April 26, 2014, Stevens Pass, Jim Hill Mountain

Evan and I went out to Stevens Pass today not sure what to expect for snow conditions, but it turned out to be a great day. We hit the trailhead at 9 AM and the snow was still frozen as we hiked through the forest. Almost every avalanche path had the remains of a wet loose slide from earlier in the week, but nothing was moving today.



We reached the alpine section below Jim Hill Mountain and a nice dusting of snow had stuck to the mostly supportive crust. We ended up hiking a steep north-facing chute just to the west of Jim Hill, and it had 6" of great powder sitting on an ice crust. A hasty pit showed that the top 3-5" of wind slab would easily release, but the rest of the newer snow was well adhered to the frozen mess underneath.



The chute was a great ski, and we proceeded to ski the full 2000 vertical feet down to Lanham Lake. The first 1000' was good snow with a supportive crust, but the second section was a mix of weak crust and sun-affected mush. Returning through the forest at 3:00 showed that the crust had melted and was wet 3+ inches deep, but we didn't see any slides on our exit.



Jim Hill Mountain is in great shape right now, with the road still fully covered with snow except for one narrow spot under the power lines, get it before it is too late!