April 27, 2014, Pickhandle Basin, Crystal BC
4/27/14
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
2907
2
After a foot of fresh snow (6 inches over night) this weekend I did a short one run tour up above Gold Hills to the west ridge of Pickhandle Basin. Once on the ridge a 1-5 minute sun break immediately cooked the snow and turned it from slightly concerning powder sluff to more concerning wet-slab. So I bailed also not wanting to test my luck on increasingly large overhanging cornices...that and all of Pickhandle proper had already slid (with just nice icy sometimes breakable crust).
In the open creek beds blower pow up to 16 inches was found in select locations out of the daytime sun.
In the open creek beds blower pow up to 16 inches was found in select locations out of the daytime sun.
Did you ski cut that first picture? Last spring at Mission Ridge I ski cut something that looked like that (sharp, straight edges and all) It left behind an almost un side slipable ice bed.
yeah, it was a ski cut. the surface under it was very slick but it wasn't ice. should have taken a look but wouldn't be surprised to find a suncrust with graupel on it. more concerning were the ski cuts slides i set off in bounds at Crystal. More like 8-12 inches of propagation running on 45 degree slope under the gondola. The whole of upper exterminator had basically gone in what looked like wet slab from point release and other ski cuts- some running two or three hundred feet into natural terrain traps. yikes. not much patrol or signage...and certainly no control work.
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