11-26-2010, Salmon River Canyon Mt. Hood, Oregon
11/26/10
OR Mt Hood
1809
1
Met up with a friend from Colorado who wanted to do a little PNW splitboarding. The original plan was to skin up to The Hogsback on Mt. Hood and either ride into White River Canyon or drop into Big Zigzag. Mother nature had other ideas however and the flat light above tree line made this plan a no go.
So, we lapped the upper reaches of the Salmon River canyon adjacent to the timberline parking lot. We got several really good tree runs on the ridge between White River and the Salmon River. Tons of wind loaded powder stashes through the trees with plenty of playful windlips.
We did dig a pit on the lee slope of White River in the wind loaded snow. Dug down to dirt at around 5 feet. As our slope cuts indicated, the 2 to 3 inches of new snow sloughed easily off of the surface of the layer below it. From there, we had consistent 2 finger snow down to about 15 inches where we found softer, fist to 4 finger snow. At the very base of the column, there was some faceted snow at the base and was about 4 to 6 inches thick.
Did a standard and extended column test with no release on any CT test. The snow was pretty consolidated with no noticeable reactivity to it. Had the weather cooperated, we would have dropped White River. As it was, the flat light made riding a challenge and at one point, I had completely stopped without realizing it and literally just fell over from vertigo..... ;D
Overall, a fun day with plenty of smiles.
So, we lapped the upper reaches of the Salmon River canyon adjacent to the timberline parking lot. We got several really good tree runs on the ridge between White River and the Salmon River. Tons of wind loaded powder stashes through the trees with plenty of playful windlips.
We did dig a pit on the lee slope of White River in the wind loaded snow. Dug down to dirt at around 5 feet. As our slope cuts indicated, the 2 to 3 inches of new snow sloughed easily off of the surface of the layer below it. From there, we had consistent 2 finger snow down to about 15 inches where we found softer, fist to 4 finger snow. At the very base of the column, there was some faceted snow at the base and was about 4 to 6 inches thick.
Did a standard and extended column test with no release on any CT test. The snow was pretty consolidated with no noticeable reactivity to it. Had the weather cooperated, we would have dropped White River. As it was, the flat light made riding a challenge and at one point, I had completely stopped without realizing it and literally just fell over from vertigo..... ;D
Overall, a fun day with plenty of smiles.
Snowolf - I thought I would chime in about a flat light/vertigo experience. One time in Canada we were in white out/flat light and I fell over from vertigo on about a 20 degree slope, but thought I was still moving and yelled avalanche and started flapping my arms in the snow. I think my friends thought I had lost what little sanity I possessed. ???
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