March 29, 2002, Snoqualmie Pass

I wanted to try out my new skis in some bad snow, just to give them a challenge, so I went, naturally, to Snoqualmie Pass. I went up in the afternoon and did three runs at closed Summit West, and found bad snow in the form of about 10" of heavy, wet snow above the previous groomed surface. Past the upper boundary of the ski area (~3800') in the open, a pole would go in about 2', through very wet snow and several crust layers, and I got some good pinwheels on small rolls; under the big trees the snow was somewhat frozen and faster. Swaths which had been recently groomed had very carvable, packed wet snow. The skis (Atomic tourcarve alpin) did great.

Charles