Feb 7, 2014, Red mtn (snoq)
2/7/14
WA Snoqualmie Pass
3508
4
Relaying a remote TR for a friend....
Whump-phing on Red today. Super variable on face proper. Wind, sun, hammered. Some powder, prob wind deposit...
Nice down low where protected. Watch your step.
Whump-phing on Red today. Super variable on face proper. Wind, sun, hammered. Some powder, prob wind deposit...
Nice down low where protected. Watch your step.
yeah. your friend might be lucky to be alive.
Croc and tubbs weighing in...I like it. Any dead python pics?
no snakebite--but lucky to be alive: always!
thanks for posting Trevor! appreciate the poetic license
I wanted to take advantage of the last of the high pressure and Friday worked well. After retrieving an errant phone at alpy I stopped by the Chair/Snow Lake parking lot but wasn't feeling it. I really just wanted to take a look up the Commonwealth since I hadn't been there at all this season. Headed up shortly before 10am. Passed some skiers, Dan And Shannon, who said they were headed to the Slot. I stopped at the clearing East of Cave Ridge with views of Lundin and Red, took stock of snow conditions and enjoyed the views and silence--which was periodically punctuated by loud pops; trees being released from the deep-freeze grip. I started hearing voices too, which is not altogether uncommon for me when going solo... but then they started getting louder, until I could make out talk of Brooklyn and Alaska... it was Dan and Shannon following my track. We chatted about this and that and I asked if they wanted to go up Red, they did, they'd never been, so off we went.
Conditions on the face of Red (W facing) were variable. Within the space of 3-4 feet anything from a foot of powder to an impenetrable crust could be experienced. No sense in digging a pit. Just stay alert. And try to piece together some interactive pattern of terrain contours, wind direction, angle of the sun, etc. Generally the snowpack could be described as a foot and a half of light powdery snow sandwiched between the hard high-pressure-inversion crust below and a three inch wind/sun effected crust on top, hard enough to lend stability but no fun to ski... wind deposits, where available, offered nice skiing (and were not slabby) but put additional weight on the snowpack. This is where we heard the whumph. It's been quite a long time since I've heard a whumph, not to mention the low decibel sound and implications of it, so it definitely got our attention. Thinking on it later, given the snowpack with the layer of fluffy snow (lots of air space) sandwiched below the crust it made sense that settlement was imminent.
Anyhow, given that I had not experienced a whumph in quite some time I thought it worth mentioning but didn't have TAY access--figured Trevor in Florida might be up to the task... love the snake!
beautiful day out--
looking back at some lines from last season
alpental
topping out
happy! (birthday) + zero wind on top after two days of high winds!
cloud formations
up and down tracks
thanks for posting Trevor! appreciate the poetic license
I wanted to take advantage of the last of the high pressure and Friday worked well. After retrieving an errant phone at alpy I stopped by the Chair/Snow Lake parking lot but wasn't feeling it. I really just wanted to take a look up the Commonwealth since I hadn't been there at all this season. Headed up shortly before 10am. Passed some skiers, Dan And Shannon, who said they were headed to the Slot. I stopped at the clearing East of Cave Ridge with views of Lundin and Red, took stock of snow conditions and enjoyed the views and silence--which was periodically punctuated by loud pops; trees being released from the deep-freeze grip. I started hearing voices too, which is not altogether uncommon for me when going solo... but then they started getting louder, until I could make out talk of Brooklyn and Alaska... it was Dan and Shannon following my track. We chatted about this and that and I asked if they wanted to go up Red, they did, they'd never been, so off we went.
Conditions on the face of Red (W facing) were variable. Within the space of 3-4 feet anything from a foot of powder to an impenetrable crust could be experienced. No sense in digging a pit. Just stay alert. And try to piece together some interactive pattern of terrain contours, wind direction, angle of the sun, etc. Generally the snowpack could be described as a foot and a half of light powdery snow sandwiched between the hard high-pressure-inversion crust below and a three inch wind/sun effected crust on top, hard enough to lend stability but no fun to ski... wind deposits, where available, offered nice skiing (and were not slabby) but put additional weight on the snowpack. This is where we heard the whumph. It's been quite a long time since I've heard a whumph, not to mention the low decibel sound and implications of it, so it definitely got our attention. Thinking on it later, given the snowpack with the layer of fluffy snow (lots of air space) sandwiched below the crust it made sense that settlement was imminent.
Anyhow, given that I had not experienced a whumph in quite some time I thought it worth mentioning but didn't have TAY access--figured Trevor in Florida might be up to the task... love the snake!
beautiful day out--
looking back at some lines from last season
alpental
topping out
happy! (birthday) + zero wind on top after two days of high winds!
cloud formations
up and down tracks
author=cumulus link=topic=30672.msg128356#msg128356 date=1391976434]
lucky to be alive: always!
It does take a fair amount of luck.
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