and I headed for Hurricane Hill today, temps in the mid-twenties when we left the parking lot. Soon after, we met up with Steve (aka AKRefugee) and his friend John from Port Townsend. Great to meet and ride with you guys!
We traveled on primarily southerly aspects out to Hurricane Hill. Ski pole probing and quick hand pits showed 8 to 10 inches of unconsolidated snow over a firm crust, bonding seemed to be pretty good. We found a pit which was likely dug yesterday on a SW aspect, it showed the 10 or so inches of new snow over a rain crust, about 5 inches below this was the early December crust with faceted snow above and below this.
We skied to the summit of Hurricane Hill, after a short break. decided to ski the SE gladed aspect which drops about 1000 vf down into the Little River drainage, slope angle around 30 degrees, +/-. Stability and snow quality were good. I ski cut a couple small convex roll overs with no reaction.
From the bottom of this descent, you can short cut the return to Hurricane Ridge by skiing south out of the drainage to intersect the return route. This is mostly low angle touring. As we neared the top of an approximately 20 degree slope, we heard and felt a significant whoomphing and collapse. The settlement was significant enough to shake the snowpack sufficiently that Steve felt it a couple hundred yards below us. From here back to the ridge line, we heard repeated whoomphs, although much smaller in magnitude. On this NE aspect, there was about 18" of unconsolidated snow over the first crust layer. This is near the area where "runcle" (http://www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboarding/trip_reports/index.php?topic=15023.0) reported a settlement and slide on 1/2/10.
Some additional pictures are here;
http://picasaweb.google.com/GaryJanH/2010003HurricaneHillSkiTour#
Gary and Jan
We traveled on primarily southerly aspects out to Hurricane Hill. Ski pole probing and quick hand pits showed 8 to 10 inches of unconsolidated snow over a firm crust, bonding seemed to be pretty good. We found a pit which was likely dug yesterday on a SW aspect, it showed the 10 or so inches of new snow over a rain crust, about 5 inches below this was the early December crust with faceted snow above and below this.
We skied to the summit of Hurricane Hill, after a short break. decided to ski the SE gladed aspect which drops about 1000 vf down into the Little River drainage, slope angle around 30 degrees, +/-. Stability and snow quality were good. I ski cut a couple small convex roll overs with no reaction.
From the bottom of this descent, you can short cut the return to Hurricane Ridge by skiing south out of the drainage to intersect the return route. This is mostly low angle touring. As we neared the top of an approximately 20 degree slope, we heard and felt a significant whoomphing and collapse. The settlement was significant enough to shake the snowpack sufficiently that Steve felt it a couple hundred yards below us. From here back to the ridge line, we heard repeated whoomphs, although much smaller in magnitude. On this NE aspect, there was about 18" of unconsolidated snow over the first crust layer. This is near the area where "runcle" (http://www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboarding/trip_reports/index.php?topic=15023.0) reported a settlement and slide on 1/2/10.
Some additional pictures are here;
http://picasaweb.google.com/GaryJanH/2010003HurricaneHillSkiTour#
Gary and Jan
Thanks for agreat Photo "Tour" of the area and route!
Glad you guys didn't have any mishaps! It sounded pretty treacherous out there.
I wish I had brought my camera! This was the first time I have witnessed a crack and a slab avalanche form in that area. I think that it is actually more common than I previously thought along the leeward and wind loaded slopes extending out to Mount Angeles.
I have yet to see evidence of a substantial slide on either Steep and Icy or on the wind scoured face of Hurricane Hill.
Maybe those avalanche forecasts and pit profiles are useful afterall :)
DH
Great to meet up with you Gary, Jan, and Jeff, hope to make some more turns with you soon. Same observations as Gary, north/northeast aspects appeared heavily loaded, quite a bit of settlement in areas with significant accumulation, a good time to be cautious. Here's a couple more photos from the day, smiles all around.
Thanks for good reports for Hurricane!
Garth
NWAC :)
Garth
NWAC :)
FABULOUS!!! ;D
Looks like you guys had a great time, I chose to go the opposite direction towards Obstruction Point and started to experience the same Whoomphing east of Steeple Rock the previous night. Took Sean Halborg and my brother Les out with me, I believe you have met them both. Glad you all had fun. See you next weekend ;)
author=splitgirl link=topic=15036.msg62938#msg62938 date=1262645270]
Looks like you guys had a great time, I chose to go the opposite direction towards Obstruction Point and started to experience the same Whoomphing east of Steeple Rock the previous night. Took Sean Halborg and my brother Les out with me, I believe you have met them both. Glad you all had fun. See you next weekend ;)
Hey Summer,
We saw your truck on the way up, it's sure fun to overnight at Waterhole. We're interested to check out the "woman's touch' you have added to the hut. ;)
Definitely know Sean and Les. Your brother is a talented rider and Sean has an amazing motor, the only people I have met that could hang with him in the skin track are Snowbell and my wife. :)
Garth,
Thank you for all the great info you guys make available so all of us can play safe! Are you coming up Thursday for the Avy Awareness session with NIko?
Gary and Jan
Hey Gary and Summer, I'm not familiar with the waterhole hut, what's the deal with that?
Well lets just say I have made it a little more personable out there...its better to just suprise you ! And AK..we will just have to show you the waterhole sometime ! I am taking the Avy classes from Thurs - Sun. Should be good times ! Just a few pics from last weekend
Hey Gary and Jan;
Awesome trip; we had discussed doing those glades when we did elk last June. How long did this take you? The ascent out of Little River where the "whomphing..." took place looks steeper than I would have expected.
Great report!
Awesome trip; we had discussed doing those glades when we did elk last June. How long did this take you? The ascent out of Little River where the "whomphing..." took place looks steeper than I would have expected.
Great report!
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