November 22, 2015, Winchester exceeds expectations
11/22/15
WA Cascades West Slopes North (Mt Baker)
2895
3
Susan, Seth, and I headed up the Twin Lakes Road, expecting to find crust and badness on a road-skinning tour. Reports from the ski area were "scratchy", etc. We found far more soft snow than expected, and were surprised to find ourselves on the summit. Homeland Security celebrated our day's good fortune with a helicopter-circling salute as we reached Winchester's summit ridge.
Roadwise, it's driveable for an Outback for at least four miles to a wide pullout. Not far beyond there, there's a new washout that will block travel for all but some specialty 4WD vehicles. Just beyond the Yellow Aster Butte TH, three wet avalanches block the road. Skinning and skiing on the road from our parking spot was passable with deft skiing and the occasional gravel-scrunch. Obstacles (washouts and debris) necessitated ~5-6 short carries.
At the car, we found an inch or two of soft new snow atop the dreaded raincrust, growing to 6 near Winchester's summit. Between new and old, at and above the lakes, there's a layer of ~3 mm graupel.
Slides were evident on all aspects above lake level, and were frequent below. Crowns were small, but essentially every face featured one. Bed surfaces were shiny in places. Glide cracks were prominent along the north side of the west ridge of Winchester.
Skiing was good, if a little variable. The new snow had gotten a little heavy on solar aspects, but the crust below was edgeable, and the quality far surpassed expectation. Ski crampons, boot crampons, and ice axes all stayed on/in our packs. Our sluff kicked off small pinwheels, but never entrained any snow.
Thank you Seth and Susan!
Roadwise, it's driveable for an Outback for at least four miles to a wide pullout. Not far beyond there, there's a new washout that will block travel for all but some specialty 4WD vehicles. Just beyond the Yellow Aster Butte TH, three wet avalanches block the road. Skinning and skiing on the road from our parking spot was passable with deft skiing and the occasional gravel-scrunch. Obstacles (washouts and debris) necessitated ~5-6 short carries.
At the car, we found an inch or two of soft new snow atop the dreaded raincrust, growing to 6 near Winchester's summit. Between new and old, at and above the lakes, there's a layer of ~3 mm graupel.
Slides were evident on all aspects above lake level, and were frequent below. Crowns were small, but essentially every face featured one. Bed surfaces were shiny in places. Glide cracks were prominent along the north side of the west ridge of Winchester.
Skiing was good, if a little variable. The new snow had gotten a little heavy on solar aspects, but the crust below was edgeable, and the quality far surpassed expectation. Ski crampons, boot crampons, and ice axes all stayed on/in our packs. Our sluff kicked off small pinwheels, but never entrained any snow.
Thank you Seth and Susan!
And, the temperature/elevation plot. It's way more complicated, as we passed into and out of the sun many times, and I set my pack down on the snow (hence the low-temperature points at the summit). The upshot? It was warm and inverted.
I'm still working to move the colorbar to horizontal. It'll happen, but not tonight.
I'm still working to move the colorbar to horizontal. It'll happen, but not tonight.
Have you tried using a moving average to smooth out the points? That might make it a little easier to read.
Dang. I knew I should've hoofed it up there for the weekend as soon as I hopped out of the car at Heather Meadows Sat. morning and the thermometer read 40F and the NWAC telemetry was reporting 45F atop Pan Dome. But with no one willing to tag along, I wasn't feeling up to a solo adventure this early in the season.
I was worried about the road skinning, esp. after last week's storm. USFS report did say the road was driveable to the Yellow Aster Butte TH but it could be a long 4 miles to Twin Lakes from there with blowdowns, washouts and debris. Glad to hear that wasn't (totally) the case.
I don't think the temp dropped below 40F at the summit all weekend, I wouldn't even have needed my winter sleeping bag for a night on top :D
I was worried about the road skinning, esp. after last week's storm. USFS report did say the road was driveable to the Yellow Aster Butte TH but it could be a long 4 miles to Twin Lakes from there with blowdowns, washouts and debris. Glad to hear that wasn't (totally) the case.
I don't think the temp dropped below 40F at the summit all weekend, I wouldn't even have needed my winter sleeping bag for a night on top :D
Reply to this TR
Please login first: