April 28, 2011, Mt. Snoqualime
4/28/11
WA Snoqualmie Pass
4974
7
Seems silly to post something about a short and rather mundane dawn patrol up to 5K on little old Mt. Snoqualime amongst all the monster TR's coming in...oh well, consider it FYI for the work-a-day crowd who have to squeeze in a tour when they can and save the big stuff for vacation time/ weekends/sick days/etc.
New snow in open areas at 3k around 6am was surprising light for the late April date. Around 6-8" of new in the open. In the woods it was a different story. Think 1-3" on breakable (but carvable) crust from 3K-4K and 3-6" on supporting mush from 4K-5K. No tree bombs. Stability (probably has changed by now) seemed fine in the woods as usual, but on open slopes I bet you could get that mush layer to slide. I didn't do any digging, this is just how it felt. A few groups followed me up. Those that I spoke too had no designs for getting above tree line. Some grooming activity at Alpy, but no bombing was heard from 6am-8:30am. They don't open until Saturday so they'll probably save control work for tomorrow?
New snow in open areas at 3k around 6am was surprising light for the late April date. Around 6-8" of new in the open. In the woods it was a different story. Think 1-3" on breakable (but carvable) crust from 3K-4K and 3-6" on supporting mush from 4K-5K. No tree bombs. Stability (probably has changed by now) seemed fine in the woods as usual, but on open slopes I bet you could get that mush layer to slide. I didn't do any digging, this is just how it felt. A few groups followed me up. Those that I spoke too had no designs for getting above tree line. Some grooming activity at Alpy, but no bombing was heard from 6am-8:30am. They don't open until Saturday so they'll probably save control work for tomorrow?
Thanks for the conditions report, T. Must've been good to get a morning burn. Shoulda coulda woulda joined...sounds like it might still be worth a 1/2 day tomorrow or Sat.
It was very similar on the Alpental side as of Tuesday (very early) morning. Soooo maybe just shy of a foot now on the north faces in that area?
not silly at all... been looking for more recent local feedback, so thanks aj !
Condition reports, while lacking the sparkle of glory are still the meat - or at least the tofu - or let's just say the protein, of trip reports...
Condition reports, while lacking the sparkle of glory are still the meat - or at least the tofu - or let's just say the protein, of trip reports...
We crossed paths with you on your way down (we turned-around well below treeline as planned, partly due to time constraints, but also to avoid open slopes higher up). Stability in the open areas seemed sketchy as expected so avoided that terrain (though still ski-cut a few small rollers with no results). Also, Shot 10 at Alpental looked like it slid naturally overnight (fresh avy debris-covered snow apron visible from the parking lot).
Nice morning for unseasonably good pow!
Nice morning for unseasonably good pow!
We made our way up through the trees just as one early rising skier and his pooches came down. Nice powder above the trees - we thought better of going higher as the sun was out and there was meaningful sloughing on the ski back down. It got pretty wet on the open slopes above the waterfall. In the parking lot we met Judy - she who posted here a few months back about her Julbo sunglasses video contest entry - she won and got to ski with Glen Plake - interesting, another parking lot curiosity was someones neatly placed and left behind ski gear next to the car (see Scotts' lost and found posting)
Thanks for the detailed conditions report!
Thought I would tack on some more info to this thread. We explored up Kendall ridge to above Kendall peak lakes today (Friday). Found 4-6" of nice fluff on top a sturdy crust on N.W. aspects. Anywhere the sun had shone there was generally multiple layers of wet snow with multiple crusts layers. Looked threatening above treeline, lots of recent wet slide activity in sun baked areas.
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