January 8, 2011, Snoqualmie Pass

Hyak was about 3 inches fluff on top of SCCCRRRRRRR in every turn to be had.  Intermitent sun and small graupel showers.

Was pretty fun.

The front was thoroughly tracked in about 10 minutes as 30+ skiers\riders all descended it!  Really wish I had the camera out for that.   Awesome end to a great day.

Thanks for the report Silas. I skied the Alp BC and found similar conditions with respect your comment about forestation. Out in the open was nice boot deep powder and in the trees was less snow and more crust (not a good combination).

Good stability out there. Would be interested to hear about the stability in other places at the Pass as I want to go ski Red tomorrow. Any comments. Saw a lot of folks heading to Chair, any reports??

I went up Snoq for a quick lap and some exercise with the dog in the afternoon. A couple guys had put in nice track in up to the Slot that was ruined by some snowshoers post holing it above 5500ft-they followed it up to it's terminus at the drop in to the Slot and turned around. A creamy 14" off the top for the first 1000ft had me wanting to open it up but having to wait too often for the pooch to catch up.  Still scratchy in the trees through the lower cliffs section adjacent the waterfall with only 3" in the trees, but more like 7" out in the open down low.

We saw similar conditions in the Kendall Trees/Lakes/Stump area as everyone else has reported: in the forest there was significant scrapage, in the open super-soft and fun.  The best skiing we had was probably above Kendall Lakes and just below the stump: further down in the trees had some fun pockets but a good deal of scrape-scrape under the few inches of fresh.  Unlike Silas, however, we never had a hard surface crust.

Pics may or may not help illustrate: http://www.flickr.com/photos/susanashlock/sets/72157625654383631/detail/

We saw a guided group in the Commonwealth basin, one skier on the stump, and a few scattered snowshoers, but other than that it was quiet.

author=Mofro link=topic=18887.msg80022#msg80022 date=1294537314]A couple guys had put in nice track in up to the Slot that was ruined by some snowshoers post holing it above 5500ft-they followed it up to it's terminus at the drop in to the Slot and turned around.

I'd pay good money to watch some snowshoers go down the Slot. Who's gonna step up?

Edit to add: Bulletproof crust just below the ridge of Kendall calling for booting/sideslipping, but 12-15" of wind deposit in the upper bowls skied great. Plenty left for tomorrow . . .