March 19, Snoqualmie area couloirs

Hoping to find good powder left over from the storm, we decided to head for some steeper, north-facing couloirs to escape the sun's influence.  Ascending north we found a few inches of dense powder over very breakable crust.  Things got dense and slabby with just a few minutes of direct sunlight, making for unpleasant skinning. 
Different story on the north side of the ridge.  11am, and only a little bit of the top of the couloir had gotten sun.  We skied light, foot-plus-deep powder down a thousand feet or so, and headed back up for another lap.  Mostly very unconsolidated, though there were pockets where small slabs would form.  Around 1pm the sun crested the couloir and shed oblique light on our slope.  The snow changed quickly in the sun: on the first lap I was chased by sluffs; on the second, a 2' pinwheel. 
Clouds rolled in, and our return down the south side was all mashed potatoes with occasional thin crust. 
Great to get some good powder this time of year - here's hoping the storms continue.