November 13, 2010, Baker Highway, Skyline divide
11/13/10
WA Cascades West Slopes North (Mt Baker)
2658
3
Skied Skyline Divide yesterday with Janitha. Busy day there, with maybe eight cars parked at the trailhead. Road was snow-covered but unproblematic. The lower half of the trail was skinnable from the car if you had old skis, and skiable down if you didn't mind grinding edges against roots and patches of dirt; upper half of trail had better coverage and was less wince-inducing.
3-6 inches of fresh stuff (presumably from Thurs night) lay atop maybe 6-12 inches of soft snow from the beginning of the week, below that was some older snow bonded to the ground. Temperatures were rising in the morning and plenty of snow was falling off the trees. The top layer was no longer powder but still very soft. It was poorly bonded to the next layer (failed on one tap in column test) but not slabby and nothing propagated, just some pinwheels and debris under rocky sections.
Weather was also cooperative with the cloud level staying above the ridge until late in the day. Overall great ski conditions. Did a few laps of the first E/NE bowl (great), then a few on a W-facing slope (thinner cover, faster, more rocks) and the next slightly steeper E-facing bowl (rather scratchy, left some small souvenirs in my bases.)
Nice visibility:
Some rocks were found:
Great day out! By the time we started down, the cloud had descended and it started drizzling :(
3-6 inches of fresh stuff (presumably from Thurs night) lay atop maybe 6-12 inches of soft snow from the beginning of the week, below that was some older snow bonded to the ground. Temperatures were rising in the morning and plenty of snow was falling off the trees. The top layer was no longer powder but still very soft. It was poorly bonded to the next layer (failed on one tap in column test) but not slabby and nothing propagated, just some pinwheels and debris under rocky sections.
Weather was also cooperative with the cloud level staying above the ridge until late in the day. Overall great ski conditions. Did a few laps of the first E/NE bowl (great), then a few on a W-facing slope (thinner cover, faster, more rocks) and the next slightly steeper E-facing bowl (rather scratchy, left some small souvenirs in my bases.)
Nice visibility:
Some rocks were found:
Great day out! By the time we started down, the cloud had descended and it started drizzling :(
What do you think, will the snow in the next few days be enough to cut off easy access to Skyline?
author=lolob link=topic=17933.msg76023#msg76023 date=1289966181]
What do you think, will the snow in the next few days be enough to cut off easy access to Skyline?
I would think so, as approx. half of the 14 mile road is above 2400'. But, you can always try and give an updated report!
If I can get my friend with a big truck to come along then I'm all over it. He'll probably be excited for the challenge. It's worth a try.
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