Snoqualmie Pass - May 4, 2012
5/15/12
WA Snoqualmie Pass
2639
6
Just quickly - I'll add pics later (I do like visual info!) -
About a foot of new this morning that got increasingly top heavy as the day progressed. Very reactive. Specifically - count on anything 35 degress and over to slide (on the crust below to which it is insufficiently bonded). North aspects fractured and avalanched a little quicker and drier (still top heavy though) than West, which devolved a bit slower and heavier. This experienced between the 4-6,000' elevation range.
Some sun, some fog, some big fat flakes. Mix and repeat - - fun day! Especially since when we got there in the gray wet morning we could hardly get ourselves to motivate out of the car (upper middle Alpental parking lot). In fact we didn't... we drove to the upper parking lot to see if anyone had parked to tour in the Chair vicinity... nope. Only us (dumb enough..). Drove back down, parked again, and managed to get out of the car, skins on. Totally worth it - - but proceed with caution.
About a foot of new this morning that got increasingly top heavy as the day progressed. Very reactive. Specifically - count on anything 35 degress and over to slide (on the crust below to which it is insufficiently bonded). North aspects fractured and avalanched a little quicker and drier (still top heavy though) than West, which devolved a bit slower and heavier. This experienced between the 4-6,000' elevation range.
Some sun, some fog, some big fat flakes. Mix and repeat - - fun day! Especially since when we got there in the gray wet morning we could hardly get ourselves to motivate out of the car (upper middle Alpental parking lot). In fact we didn't... we drove to the upper parking lot to see if anyone had parked to tour in the Chair vicinity... nope. Only us (dumb enough..). Drove back down, parked again, and managed to get out of the car, skins on. Totally worth it - - but proceed with caution.
so where did you go up? i toured up the phantom in the late afternoon following a skin track, but never saw it tracks down. And I would agree, very reactive snow.
There was talk of the Crooked but given conditions (flat light and top heavy snowpack), the built in contrast of the Slot's dual walls and reduced square footage (in terms of potential snow entrainment) made more sense.
As for skin track, I skipped the lower booting rigamarole (just trended further N. of the waterfall) and skinned all the way. Worked well (+faster).
must have been nice in the afternoon with all the fat flakes falling...
short vid: lucky sunbreak, top of the last run down
As for skin track, I skipped the lower booting rigamarole (just trended further N. of the waterfall) and skinned all the way. Worked well (+faster).
must have been nice in the afternoon with all the fat flakes falling...
short vid: lucky sunbreak, top of the last run down
Looks great. If I wasn't solo I would have done the same trip you did.
Thats a nice mini-crown in your first picture...
Thats a nice mini-crown in your first picture...
Folks in the Alpy BC reported easy shears too. Central cliffs at Alpy were sluffing all day. Snow beneath the new is wet; tops of moguls were blue and soggy by the end of the day. Light precip through the day, staying frozen or nearly-so at the base until 4pm.
Fun video - could you tip your head up a bit higher?
ha ha what can I say I'm a slouch, but I brush my teeth before bed!
thanks for mentioning it Rusty - I took another look, and made a small correction.
Vimeo changed its format so I put the vid on YouTube-new account-and applied some of those video "enhancement" buttons. Apparently the "stabilize" feature also crops the video... I reverted it back to the original. Should be a little better now. A little less cut off the top.
thanks for mentioning it Rusty - I took another look, and made a small correction.
Vimeo changed its format so I put the vid on YouTube-new account-and applied some of those video "enhancement" buttons. Apparently the "stabilize" feature also crops the video... I reverted it back to the original. Should be a little better now. A little less cut off the top.
Reply to this TR
Please login first: