Feb 16, 2015, Eldorado
2/16/15
WA Cascades West Slopes North (Mt Baker)
3190
3
It's interesting what a difference a day can make in the mountains. I had been contemplating a trip to Hidden Lake Peak for Monday, but found myself lured by Lowell's report from Eldorado the day before. My friend had never been and I never tire of that place. There was also the hope of finding some of the soft and smooth stuff Lowell had found and I felt like the lower S facing slopes would be blessed with corn by the work of the sun.
Alas, the conditions we met were much different than what Lowell and Ross found the day before.
The wind blew most of the cold smooth stuff away in the upper elevations and the cold night sufficiently froze what had softened the day before at the lower levels. I had hopes that the sun would do it's magic. But high clouds obscured the sun just as it was starting to soften things up. The sought after corn never materialized. Still hoping for something soft and cold up high, we kept on moving and soon learned that the wind had taken away most of what we were looking for leaving behind a sort of firm styrofoam.
That isn't to say we didn't have a good time. The skiing was still edge-able, fast, and fun. Skiing through the trees of Eldorado Basin was the hardest work of the trip. Enthusiastic Jump turns punching through the refrozen breakable ice crust kept it all manageable.
The views, the company, and the adventure put a huge smile on my face!
more pics here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/danpeck/sets/72157650872979052/
Alas, the conditions we met were much different than what Lowell and Ross found the day before.
The wind blew most of the cold smooth stuff away in the upper elevations and the cold night sufficiently froze what had softened the day before at the lower levels. I had hopes that the sun would do it's magic. But high clouds obscured the sun just as it was starting to soften things up. The sought after corn never materialized. Still hoping for something soft and cold up high, we kept on moving and soon learned that the wind had taken away most of what we were looking for leaving behind a sort of firm styrofoam.
That isn't to say we didn't have a good time. The skiing was still edge-able, fast, and fun. Skiing through the trees of Eldorado Basin was the hardest work of the trip. Enthusiastic Jump turns punching through the refrozen breakable ice crust kept it all manageable.
The views, the company, and the adventure put a huge smile on my face!
more pics here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/danpeck/sets/72157650872979052/
Interesting to hear about your conditions.
The climbers we talked to said Saturday was cloudy with snowfall. During our ascent and descent, the snow didn't really feel like corn--more like edgeable styrofoam with a little new snow on top. You can see Ross kicking some of it around in my pictures.
I think there was more sun effect on Sunday than I realized at the time. So when the temperatures dropped and the wind picked up Sunday night, everything set up hard and fast.
Oh well, that's the mountains. Glad you had a scenic and safe trip!
The climbers we talked to said Saturday was cloudy with snowfall. During our ascent and descent, the snow didn't really feel like corn--more like edgeable styrofoam with a little new snow on top. You can see Ross kicking some of it around in my pictures.
I think there was more sun effect on Sunday than I realized at the time. So when the temperatures dropped and the wind picked up Sunday night, everything set up hard and fast.
Oh well, that's the mountains. Glad you had a scenic and safe trip!
Yea... Judging by the spray patterns from your tracks, you had much warmer snow. The chunks from your turns were frozen pretty hard all day. I think we would have had much improved (softened) snow if it weren't for the high clouds obscuring the sun for most of the afternoon.
Thanks again for sharing your trip info in so timely a manner ;D
Thanks again for sharing your trip info in so timely a manner ;D
Thanks for the report Dan, amazing what a little high sirrus can do to what would otherwise be a great corn harvest!
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