January 11, 2010, - Snoqualmie Pass
1/11/10
WA Snoqualmie Pass
3559
7
We toured up a megasuperhighway of a skintrack from the pass and into the sheltered and shady. Late to work by an hour, but the skiing was good :).
Snow was 8-12" of pretty light snow atop an edgeable crust. First run, on 40+ degree slopes near the ridgeline plated out small windslabs (~2" very soft slab atop 6+" pow, propagation to <8'?) that sluffed slowly downslope. Second run, we found slab-free pow a few hundred meters away. Heading back to the car across a windscoured bench on an avy path, our tips occasionally dove through ~8" soft windslab. On one of those dives, on a <20 degree slope, one of us took a textbook header-to-remote-trigger wipeout, propagating a crack ~15' and triggering a civilized soft slab (~8-12" crown, 20' wide, 20' run) on the roll below.
Slabs stiffened through the morning. Loading seemed all due to the west-bound wind through the pass.
Susan might have photos? Fun morning.
Snow was 8-12" of pretty light snow atop an edgeable crust. First run, on 40+ degree slopes near the ridgeline plated out small windslabs (~2" very soft slab atop 6+" pow, propagation to <8'?) that sluffed slowly downslope. Second run, we found slab-free pow a few hundred meters away. Heading back to the car across a windscoured bench on an avy path, our tips occasionally dove through ~8" soft windslab. On one of those dives, on a <20 degree slope, one of us took a textbook header-to-remote-trigger wipeout, propagating a crack ~15' and triggering a civilized soft slab (~8-12" crown, 20' wide, 20' run) on the roll below.
Slabs stiffened through the morning. Loading seemed all due to the west-bound wind through the pass.
Susan might have photos? Fun morning.
Sorry, none of the photos were particularly interesting from a TR perspective... just pretty. Thanks for doing the writeup!
Pretty qualifies! Let's see them -- sounds like a good way to spend the morning.
Also - may have lost a black cell phone on the skintrack/Summit West lot next to a white Subie. Reward offered in bottle currency for its safe return!
author=trumpetsailor link=topic=18988.msg80336#msg80336 date=1294775565]
Snow was 8-12" of pretty light snow atop an edgeable crust... small windslabs...windscoured ... tips occasionally dove through ~8" soft windslab. Slabs stiffened through the morning. Loading seemed all due to the west-bound wind through the pass.
The daylight shift found similar conditions, less crust where we were, soft and hard 2" windslabs forming depending on aspect, likewise windscoured crust, and the occasional tip dive. We also had the 8-12" light snow in select pockets, atop a denser base. Wind and cold made for good Canadian hut trip training.
Heater failure in my car almost made me bail for home, thanks John for convincing me against that foolishness. Skinning was a lot warmer than the car ride! Ended the day early due to the winds, however. Good to get one last powder day before the four letter R word returns for too long.
It looked something like this - sorry for the poor focus, I think it's a power issue as my camera went dead about 3 seconds after this . . . damn, it was cold!
Nice! Where did you go off the pass?
Solsoul and I ended up on a megasupersnowshoehighway somehow off Gold Creek. Well, it was a recon mission. Next time we'll go somewhere else :-). But off that highway, the snow _was_ fabulous!
Solsoul and I ended up on a megasupersnowshoehighway somehow off Gold Creek. Well, it was a recon mission. Next time we'll go somewhere else :-). But off that highway, the snow _was_ fabulous!
author=Paulina link=topic=18988.msg80576#msg80576 date=1294938569]
Nice! Where did you go off the pass?
That was on another megasupersnowshoehighway tour, far looker's right in the upper Kendall bowl area. The snowshoe grooming makes it easy to ski out, though.
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