January 16, 2012, Kendall Stump dawn patrol
1/16/12
WA Snoqualmie Pass
2201
0
Derek, Sheel, and I headed up for a quick pre-work run at Kendall Stump. Just a quick ski fix; we all had other plans this past weekend.
From the parking area, we re-broke trail over a couple of old skin tracks heading up the ridge. Down low, there was maybe 3-4 inches of light fluff, and up higher there was at least mid-boot fluff while skinning (maybe 7-8 inches). Hard crust underneath, and the bond got progressively less good as we went higher up the ridge. We put in a bit too aggressively steep track in a few places and had the fluff slide off the crust, leading to some tricky skinning in places. Up higher, we started seeing a bit more evidence of wind transport from one side of the ridge to the other - this was where the trees thin in the last 300 vf to the top of the ridge. Since this was just a quick run, we ripped skins and turned around when we reached the ~4600ft flat spot atop the ridge.
The down was fun :) especially the top section. Better conditions than we'd hoped for coming up in the morning; we mostly got enough float to stay in powder and off crust in the higher section. Lower down where the trees get more dense it was a bit hilarious. Bottom section was a luge course with sucker powder dusted on top of it.
[edit: I got confused between Kendall Knob/Ridge/Stump. I think we were on the Stump - we were west of the creeks that come down from the Kendall Peak Lakes.]
From the parking area, we re-broke trail over a couple of old skin tracks heading up the ridge. Down low, there was maybe 3-4 inches of light fluff, and up higher there was at least mid-boot fluff while skinning (maybe 7-8 inches). Hard crust underneath, and the bond got progressively less good as we went higher up the ridge. We put in a bit too aggressively steep track in a few places and had the fluff slide off the crust, leading to some tricky skinning in places. Up higher, we started seeing a bit more evidence of wind transport from one side of the ridge to the other - this was where the trees thin in the last 300 vf to the top of the ridge. Since this was just a quick run, we ripped skins and turned around when we reached the ~4600ft flat spot atop the ridge.
The down was fun :) especially the top section. Better conditions than we'd hoped for coming up in the morning; we mostly got enough float to stay in powder and off crust in the higher section. Lower down where the trees get more dense it was a bit hilarious. Bottom section was a luge course with sucker powder dusted on top of it.
[edit: I got confused between Kendall Knob/Ridge/Stump. I think we were on the Stump - we were west of the creeks that come down from the Kendall Peak Lakes.]
Reply to this TR
Please login first: