Home > Trip Reports > 11/28/10, ONP Hurricane Hill

11/28/10, ONP Hurricane Hill

11/28/10
WA Olympics
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Posted by Gary_H on 11/29/10 3:18pm
Friday and Saturday's unsettled weather changed to blue sky and calm winds on Sunday. This lured Jan, her brother Jeff and me to head up to Hurricane Ridge.

We were greeted by cold temperatures, a couple feet of snow from recent storms and an empty parking lot. After some discussion, we elected to head for the north facing slopes of Hurricane Hill. The tour out along the summer trail reviled significant surface hoar which had formed Saturday night. 

As we began our final climb, we met up with "Runcle", who was on a solo tour. We traveled together to the summit, and after a short break, we parted company and we headed towards our goal, the NE facing drainage of Little River. The cool, shaded slopes held great snow. We traded leads down about 1,000 vf of great turns. Jan then set a very direct skin track back to the ridge line. There was less evidence of surface hoar in this drainage. This is mostly glades with some open areas.

Our second run was down the SE facing shoulder of Hurricane Hill. This would take us back in the direction of the summer trail. Again, we found great snow, although a little thinner than the northerly aspects. This slope is more open and again, we found significant pockets of surface hoar. Hopefully the next storm will be proceeded by sufficient wind to break this up.

We explored a more direct route back to the summer trail with promising results. A couple feet more snow will reduce the time and effort required to close this loop.

Here are a few pictures and a link to some more: http://picasaweb.google.com/GaryJanH/20101128HurricaneHill#
     
     1. The Bailey Range
     2. Surface Hoar Crystals
     3. Jan enjoying the day

Gary
Thanks for the report Gary.  I'm looking forward to making some turns out your way in a couple weeks. 

Hopefully that surface hoar doesn't cause any lingering stability issues....

Thanks for the TR.  The photos were great with the captions.  Sun, cold powder and smiles  :) in your backyard.  Looks like a nice start to the ski season near PA.

wow .. looks like you guys had a blast .. way to go .. the additional pix on picasa are awesome gary ... nothing says it like jan's big grin though  :)

Thanks for putting that info about the surface hoar forward.  I was down the ridge and it seemed to be everywhere.  Well developed crystals on all aspects...might be something to keep an eye out for as the pack builds. 

Wish I would have caught up with you and Jan and Jeff but it was not meant to be this trip.  Had some good turns though.   ;)

author=Snow Bell link=topic=18219.msg77229#msg77229 date=1291271927]
Thanks for putting that info about the surface hoar forward.  I was down the ridge and it seemed to be everywhere.  Well developed crystals on all aspects...might be something to keep an eye out for as the pack builds. 

Wish I would have caught up with you and Jan and Jeff but it was not meant to be this trip.  Had some good turns though.  :)

Gary


I was surprised by the size and extent of the surface hoar we encountered. Jeff skied Friday and experienced strong winds and snow as he toured towards Hurricane Hill. Saturday was cloudy and wet also, so what we observed formed on Saturday night.

The NWAC telemetry shows that there was some increase in wind from the north before the snow started falling Sunday night. As you suggest, cautious assessment should be done.

Sorry we missed you guys, our decision to go skiing was kind of last minute, glad we did, it was a fun day.  :D

Kath and Zap,

Thanks for the kind comments on the pix, all I do is point the camera, it does all the smart stuff.  ;)

Gary

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11-28-10-onp-hurricane-hill
Gary_H
2010-11-29 23:18:25