February, 22, 2014, Bluewett Pass area
2/22/14
1821
0
Between 3,000 and 4,000 feet I found terrible, nearly unskiable breakable crust. Wind, moisture, and something else (unknown to me) combined to reduce me to a snowplow skier on an easy low angle road...
The wind slab I had found the previous week was still there - but buried under a bit more snow. In the two foot deep snow pack at 3800 feet, I found a one inch crust on top with only a tiny amount of new. Then 3 inches of powder over another thicker icy layer. Then 4 more inches of loose snow over another icy layer. This thick layer was frozen all the way thru at 3,000 and sitting on top of soft snow at ground level. At 3,800 feet the thick layer wasn't frozen - but it was still firm and felt more like wind slab.
These conditions felt complicated to me, so I stayed on the road. I'll try again tomorrow.
The wind slab I had found the previous week was still there - but buried under a bit more snow. In the two foot deep snow pack at 3800 feet, I found a one inch crust on top with only a tiny amount of new. Then 3 inches of powder over another thicker icy layer. Then 4 more inches of loose snow over another icy layer. This thick layer was frozen all the way thru at 3,000 and sitting on top of soft snow at ground level. At 3,800 feet the thick layer wasn't frozen - but it was still firm and felt more like wind slab.
These conditions felt complicated to me, so I stayed on the road. I'll try again tomorrow.
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