Home > Trip Reports > 29 Feb 2016, - 4 year bonus day, Snoqualmie pass

29 Feb 2016, - 4 year bonus day, Snoqualmie pass

2/29/16
WA Snoqualmie Pass
2592
5
Posted by haggis on 2/29/16 4:11am
LEAP YEAR BONUS DAY, might as well ski on it!

Dawn patrol at the pass which I wasn't overly stoked about.  That quickly changed with the realization that well over 10" had fallen up high with surprisingly little wind effect and a good bond to the wetter snow from the weekend.  Winds must have nuked and then died back prior to the snowfall starting, thus no windslab.  There was about 3" of graupel on top above 5000", possibly lower.  This might cause an issue with next snowfall??  Anyway, even at 9am the sun did its work on our slope and it changed significantly for the descent which was a shame but still really good.  Coupled with that we timed the fog bank to perfection for some whiteout riding.  Lower 2/3rd of the run skied great.  Its certainly warming up though.

We are aiming to make this bonus day a ski tradition from now on!

20160229_080837[1] by 20160229_080810[1] by 20160229_093054[1] by 20160229_093409[1] by
Nice running into you up there. Snow was surprisingly good! Left at noon after it warmed up.

Yes, early on was key today although the N facing stuff should still be OK I would imagine.  We got up to around 5800' on chair but it was a whiteout in the bowl just as we turned around.  Open slopes were also key rather than trees which were much thinner but still a very easy approach and exit from to and from source lk today.

North aspects near granite were pretty good till we left around 3. Little snow on top of rain crust below 4500 ft. 8-10 inches at 5600

Given the forecast this was the morning to get it.  Jealous.

That looks ten times better than installing tyvek! Way to go.

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29-feb-2016-4-year-bonus-day-snoqualmie-pass
haggis
2016-02-29 12:11:28