January 29, 2011, - Snobirthday Pass
1/29/11
WA Cascades East Slopes North
1862
1
A birthday girl apparently has some friends over the Northern Pacific, because a storm arrived just in time.
A constrained schedule and a high freezing level meant a short tour to 6200' was in order. Up out of the lot in the rain, Susan skinned the whole way on her new skis, while I booted the bottom step. Topped out just after 3 pm with ~150m visibility, with light to moderate precipitation all day. Fine turns down to ~4.5k.
Snow was moving on a storm layer about 3" above the crust. 2" above the layer became ~4 as we climbed. Most turns sluffed the whole layer - it'll be reactive in the morning, I think. The bond to the old crust was reasonably bomber. Below ~4.5k on open slopes on the descent, the new/crust bond ~6-8" down was fairly active - schmoo slides were surprisingly easy to cut, though they didn't want to run far, even on 35+ degree slopes.
Good snow, but thought-provoking, especially with the further loading that's happening now.
Great day above the rain. Photo taken at or below 5k.
A constrained schedule and a high freezing level meant a short tour to 6200' was in order. Up out of the lot in the rain, Susan skinned the whole way on her new skis, while I booted the bottom step. Topped out just after 3 pm with ~150m visibility, with light to moderate precipitation all day. Fine turns down to ~4.5k.
Snow was moving on a storm layer about 3" above the crust. 2" above the layer became ~4 as we climbed. Most turns sluffed the whole layer - it'll be reactive in the morning, I think. The bond to the old crust was reasonably bomber. Below ~4.5k on open slopes on the descent, the new/crust bond ~6-8" down was fairly active - schmoo slides were surprisingly easy to cut, though they didn't want to run far, even on 35+ degree slopes.
Good snow, but thought-provoking, especially with the further loading that's happening now.
Great day above the rain. Photo taken at or below 5k.