April 10: Tatoosh

Splitboard Graham and I toured up into Tatoosh via Castle Saddle in search of some lingering powder and found some pleasing conditions. Wind affected snow almost everywhere; soft and fluffy to hard and scoured. Took two laps off of Castle and three from the col between Pinnacle and Castle. First party up to the saddle followed by two other parties of two. Fun was had by all gauging by the grin index :). Although not the deep blower condtions of last week, the left overs were sure tasty and reminded me of the middle ground between powder and mank skiing signifying a return to normal conditions which I would be happy with most days. Stability was good both in the upper basin and past the rollover, although slab was a persistent concern resulting from some cracking and obvious wind transport; tracks were dissapearing between laps. A sizeable skier triggered slab release on the steeper section of Castle Saddle had a significant debris pile. Staunchwall depth around 12 inches and a ~100ft slide path. Hope the triggerers went unscathed. Conditions down lower by the lake and at Narada were approaching full blown mank status around 4pm. Extremely high winds accompanied by major face abrasion were encountered on the Pinnacle col...guessing 40mph sustained with impressive hard-to-stand-up gusts. All in all a great excursion out to the Tatoosh, just being out there is worth the time and effort and good skiing caps it off. Graham was taking care of photography, so maybe he will post them soon.....