April 5, 2015, - Chinook Pass

Weather forecast was calling for a stormy afternoon, but that never fully materialized. When we pulled in next to Norseman's camper at 10am, it was partly cloudy with lots of sun shining through. Cool, albeit light, wind out of the east kept the snow on N-NE aspects in good shape: 4-8" of light snow on a firm, but edgeable crust which softened throughout the day. Other aspects much crunchier and some downright frozen after Saturday's warmup.

Did two full laps on Naches Pk. and a short lap upon finding some good, barely touched snow in a north-facing shot just east of the footbridge. Sun disappeared in the mid-afternoon and heavy gray clouds loomed to the west, but we never experienced more than just a few intermittent flurries. Car thermometer read 35F at pass level when we departed at 4, but it sure felt a few degrees colder than that - NWAC telemtry shows 32F as yesterday's high. 6' of snow on the ground seems like a lot, but it decreases rapidly with elevation and aspect, not much below 5000' at all and very little on SE through W-SW faces regardless of altitude.