Home > Trip Reports > April 3, 2010, Snoqualmie Pass

April 3, 2010, Snoqualmie Pass

4/3/10
WA Snoqualmie Pass
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Posted by Charlie Hagedorn on 4/3/10 1:58pm
A merry band of at least nine went hunting for a common wealth of good snow above Snoqualmie Pass. South facing pow was good, but laced with a sun crust partway down. North facing pow was better. Settled snow made for confidence-inspiring skiing, while lighter snow on top made for fine contrails and the occasional face shot.

Instability was limited to friendly sluffs and the occasional innocent little slab plating out between ski tracks. Best shears of the day were about a foot down in a storm layer on the south side of Kendall Knob, both morning and afternoon, but propagation was negligible. The morning's good snow was turning heavy and solid below ~4k at 6pm.

Very good day with a bunch of fine folks! Thank you!
We found similar conditions nearby. Great bouncy turns with moderate contrails above ~4500 in west facing trees - total hero powder. Whoomphs on the ridge crest above 5K on S-ish aspects of bigger steeper wind features. We could get minor slabs to pop in tree wells on the south aspect as well (watch out - the tree well traps are well sprung right now!), but only surface sloughing on the west aspect. We spent so much time having fun up high that the snow below 4500 or so became mank by the time we descended (it was so nice on the way up, but what do you expect in April?), but even it was pretty fun in open-ish areas. Cover is getting thin low down.

And for the "this thread is useless w/o..." crowd, here's a little video proof of the fun:
snowcrummy in april
good clean fun

It was still fantastic this morning but I was a little dissapointed that you lot tore the place to pieces.  Windy as hell above the trees today too.

author=Jim Oker link=topic=16244.msg67806#msg67806 date=1270396709">
And for the "this thread is useless w/o..." crowd, here's a little video proof of the fun:
snowcrummy in april
good clean fun

Thanks for posting the TR....I agree it was a great group!  ~Ashlie



I thought you said your name was Ashlie.
Great to meet you Trumpet!
I only need about 50 more laps of that stuff to satisfy. Que saboroso!

I should add that it was starting to get slabby up above treeline in the exposed field below Kendal Peak proper.  My pits (to my threshold) showed stable snow with no slab layers.  We skinned up the narrow stand of trees aiming to go about 1/2 way or so.  Got a couple of propagated shallow cracks so stopped and headed down.  The wind gusts were really strong at this point and a lot of snow was being moved around.  The winds picked up really quickly and I was suprised to see how quickly the slab formed.  Trees were fantasitc anyway!

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april-3-2010-snoqualmie-pass
Charlie Hagedorn
2010-04-03 20:58:49